DAVID MELIK TELFER, ESQ. | FOUNDER
Education: UCLA School of Law J.D., 2008 | UNC- Chapel Hill, B.A. 2003 Magna Cum Laude & Highest Honors
Admissions: California, United States District Court for the Central District of California, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Languages: English (native), Portuguese (fluent), Spanish (fluent)
David Telfer is the founder and managing attorney at DMT Law Firm. Mr. Telfer graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from the University of North Carolina with a degree in Romance Languages and from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law with his Juris Doctorate. At UCLA, Mr. Telfer focused on international law and spent a semester studying law in Florianopolis, Brazil at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Mr. Telfer has also lived and/or studied in many cities and countries across the globe including Sao Paulo, Brazil; Florianopolis, Brazil; Seville, Spain; and Panama City, Panama.
Upon graduating from UCLA School of Law, Mr. Telfer worked at one of the nation's most prominent entertainment law firms, Greenberg Glusker in Century City. Subsequently, Mr. Telfer worked on a series of entrepreneurial and consulting projects including founding and operating one of Los Angeles’s largest Mixed Martial Art (MMA) gyms and consulting for import/export companies in Latin America. He also founded a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu clothing brand that provides underprivileged children in Latin America with equipment and funds for training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and other martial arts.
Mr. Telfer truly enjoys working directly with clients to resolve family and business immigration matters as well as legal issues facing entrepreneurs and small businesses. Mr. Telfer speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese and conversational French. His long list of clients includes myriad GRAMMY Award winners, BAFTA winners, UFC Champions, start-ups, and families from hundreds of countries around the world.
PAST & UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
- Presenter: US Immigration for the Australian Music Industry, BigSound, Export USA, Brisbane, Australia, September 2024
- Presenter: US Immigration for the New Zealand Music Industry, Going Global, USA Visas 101 & Market USA, Auckland, New Zealand, August 2024
- Presenter: O-1 Visas, AILA Paralegal Conference: Las Vegas, August 2024
- Presenter: US Immigration for Entertainers, BigSound Australia: Brisbane, Australia, Sept 2023
- Presenter: US Immigration for the Music Industry, AILA ACES Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona, Sept 2023
- Presenter: O-1A and O-1B: Extraordinary Ability and Entertainers, June 2023, AILA National Conference, Orlando, FL
- Published: O-1A and O-1B: Extraordinary Ability and Entertainers, June 2023, AILA National Conference Handbook
- Presenter: Creative Solutions For Complex O-1 And EB-1A Extraordinary Ability Petitions, November 2022, 35th Annual AILA California Chapters Conference
- Published: Creative Solutions For Complex O-1 And EB-1A Extraordinary Ability Petitions, November 2022, 35th Annual AILA California Chapters Conference Handbook
- Presenter: O/P Visas for Musicians (Intermediate to Expert), 2023. Immigration Lawyers Toolbox® Panel. Link