Ann Robertson: Loyalty, Longevity & Levity

Ann Robertson’s early career goals never included being one of the first five immigration lawyers in Raleigh, and the second lawyer in Raleigh to be certified as a board-certified specialist in immigration law after that specialty was created in 2007.

Her goal was to become a French professor.

She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in French, and she also earned a master’s degree in French. She particularly enjoyed earning a Certificat d’Etudes from the University of Poitiers in La Rochelle, France. She taught French at UNC-Greensboro and High Point University. But when there weren’t many full-time professor opportunities, she shifted her goal to a career in college and university administration. She earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Duke University, a program championed by President Terry Sanford. Then she earned a Juris Doctor from UNC to “add a feather to my cap” in her aspiration to someday become the president of a major college or university.

But Robertson was disturbed to learn that raising money, at which she is a whiz, was the core responsibility of a college president. It was not intellectual pursuits, working with faculty and charting the academic path, as she had hoped it would be.

Robertson came to Raleigh after law school to clerk at the Court of Appeals for the Honorable John B. Lewis, Jr. During that time, she heard of immigrants in Raleigh from the country of Zaire who needed to talk to a lawyer, but they only spoke French and their native African languages. She discovered that they needed to apply for asylum.

“That’s it. That’s the story. I was hooked!” said Robertson who began her immigration practice in 1992.

She applied lessons that she had learned from her father, Dr. Leon Robertson, who was a family doctor in Rocky Mount for 60 years.

“He was such an inspiration,” said Robertson. “He would deliver a baby and then be that baby’s doctor for the next 60 years. He said that he enjoyed his work so much that he didn’t want to stop practicing medicine. I feel that same enthusiasm for my work because I get to know my clients so well, and I know their families and their friends, and their life stories. My father said to me that he learned during his 60 years of practice that the best way he could be a good physician was to love his patients.

“I wish to follow in the footsteps of my father,” she added, “to love my clients and to help them and their families for a very long time, creating a bond that is truly meaningful.”