Karen Weinstock, a partner with the firm, will provide corporate and individual immigration law counsel from the firm's location in Buckhead.

"Siskind Susser views Atlanta as a rapidly growing international market with a more pro-business environment than some other metropolitan areas," she said of her firm's decision to open here. "It's a natural choice for a Southeast expansion."

The firm, comprised of approximately 20 lawyers, has an international presence with offices in Brazil, Canada, China and Mexico, as well as an additional U.S. office in California. The attorneys provide legal services to clients in Canada, Mexico and the United States, said Ms. Weinstock. She added that, although prepared to assist Atlanta clients with a range of immigration legal services, her specialty is healthcare immigration law.

Among the issues Ms. Weinstock told GlobalFax she is tracking closely is legislation under consideration in the U.S. Congress that would expand a Georgia program providing visas to foreign, post-residency physicians who agree to work in under served areas of the U.S.

The legislation seeks to increase from 20 to 40 the number of doctors included in the "Conrad 20" program, which allows states to waive a requirement that post-residency, foreign physicians return to their home country for two years before applying for a work visa here.

Doctors that qualify for the program contract with state agencies to work in medically under served U.S. regions, she explained.

Ms. Weinstock noted the expansion would help to fill the void left by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February when it terminated a similar program, aimed at attracting foreign doctors to work in under served areas.