The attorneys at Gibbs Houston Pauw have excellent credentials and bring decades of experience in immigration law.

We provide service in all areas of immigration law, including family and employment based permanent residence, employment visas, citizenship, asylum, deportation and workplace compliance. For more about our practice areas click here.

GHP has represented a broad range of clients, including multi-national computer software companies and businesses from a variety of fields including agriculture, fisheries, construction, arts, architecture, engineering, religion, health care & restaurants among others. 

GHP is comprised of partners Robert Gibbs, Robert Pauw, and associates Neha Chandola, Erin Cipolla, Devin Theriot-Orr and Ralph Hua. 

Our attorneys and staff speak Spanish, Hindi, French and Mandarin.

To contact our office click here.

Robert H. Gibbs

Robert H. Gibbs has practiced immigration law since 1977, handling a wide variety of family, employment, citizenship, asylum and deportation matters. His practice includes federal court litigation to remedy agency decisions (or failure to make them), as well as class actions to obtain relief for thousands of individuals.  He has represented entities in a broad range of industries including software, health care, restaurants, manufacturing, agriculture, food processing, forest products, international trade, professional services, construction, sports and the arts.
He has a top rating from the leading national lawyers' directory, Martindale-Hubbell, and is regularly ranked a Washington State "Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics Magazine.  He has been a frequent lecturer at seminars for attorneys and employers on immigration law and compliance.

He is a recipient of several significant awards, including Litigator of the Year award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association in 2001; ACLU-W Civil Libertarian of the Year Award, 1986; and Ecumenical Award, Washington Association of Churches, 1985.  He is a founder of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.  Mr. Gibbs received his J.D. from the University of Washington Law School in 1974, and his B.A. from Grinnell College in 1968.

Significant published decisions in which he was counsel include the following:

Lee v. Gonzales, No. C04-449 RSL (W.D. Wash, Feb. 16, 2006) (statewide class action requiring reopening of naturalization denials where based on lack of good moral character);

Gorbach v. Reno, 219 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2000) en banc, (national class action setting aside INS regulation on administrative denaturalization);

Walters v. Reno, 145 F.3d 032 (9th Cir. 1998)(national class action setting aside INS regulation on document fraud procedures);
Gete v. INS, 121 F.3d 1285 (9th Cir. 1997)(class action setting aside INS vehicle seizure procedures);

Immigrant Assistance Project v. INS, 709 F. Supp. 998, 717 F. Supp. 1444 (W.D.Wash. 1989), aff'd, 976 F.2d 1198 (9th Cir. 1992), aff'd, 306 F.3d 842, (9th Cir., 2002)(class action invalidating INS amnesty procedures);

Proyecto San Pablo v. INS, 784 F. Supp. 738 (D.Ariz 1991), 189 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir. 1999)(class action invalidating amnesty procedures where the applicant had a prior deportation);

Patel v. Sumani Corp., 846 F.2d 700 (11th Cir. 1988), cert denied, 109 S. Ct. 1120 (1989)(finding FLSA coverage for undocumented employees);

UFW v. INS, Civ S 87-1064 JFM (E.D. Calif., Sept. 18. 1990) (class action setting aside INS procedures for adjudicating seasonal agricultural worker applications);

Lopez v. INS, No. 78-1912-WMB (C.D. Calif., Aug. 20, 1992) (class action requiring INS to stop questioning aliens upon request to speak to counsel);

Washington Beef, 328NLRB 612 (1999) (employer has mandatory duty to bargain over time period to allow employees to respond to INS no match letter).

Robert Pauw

Robert Pauw, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is a partner in the Seattle law firm of Gibbs Houston Pauw and teaches immigration law at Seattle University School of Law.  He is one of the founding members of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, and has served on the Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Council and the American Lawyers Association. Mr. Pauw is nationally known as a lawyer who focuses on immigration-related litigation.

He has been counsel for plaintiffs in many significant immigration cases, including:  

Ruiz-Diaz v. United States, Case No. 07-1881-RLS (W.D. Wash. June 11, 2009)(nationwide class action lawsuit challenging CIS policy of refusing to allow religios workers to file concurrent I-360/I-485 applications);

Morales-Izquierdo v. Gonzales, 477 F.3d 691 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (challenge to DHS policy of reinstating prior orders of deportation);

Rafaelano v. Wilson, 471 F.3rd 1091 (9th Cir. 2006) (challenge to execution of removal order where petiionel claimed that she departed within voluntary time);

Perez-Enriquez v. Gonzales, 463 F.3d 1007 (9th Cir. 2006) (en banc) (individuals who obtained permanent residence under the SAW legalization program are eligible for 212(c)waivers of deportation);

Lee v. Gonzales, Case No. C04-449 RSL (W.D. Wash, Feb. 16, 2006) (class action lawsuit challenging naturalixation denials based on lack of good moral character);

