Manuela Morais

As Co-Chair of Stevens & Lee's Immigration and Nationality Practice, Manuela partners with corporate clients to attract and retain top-tier international talent and ensure immigration compliance. She represents clients of all sizes, spanning from startup companies to the largest Fortune 500 corporations. Over her 20-plus-year career in immigration law, Manuela has acted as de facto in-house immigration counsel and represented individuals and self-petitioners in unique and complex cases before the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She has also established herself as an industry thought leader and provided a range of pro bono legal services to foreign nationals seeking immigration benefits in the U.S.

Prior to joining Stevens & Lee, Manuela was the founder and principal of a boutique immigration practice that was also a WBENC-Certified Women’s Business Enterprise. Earlier in her career, she was responsible for the management of the immigration practice at a large law firm. Before entering law school, she also served as a Congressional Aide to the Hon. Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey, where she provided services to constituents in the areas of immigration, consular affairs and commerce.

As an authority in her field, Manuela has spoken at the 2022 SelectUSA Investment Summit – the nation’s largest investment summit for international business. She has also taught courses in Corporate Immigration Law at the University of Pennsylvania and mentored prospective lawyers regarding careers in the immigration field. She has lectured nationally at the American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual Conference and has lectured at professional development events and Continuing Legal Education courses in the field of immigration law.

In recognition of her professional achievements and contributions, Manuela was named a 2018 Top New Jersey Leading Woman Entrepreneur and was previously a member of the Forum of Executive Women, a highly-selective organization of women holding the senior-most positions in the corporations, not-for-profit organizations and public-sector entities dedicated to a mission of advancing the impact and influence of women leaders across a broad spectrum of society. In the area of immigration law, she was also named by her peers to the SJ Magazine Top Attorneys list in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and recognized by South Jersey Magazine readers for its group of Awesome Attorneys in 2018 and 2019.

Manuela is a committed advocate for diversity and inclusion both within the legal community and beyond the profession. She is a founding partner and sits on the Board of Directors of Women Owned Law, a national networking group for women-owned law and legal services firms. Through Women Owned Law, Manuela is active in mentoring other entrepreneurial female legal professionals.

Read more about Manuela: https://www.stevenslee.com/professional/manuela-m-morais/

Widener University School of Law, J.D.

Rutgers University – Camden, B.A.