Rachael E. Petterson

Professorial Lecturer in Law


2000 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20052

Rachael E. Petterson is an attorney and founding member of Zeman and Petterson, PLLC. Prior to forming Zeman and Petterson, Ms. Petterson was an attorney at several immigration law firms, where she represented clients in family and humanitarian-based immigration cases. Her practice built on her experience as the Interim Director of the Immigration Clinic at The George Washington University Law School, where she supervised students representing clients before the Arlington Immigration Court and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

She previously worked as an Attorney and Graduate Assistant to Professor Alberto Benitez, the Director of the George Washington University Immigration Clinic. Ms. Petterson has spoken about immigration related topics in multiple forums, including the GW Law Symposium on Humanitarian Relief, CloseUp DC, and the Virginia Bar continuing legal education program. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala before entering law school and speaks fluent Spanish.

Ms. Petterson represents clients before the Immigration Courts and Board of Immigration Appeals. She also focuses on affirmative asylum claims, family-based petitions and consular processing, waivers of inadmissibility, and U-Visa, VAWA, and SIJS petitions. Ms. Petterson is licensed in Virginia and Washington, DC.


BA, Texas Christian University; JD, George Washington University