Costa & Riccio LLP

Richard M. Costa has been involved exclusively in the field of immigration and nationality law for nearly forty years. He joined the Boston office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as an Immigration Inspector in 1970 after obtaining his undergraduate degree from Boston College. He was involved in a wide variety of matters at INS including responsibility for airport and seaport inspections, adjudication of applications for temporary and permanent visa status, and liaising with international student and scholar advisors. He earned his law degree in 1975 from Suffolk University Law School and thereafter became a Naturalization Attorney in the Boston INS office.

In 1979 Attorney Costa left INS in order to enter private practice. Since that time, he has limited his practice exclusively to immigration and nationality matters. He has extensive experience with most areas of immigration law, with special emphasis on complex labor certifications, employment and family based visa petitions, and adjustment of status applications. His clients include both large and small corporations, universities, hospitals and research institutions. He has extensive experience with immigration issues confronting emerging technology-based companies in such industries as software, electronics, biotechnology, and the internet. He has represented individuals from more than 150 countries.

Attorney Costa has served as an Adjunct Faculty as Lesley College where he taught a graduate course in immigration law. For many years he has taught a course entitled: "How to Obtain a Green Card" at the Boston Center for Adult Education. He has also lectured before numerous professional, student, and business groups on a variety of timely topics in the area of immigration. He is a former Chairman of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and continues to be an active member of this organization.

Laurie B. Riccio has been with the firm for more than 20 years and is now a Partner of the firm. Cecilia M. Hanley joined the firm as an Associate in 1998 and Ellen Davey-Fleming joined the firm in 1999 as an Associate, Adrienne J. Vaughan joined the firm in 2001 as an Associate.