Varnum LLP is pleased to announce that Robert O’Malley has joined the firm as Counsel in its Business and Corporate Practice Team. Bob focuses his practice on immigration, including removal matters, regulatory compliance, and humanitarian and protection matters, such as affirmative asylum.
Bob brings more than a decade of federal experience from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), giving him unique insight into how immigration decisions are made and how agencies operate. During his tenure with DHS, he held leadership, operational, and advisory roles, most recently serving as a Senior Policy Advisor with the Border Security and Immigration Policy team at DHS Headquarters and Section Chief with the Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In these roles, he oversaw teams conducting refugee adjudications abroad and collaborated with federal partners and international agencies on policy matters, operational challenges, and priority humanitarian cases.
His DHS experience includes deployments in support of Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome, as well as assignments at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, where he supported parole operations and interagency coordination for vulnerable Afghan nationals. For his service, he received the Secretary’s Meritorious Service Silver Medal Award.
Earlier in his DHS career, Bob served as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of General Counsel, advising the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on legal, policy, and operational matters. He also gained experience with asylum adjudications, credible fear screenings, migrant protection protocols processing, and other immigration initiatives.
Before entering federal service, Bob was a law clerk at Tobin and Muñoz, L.L.C. and the Cook County Public Defender’s Office. He holds a Master of Arts in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, a Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois Chicago.
