Meet Karina Bugarini
Law · Art · Movement · Change · KBLS
Licensed Attorney, New York State & Mexico
Attorney Karina Bugarini is the founder of Karina Bugarini Law Studio, PLLC, an attorney licensed in New York State and Mexico specializing in U.S. immigration law. She advises professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and individuals on complex humanitarian and cross-border matters, bringing a distinctive binational and multidisciplinary perspective to each case.
Attorney Bugarini's understanding of the profession began in Mexico, where she started in criminal law, defending people in proceedings that put their freedom at risk. The work demanded technical rigor alongside close attention to what each case meant for the person living through it. It was there that she came to understand that practicing law carries a responsibility beyond the case file.
“The person comes before the petition.”
Before founding her first law practice, Karina founded and directed two dance studios, one in San Luis Potosí and another in El Paso, Texas. She also worked with the Mexican Consulate as a cultural attaché, overseeing artist selection, curation, and theatrical productions.
“Creativity does not replace legal rigor.It expands the way a problem can be seen.”
Running a dance studio means teaching discipline and understanding movement as a form of expression that demands both rigor and sensitivity. That chapter never stayed behind. It still shows in how she listens to a client and in the attention she brings to every detail of a legal strategy.
Her background also includes several years in public service and diplomacy. As part of the Mexican Consulate in El Paso, she took part in cultural and binational outreach programs and provided high-level executive support. She later worked with a Mexican federal institution, helping draft regulatory frameworks and representing the institution before other government agencies, experience that gave her a deep understanding of how institutions operate and what it takes to build strong relationships across countries and cultures.
MovementHer decision to study law in the United States came from that same interest in serving communities that cross borders. During her studies at the University of Arizona, she took part as a student in an immigration clinic and a workers' rights clinic, and worked, under the supervision of licensed attorneys, on the representation of unaccompanied migrant minors.
Across a stage. Across countries. Across cultures. Across professions. Across borders.
Once licensed, Attorney Bugarini handled asylum matters and prepared removal defense cases, while running the operations of a firm dedicated to the immigrant community. Over time, her practice expanded into business and employment-based immigration, advising professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and investors on work visas, employment-based permanent residency, and corporate immigration strategy.
- Where it began
- Asylum & removal defense
- Where it grew
- Business & employment-based immigration
Karina Bugarini built Karina Bugarini Law Studio on an idea that has guided her career: practicing law requires truly understanding the person behind each case. That combination of experiences (criminal law, cultural management, diplomacy, work with immigrant communities, and business immigration) is the foundation of how she practices today. Before recommending a course of action, she reviews the client's full immigration history, identifies risks that aren't always obvious, and distinguishes between what the law allows, what makes strategic sense, and what still needs more information.
With Karina Bugarini Law Studio, she brought together the different threads of her story: the precision the law demands, the sensitivity art gave her, the perspective diplomacy provided, and the discipline of building something of her own. The firm handles both business and employment-based immigration for those building high-level careers and ventures, and family and humanitarian immigration for those seeking protection and stability. Both are approached with the same seriousness, because for the people living them, both are fundamental decisions.
Founder & Managing Attorney
For Attorney Bugarini, immigration has never been just a set of procedures. It's part of larger decisions about a career, a business, or a family. Her work, under her personal direction, is to analyze every situation with judgment and accountability, and to design the legal strategy that best fits what that client is building.
Education & Admissions
Credentials underpinning a cross-border, corporate-caliber approach to immigration law.
Juris Doctor (J.D.)
James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona
New York State Bar
Admitted to practice law in New York
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)
Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico
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