For many young Irish people, a J1 summer in America is a carefree rite-of-passage, but for Clare man Lorcan Shannon, it proved a springboard for his future career as a Manhattan-based immigration attorney.

During a summer off college, he secured an internship with senator Ted Kennedy and worked as part of the Irish-American's immigration team. Lorcan jokes that his impressive CV landed him the job, though his mother attributes it to his cousin putting in a good word on his behalf. "I'm sticking to my story!" he says.

Either way, the experience proved a transformative one, sparking an interest in immigration issues and giving him first-hand insights into the workings of the system.

“At the senator’s office, we could contact immigration agencies to request status updates and expedite applications,” he says. “Attorneys, unfortunately, don’t have the same access to these agencies.”

Once Lorcan graduated from NUI Galway, he headed State-side again to take the Bar exam in New York. He followed this up with a Masters in US law at North Carolina's Duke University, one of the top 10 law schools in the US.

Hardship waivers

After graduating, he got a job with an immigration firm in Houston, Texas, where he specialised in applying for extreme hardship waivers for individuals who were married to US citizens but had jumped the border illegally and so would face a 10-year ban from re-entering the country if they left the States.

“After that I got a job offer to join a boutique, full-service, family-based immigration firm in New York.” He spent four years with that firm, James O’Malley & Associates, learning a lot about immigration from Ireland as well as other countries.

He developed a strong reputation not only as a result of his work but also through his involvement with organisations like the Irish Network and the Manhattan Gaels GAA.

This year he decided to make another move. In February, at the age of just 29, he launched his own immigration law firm – the offices of Lorcan Shannon – located right on Times Square. He has already built a busy practice based on referrals and word of mouth.

“New York City is really starting to prosper again and people are always looking to relocate here, so that helps,” he says. And how is life as his own boss? “In terms of the legal side, it’s the same job, just at a different desk. You encounter the same issues on a day-to-day basis,” he says.

“I have to deal as well with business management issues, like ensuring that we have enough pens! I have some paralegals and support staff to help too.”

Success rate

One issue he’s run up against is that people sometimes think he’s a little young. However, when he explains that he’s been doing this for six years, starting at a pretty high level with Ted Kennedy and with a high success rate behind him, that usually puts people at their ease.

In terms of Irish clients, Lorcan has worked with a lot of investors from these shores keen to set up businesses in New York. He notes that there is a common misconception that business people must invest between $500,000 and $1 million in order to qualify for a US visa. “In reality, investors could obtain an E-2 investor visa with considerably less investment than that,” he says.

There is also a perception that emigrating to the US is very difficult. While it may not be as easy as moving to Canada or Australia, Lorcan believes people shouldn’t rule it out.

A surprising number of companies, particularly Irish firms in the US, are happy to sponsor foreign employees and help them emigrate legally.

“I would rarely turn someone away from my office and say there are no options,” he says. “Often, even with undocumented people, I wish I had known them five years ago. I could have found an option for them before they made a bad decision.”

What does he make of US President Barack Obama’s plan to reform the immigration system? Lorcan doesn’t believe it will be a huge help to the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US.

In order to qualify for the new scheme offering protection from deportation, the individual must have had a child born in the US at the time of the executive order announced last November, and a smaller proportion of illegal Irish have children in the US than other immigrant groups.

“It wasn’t the Holy Grail that I personally, and a lot of Irish people, were hoping for,” he says. “There will be a number of Irish who will benefit but not the huge number that the community here was hoping for… The next election is crucial and hopefully immigration will be a pivotal issue.”

So what about other young Irish hoping to emulate his success in the land of opportunity? “I get a lot of emails from young lawyers coming over from Ireland.” He says as long as they’re willing to put in the effort and the hours, the opportunities are certainly there.