GREENVILLE, S.C. – The National Law Journal has named Nelson Mullins Greenville partner Henry “Buzz” Burwell a 2020 “Immigration Trailblazer.” The recognitions are given to legal professionals “who have made significant marks on the practice, policy, and technological advancements in their sector,” according to the legal publisher.

Burwell has spent more than 40 years in immigration law and serves as co-leader of Nelson Mullins’ International Practice Group. The publication noted that Burwell has devoted part of his practice to pro bono work, including reuniting a mother and child from Ecuador fleeing a father’s attempt to kidnap the child to Spain, helping a college student and his mother from Sierra Leone remain in the United States to finish school and become a dental surgeon, and obtaining dismissal of deportation of a Colombian woman married to an undercover drug agent threatened by the guerrilla movement.

Early in his private sector service, Burwell worked as counsel for an airline that flew aircraft manufactured in Japan. “We had foreign national captains available to us. I prepared my first labor certification, learned about permanent residency, and suddenly found myself in the immigration world,” he said.

Burwell represents multinational businesses in a variety of transnational trade, investment and commercial undertakings, establishment of entities, import and export trade controls, customs audits/actions, defense procurement, and aviation transactions in more than 20 countries. He founded both the S.C. Bar’s International Law Committee and the Japan American Association of South Carolina.

Established in 1897, Nelson Mullins has more than 800 attorneys and government relations professionals with offices in 11 states and Washington, D.C. For more information on the firm, go to www.nelsonmullins.com.