Meet Our Team

Dagmar – who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and has practiced immigration law for almost 30 years – works principally with businesses and families in non-removal settings. Her family-based clients are the spouses, children, parents, brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who seek nothing more than to live the American Dream which Dagmar believes still exists for anyone with enough vision to try. Her business clients are in all sectors of the economy with a focus in high tech, health care, engineering, and education. Dagmar understands all too well the challenges faced by companies seeking to identify and retain talent and the difficulties encountered by employees in navigating the increasingly difficult U.S. immigration system. She also knows how hard it can be to wait for a family to be reunited when bureaucracy stands in the way. Her mission is to make the process less daunting and ensure that each client receives personalized attention and individualized case strategy and support. Whether the case involves non-immigrant visas or permanent resident applications, whether the case is for a family member, an H-1 professional, an intra-company transferee, an E trader or investor or someone whose skills and talents place them at the very top of their fields, Dagmar believes nothing beats knowing somebody has your best interests at heart and works diligently toward meeting your objectives and who approaches each case with that in mind.

Dagmar is also very active nationally and internationally in immigration law education, immigration advocacy and governance of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), a more than 14,000 member global professional organization. She was an Elected Director of AILA from 2005-2020 and has chaired and served on numerous national committees and task forces including AILA’s USCIS HQ Committee, FOIA Committee Chair, Service Center Operations Committee Chair, NSC Liaison Chair and AILA’s Business Immigration Response Taskforce. She has also served on several conference committees including two Annual Conferences. She is a member of the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL) and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work including three AILA Presidential Commendations and the 2018 AILA Distinguished Service Award, listing as a SuperLawyer since 2008, listing in Who’s Who Among Business Immigration Lawyers and Chambers USA since 2010 and receipt of the Oregon AILA 2009 Gerald H. Robinson Excellence in Immigration Advocacy Award.

As an immigration law educator, Dagmar has spoken at dozens of conferences in the U.S. and abroad, written articles and book chapters and served as an editor for various publications . As an advocate she has lobbied in Washington, D.C. every year since 2003, worked on numerous projects with members of the Oregon Congressional Delegation, been quoted in Forbes, Bloomberg, Wired and the New York Times, worked on public comments to Federal Regulations and proposed Federal laws submitted by AILA, served on Barack Obama’s Immigration Task Force when he was a presidential candidate, served more than 10 years as liaison to the Portland USCIS Filed Office and for over a decade as a liaison to the USCIS Nebraska Service Center, USCIS Service Center Operations and USCIS Headquarters.

In her spare time, she is an Adjunct Professor teaching international law at Lewis & Clark Law School and tries to see as much live theater as her schedule will allow.

Gretel, a shareholder since 2002, focuses her practice on employment immigration including temporary worker visas and skilled worker visas, family immigration, and citizenship issues. She also assists clients in pro-active immigration planning whether for future personnel needs, sponsorship of family members, or for employer compliance with employment verification rules. Gretel currently serves as immigration counsel for leading Oregon and SW Washington based companies.

As a former INS Asylum Officer, she has enforced U.S. immigration laws, gaining direct insight into the complexity of those laws and how to apply them to benefit her clients. In addition to her background in immigration law, Gretel has the unique advantage of knowing firsthand what it is like to be an immigrant in a new country, having emigrated from the Philippines in 1985. Gretel is glad to utilize her unique background to help immigrants establish new lives in America.

She is a past chair of the Oregon Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), a past member of AILA National’s Nebraska Service Center Liaison Committee and Texas Service Center Liaison Committee, and past Vice-Chair of the California Service Center Committee. In her leisure time, Gretel volunteers at various cultural and community based organizations and is a frequent speaker on immigration issues. She is one of the founding directors of the Oregon Filipino American Lawyers Association and currently serves on the executive board of The Grotto, the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother. 

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Shareholder and founding member of Parker, Butte, & Lane, P.C.

Volunteer with United Farm Workers and Recipient of American Jurisprudence Award in Labor Law.

Richard Parker's practice focuses on student loans, and bankruptcy. Past Chair, Consumer Bankruptcy Sub-committee of the OSB Debtor-Creditor Section (1998-1999); Member, the editorial board of the OSB Debtor-Creditor Section Newsletter (2003-present); Member, Legislation sub-committee of the OSB Debtor-Creditor section; Chair of the Pro Bono Bankruptcy Clinic Sub-Committee (2012 – present); Member of the OSB Debtor-Creditor Section Executive Board, (2013 – 2017), Past Debtor-Creditor Section Secretary, Treasurer, and Chair (2014- 2016); Member of NACBA (National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys), NACTT (National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees).

Frequent speaker at state, regional and national seminars on student loans and author of numerous articles on student loan issues.