Maria Regina Violeta T. Gabuyo is a Filipino immigrant who was admitted to the State Bar of California. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Santo Tomas and her Bachelor of Laws from the University of the East in the Philippines. She is also admitted to the practice of law in the Philippines.
While in the Philippines, Regina worked as a lawyer in the government and private sectors. She served as an attorney for the Court of Appeals. She also became the head of the International Affairs Division of the Professional Regulation Commission wherein she was sent to be a member of the Philippine delegation to the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Services in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was also a corporate lawyer for one of the private utility companies in the Philippines heading its litigation, contracts, and administrative divisions of its legal department on different occasions. At the same time, she was a professor in business law for two universities where she was awarded a Teaching Excellence recognition by the University and was given an Outstanding Performance Evaluation by the student body.
As an immigrant herself, Regina was drawn to the immigration practice. Her representation includes nonimmigrant visas (work related, consular processing, change of status and U-visas) and immigrant visas (family-based petitions, consular processing, and adjustment of status). She possesses significant experience with waivers (fraud, 3/10-year bar, I-751, J-1, Adam Walsh, I-212). She successfully helps clients in their applications under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and requests for humanitarian reinstatement and/or parole. She represents clients in immigration court proceedings (deportation and removal). She represents minor aliens in State Court to obtain their SIJS status and eventually their lawful permanent residence status with USCIS. She also assists clients through the naturalization process to obtain United States citizenship.
Prior to Regina’s admission to the California bar, she had extensively worked in an employment law firm.