Helen Tarokic, Esq.

Helen L. Tarokic, Esq. is an immigration attorney who counsels both individuals and businesses in all aspects of immigration law, including citizenship, humanitarian and victim visas, non-detained removal defense, and employment and business immigration. 

Attorney Tarokic is nationally recognized for being on the cutting edge of T and U visa law practice. She is dedicated to teaching other attorneys to identify and assist trafficking victims through hosting webinars on T Visa practice, where social workers and law enforcement are also welcome to develop a community with diverse experience and skills to serve victims. 

Attorney Tarokic is Board Certified in Immigration Law by the North Carolina State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization in North Carolina. Ms. Tarokic is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Since immigration falls under federal law, Ms. Tarokic can represent individual and business clients throughout the U.S. and abroad in their U.S. immigration matters. She is admitted to practice in the NC Courts as well as the Federal District Court for the Middle District of NC. 

Attorney Tarokic has been an immigration attorney since 2006, counseling clients in both English and Spanish. She learned to speak Spanish through immersion programs in Taxco, Mexico, and Santiago, Chile, while in college, and it was those programs that inspired her to want to work with Spanish speakers for the rest of her life. As a first-generation American, she also speaks Croatian. Her practice also includes significant attention to the needs of Hindi, Gujarati, and Urdu speaking clients. She is committed to working with a team of interpreters to try to ensure that even at the consultation stage, people are able to receive legal advice in the language they understand best.

Attorney Tarokic obtained her J.D. (law degree) from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2006, with awards for mentoring and promoting the concerns of women in the legal profession. Prior to law school, she was a business immigration paralegal at Zulkie Partners LLC, in Chicago, IL (2000-2003). She graduated summa cum laude from Lake Forest College near Chicago, Illinois, in 2000 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in International Relations. 

Her education in psychology has helped her understand how, as an attorney, a trauma-informed approach to legal consultations, interviewing clients, and preparing them for their immigration process, is critical. She developed new and unique screening methods for consultations which take on a multi-step approach to gathering information confidentially for a legal consultation. She has a great support team that helps with these steps leading up to the day of the consultation. 

She is a dual citizen of the US and Croatia, and her family’s immigration experience also inspired the work she does today. Attorney Tarokic has made advocating for immigrant rights and helping the world better understand immigration her professional mission for over two decades. 

Recent Activities and Writing

• “T Nonimmigrant Visas: An Opportunity to Provide a Path Forward,” January 10, 2023, AILA Think Immigration Blog. This article was written in coordination with Attorney Jesse Bless, with whom Attorney Tarokic often works on federal litigation challenging delayed and denied petitions. 
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Writing and Media History

• Book: “Ignite Your Practice With the T Visa: A Guide for Immigration Lawyers,” Alexandra Lozano, Esq. and Helen Tarokic, Esq. Available for sale on Amazon.
• “Helen L. Tarokic – Obama has an obligation to comprehend basic issues,” July 17, 2014, Star News Online. 
• Interviewed in: “CoastLine: Human Trafficking Victims Could Be In Nail Salons, Restaurants, Hotels”, WHQR, November 30, 2018.

Awards and Recognitions

• 2017-2024 – Selected to Super Lawyer. “Only a few attorneys from each state are selected to Super Lawyers designation for any given year. The multi-factor selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and evaluations, as well as professional achievement in legal practice.”
• 2018 – AILA Recognizes Helen L. Tarokic with the 2018 Sam Williamson Mentor Award
• 2016 – Helen Tarokic Law, PLLC wins UNCW Community Partner Award for Excellence in University Engagement, for their work coordinating Spanish speaking student volunteers to assist deportation defense attorneys in Dilley Detention Center in helping refugee babies and their mothers to be freed from immigration detention.
• 2012-13; 2015-16 – recognized as Top Young Attorney in North Carolina Rising Stars 

Featured speaker:

• 2022 – AILA Carolinas Chapter Conference Speaker (Topic: T Visas and Humanitarian Relief) and Program Coordinator 
• 2021 – AILA Carolinas Chapter Conference Speaker (Topic: T Visas and Humanitarian Relief) and Program Coordinator 
• 2019 – AILA Carolinas Chapter Conference Speaker (Topic: H-1B) and Program Coordinator 
• 2018 – June AILA National Conference in San Francisco, CA (Topic: T Visas)
• 2017 – AILA Midwinter CLE Conference in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten (Topic: law practice management/immigration).
• 2015 – AILA Annual Conference in Baltimore, MD (Topic: removal defense/case management), 
• 2010 – AILA Paralegal Conference in Washington, D.C. (Topic: naturalization)
• 2008 – AILA Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada (Topic: I-140 ability to pay/business immigration)