Senior Associate University Counsel  & Director, International Legal Relations 

(860) 486-5796

lesley.salafia@uconn.edu / International Employment – Visa Sponsorship

Lesley Salafia serves as a Senior Associate University Counsel & Director, International Legal Relations in the University of Connecticut’s Office of the General Counsel. She provides legal services in connection with a wide range of issues and initiatives at the University with a focus on Global Affairs, Student Affairs and Student Activities, Human Resources, and the Office of the Provost. She serves as the signatory authority and provides legal analysis, preparation and review of employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant visa petitions on behalf of the foreign national faculty and staff at the University of Connecticut. She presents within Connecticut and nationally on topics concerning immigration and higher education.

Before joining the University of Connecticut in 2010, Lesley was an associate in the Hartford office of the law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP. There, she served in the immigration and employment litigation practice groups, representing employers throughout immigration processing and handling claims of employment discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment and wage violations. She has represented clients in State and Federal Court, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (“CHRO”), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), the Department of Labor, federal funding agencies, and before arbitration panels. Lesley has also represented clients in immigration matters before the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals and the U.S. Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals. She was selected one of Connecticut’s Rising Stars 2009 by Super Lawyers Magazine. Lesley graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law and received her Bachelor of Arts degree, Summa Cum Laude from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.