Topic: "Impact of Immigration Issues on Mergers & Acquisitions"
Speaker: Roy J. Watson, Jr. of Watson Law Offices
Place: Rebecca's Café in the Wellesley Office Park, 55 William Street, Bldg. 3, Wellesley, MA 02181 (directions)

Employees are often the most valuable asset in an acquisition, merger or corporate restructuring; protecting those assets can be critical to the success of the venture. Current immigration laws are quite rigid, and may render most if not all non-citizen employees illegal, the instant the deal is signed.

What due diligence is required prior to closing the deal? How should the employment risks be assessed? How can acquisitions of foreign companies be used to address critical labor shortages caused by visa caps and other restrictions? Roy Watson will cover requirements for the key employment classes, what triggers violate them and how you can take steps to protect the key employee’s status.

Roy Watson is a graduate of Brandeis University, with a B.A. in Economics, (1971); a J.D. from Boston College School of Law, (1975); and an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, (1983). Roy is founder and past Editor-in-Chief of the Immigration Case Reporter (ICR), published by Matthew Bender, Inc. Roy is Past President of the New England chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and has served on numerous AILA national committees during his 32 years of active practice of immigration law. Roy is a past Chair of the Immigration Law Committee and the International Law Section of the Boston Bar (BBA) Association, and an active member of several Sections of the American Bar Association. Roy is currently serving as the Chair of the Immigration Law Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Watson Law Offices was the first law office in the United States to be registered under ISO 9002.

The format will be a one-hour meeting from 7:45-9:00am (arrive at 7:30 for networking). A half-hour of networking after the meeting would be optional.

The Business Lawyers Network (BLN) is comprised of lawyers concentrating in complementary disciplines such as corporate, securities, commercial contracts, government contracts, secured lending, taxes, import/export, immigration, real estate, environmental, patents, trademarks, licensing, etc. Non-lawyer business professionals are also welcome, but the topic and focus of discussion will be geared toward the legal profession.