Alcorn Law is becoming Founder Law
Today, we would like to share a major change: Alcorn Law is becoming Founder Law. The why is simple. Sophie Alcorn’s work as an author, podcast host, and immigration policy advocate reflects a core belief that is at the center of the new name: when the law limits a founder's opportunity, the right response is expert, principled work to expand it.
For over a decade, we've practiced under the name Alcorn Immigration Law, helping US businesses bring international employees with the necessary abilities and achievements to help their companies succeed, or helping tech startups and their founders build futures in the United States. Founder Law is what happens when a firm that has spent years quietly building foundations for founders finally names itself after the job.
Why We’re Rebranding
When clients describe what we do, they rarely lead with “immigration.“ They say we helped them lay a foundation in the United States: hire the engineer they couldn't lose, keep a co-founder in the country, build something that lasts. Immigration strategy was the tool. The foundation was the point.
We believe founders make the world measurably better. They create jobs, advance research, and solve problems that institutions can't. What founders need, and too often lack, is access to the legal infrastructure that turns vision into a durable company. That access is what we exist to provide.
The new name reflects three convictions we've operated on for years:
Founders deserve counsel organized around their goals
A visa is a means to an end. We start from where a founder wants to take their company and work backward to the legal strategy that gets them there.
Legal work for founders is foundational, not transactional.
The decisions a company makes early, such as who it hires, how it secures talent, or how it positions itself for growth, compound for years and consistently need to be evaluated. Founder Law aims to be the legal consultant in those matters.
Expert human judgment is the differentiator.
A new generation of automated legal tools handles forms at scale. Complex, high-stakes founder cases require an attorney who is accountable for the outcome.
What’s Changing
For years, clients came to us with an immigration problem and we helped solve it. Founder Law begins from a different question: what are you trying to build, and what does it take, legally, to build it here? Immigration is one answer to that question. Increasingly, for many of the founders we work with, it isn't the whole answer, and sometimes it isn't part of the answer at all.
So three things are shifting in how we engage:
We Orient Around Your Company
The starting point is your goals as a founder or business owner building in the U.S.
Expanding The Foundation We Help Founders
We are moving beyond standalone immigration solutions to offer holistic, structural support. Whether you need corporate setup, compliance guidance, or strategic planning, we are here to help you establish a secure base for long-term growth.
The Same Proven Immigration Advice
Where immigration strategy is the right tool, it will remain a focus, now sitting inside a broader commitment to your company's foundation.
What this is not is a new firm. Same founding attorney, Sophie Alcorn. Same team. Same track record. We've just named ourselves after the people we've always built for.
Why A Law Firm, And Not A Legal Tech Product
Sophie has tracked the rise of founder-focused legal startups closely. Many are capable software products for standardized, high-volume tasks. We are a different kind of organization, and the distinction matters most exactly when the stakes are highest:
Accountability
An attorney of record is professionally responsible for your case.
Strategy under ambiguity
Extraordinary-ability petitions and complex corporate immigration turn on judgment: how to frame evidence, sequence filings, and position a company over years. These are not form-fill problems.
A track record that predates the trend.
We were named Global Law Experts' 2019 "Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services" before founder-focused legal tech was a category.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a premier immigration law firm in Silicon Valley, we spend a great deal of time guiding startup founders and business leaders through the visa application process. Some of the most frequently asked questions that we receive from current and prospective clients include the following.
Does Founder Law still handle immigration cases?
Yes. Immigration for O-1, EB-1A, and EB-2 NIW remains a strategy for individuals of extraordinary ability and corporate immigration for high-growth companies.
Who is Sophie Alcorn?
Sophie Alcorn is the founding attorney of Founder Law (formerly Alcorn Law) and a Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She writes for the Ask Sophie column, hosts The Sophie Alcorn Podcast, and helped draft the LIKE Act, a proposed U.S. startup visa.
What is Founder Law?
Founder Law, formerly known as Alcorn Law, is a law firm led by founding attorney Sophie Alcorn. The firm focuses on providing foundational legal counsel, corporate setup, compliance consulting, and U.S. immigration advice for tech founders, startups, and business owners.
Why did Alcorn Law become Founder Law?
Alcorn Law rebranded to Founder Law to accurately reflect its core focus: building solid foundations for founders. The name change highlights their dedication to organizing legal counsel around founders' goals and providing the legal infrastructure needed to turn a vision into a durable company.
Does Founder Law help startup founders?
Yes, Founder Law explicitly helps tech startups and their founders build futures in the United States. They provide the foundational legal infrastructure, structural support, and immigration strategies founders need to position themselves for long-term growth and success.
What legal services does Founder Law provide?
Founder Law offers holistic, structural support, including corporate setup, compliance guidance, and strategic planning. Additionally, they continue to provide proven immigration services for high-growth companies.
Your next move deserves more attention.
The wrong immigration strategy can cost you years of progress and mounting legal fees. Founder Law has spent over two decades guiding the tech industry’s top talent and the companies building around them.
We review where you are, map the realistic pathways, and tell you which ones actually fit your timeline, your goals, and your risk tolerance. You leave with a plan, whether you hire us or not. If your career or your company depends on getting this right, let’s talk.