Quezada-Bucio v. Ridge, 317 F.Supp.2d 1221 (W.D.Wash. 2004) (challenge to DHS policy of mandatory detention for certain non-citizens);

Immigrant Assistance Project v. INS, 306 F.3d 842 (9th Cir. 2002) (nationwide class actional lawsuit challenging INS's interpretation of "known to the Gobernment" and "continuous unlawful residence" for purposes of the legalization program);

Gorbach v. Reno, 219 F.3d 1087 (9th cir. 2000) (en banc) (nationanwide class action lawsuit invalidating INS regulation authorizing administrative denaturalization);

Proyecto San Pablo v. INS, 189 F.3d 1130 (9th cir. 1999) (class action lawsuit on behalf of legalization applicants who were deported after January 1, 1982);

Walters v. Reno, 145 F.3d 1032 (9th Cir. 1998); Gete v. INS, 121 F.3d 1285 (9th Cir. 1998) (national class action lawsuit setting aside INS regulation of document fraud procedures);

Gete v. INS, 121 F.3d 1285 (9th cir. 1997) (class action law suit invalidating INS vehicle seizure procedures);

Reno v. Catholic Social Services, 509 U.S. 43 (1993) (class action lawsuit challenging INS implementation of the legalization program). 

Mr. Pauw is author of  LITIGATING IMMIGRATION CASES IN FEDERAL COURT (2009). His published articles include "Plenary Power: An Outmoded Doctrine," 51 Emory L.Jl. 1095 (2002); and "A New Look at Deportation as a Punishment: Why at Least Some of the Constitution's Criminal Procedure Protections Must Apply." 52 Admin L. Rev. (2000.) He has recieved numerous awards, includin AILA's Jack Wasserman Award for Excellence in Litigation, the NWIRP Amicus Award for the pursuit of justice for low-income immigrants and refugees, and the National Lawyers Guild's Carol King Award.

Neha Chandola

Neha Chandola has over nine years of experience in the area of immigration law.  Before joining the firm as an associate, Ms. Chandola served as the Legal Director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, Washington. Prior to joining NWIRP, Ms. Chandola was in solo practice in Tucson, Arizona, focusing on immigration cases. She began practicing immigration law as a staff attorney with the Tucson Ecumenical Council for Legal Assistance (TECLA), a project that, like NWIRP, had its origins assisting Salvadorans and Guatemalan refugees fleeing their countries' wars in the 1980's.  Ms. Chandola served as the secretary of the Board of the Asylum Program of Southern Arizona and is a former member of the Board of Chaya.  Chaya is a community based nonprofit organization that serves South Asian women impacted by domestic violence.  In addition, in 2001, Ms. Chandola received an Award for Outstanding Dedication to Battered Immigrant Women by the Southeastern Arizona Behavior Health Service.

Erin Cipolla

Erin Cipolla graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, with a concentration in international law. During law school Erin served as a senior articles editor for the Hastings Law Journal and externed for the Honorable Alan C. Kay of the United States District Court, District of Hawaii. As a student Erin participated in the Civil Justice and Refugee and Human Rights clinical programs and volunteered at La Raza Centro Legal immigration clinic. Prior to joining Gibbs Houston Pauw, Erin was a fellow at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, where she represented individuals before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Seattle Immigration Court, and completed internships at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, Netherlands, and the Center for Justice and International Law in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Erin is fluent in Spanish.

Devin Theriot-Orr

Devin T. Theriot-Orr graduated with high honors from the University of Washington School of Law in 2003 and joined the law firm of Edwards Sieh Smith & Goodfriend where he practiced complex, appellate litigation in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Washington State Supreme Court and the Washington Court of Appeals. In law school, Devin was a student in the immigration clinic where he represented clients before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Seattle Immigration Court. Following graduation, Devin continued his pro bono publico service with Northwest Immigrant Rights Project where he obtained relief for an asylum client before the Ninth Circuit and helped immigrant survivors of domestic violence obtain legal status in the United States. Devin spent two years living and working in South Asia where, as the Director of the Rule of Law Project in Lahore, Pakistan, he organized lawyers and law students in response to then-President Pervez Musharraf's coup d'etat in November 2007. Devin joined Gibbs Houston Pauw in September 2008. Devin is an adjunct professor of law at Seattle University School of Law.

Ralph Hua

Ralph Hua is a member of the Washington State Bar. He graduated from Seattle University School of Law, and later obtained his LL.M. in International Legal Studies from American University, Washington College of Law in Washington D.C. His specialization during that program was International Human Rights Law. During his time in Washington D.C., he also interned in the Refugee and Migrant Rights sector of Amnesty International USA. Ralph is fluent in Mandarin.

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