You’re the Boss Blog: How Would Immigration Reform Affect Small Businesses?

We just published a conversation with Sheela Murthy, founder of the Murthy Law Firm, which handles immigration matters. In the interview, Ms. Murthy, an Indian immigrant, discussed her firm’s heavily trafficked Web site and her initial skepticism about “giving away” information online. She also shared her thoughts on managing and motivating employees, the pros and cons of creating a “bigger empire,” and what immigration reform, which appears increasingly likely, would mean for businesses — including hers.

She Owns It

Portraits of women entrepreneurs.

Based in Owings Mills, Md. with an office in India, the Murthy Law Firm has about 110 employees and annual revenue of  more than $10 million. Should an immigration bill pass Congress, the firm is likely to become even busier as more of its clients would be eligible for visas under the newly created EB-6, or start-up, visa category. “Ultimately, the present version of the bill would help bring in more investors and entrepreneurs,” she said, which would be good for business.

While she’s not interested in being “big for the sake of being big,” Ms. Murthy said the firm has worldwide name brand recognition in the immigration field that it could better capitalize on. For this reason, and to provide more opportunities for the firm’s lawyers, she has considered opening other offices. Three years ago, a group of technology business owners in Dallas offered the Murthy firm free office space if it opened a branch there. While the offer was attractive, Ms. Murthy turned it down. With growth, she said, there are always challenges. “If you have problems with 1 percent of your employees or cases, that translates into more problems the bigger you get,” she said.

To learn more about Ms. Murthy’s background, take a look at this video (above) from the Story Exchange, a nonprofit media organization that shares the personal and professional stories of entrepreneurial women around the world.

Do you think immigration reform would affect your business?

You can follow Adriana Gardella on Twitter.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/how-would-immigration-reform-affect-small-businesses/?partner=rss&emc=rss