Speaker

Lesley Salafia serves as a Senior Associate University Counsel in the University of Connecticut’s Office of the General Counsel. She supports all units of the University with a focus on Global Affairs, Student Affairs and Student Activities, Human Resources, and the Office of the Provost. She serves as the signatory authority and provides legal analysis, preparation and review of employment-based nonimmigrant visa petitions and permanent residency cases on behalf of the foreign national faculty and staff at the University of Connecticut. She also provides legal services in connection with a wide range of other issues and initiatives at the University. She presents within Connecticut and nationally on topics concerning immigration and higher education.

Before joining the University of Connecticut in 2010, Lesley was an associate in the Hartford office of the law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP. There, she served in the immigration and employment litigation practice groups, representing employers throughout the nonimmigrant and immigrant visa process and handling claims of employment discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment and wage violations. She was selected one of Connecticut’s Rising Stars 2009 by Super Lawyers Magazine. Lesley graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law and received her Bachelor of Arts degree, Summa Cum Laude from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.