Beryl Bergquist (1949- ), known as Beryl B. Farris during her married years, was born to Vincent Finval Bergquist (1913-?) and Helen Dodd Buck Bergquist (1919-?) in Columbus, Georgia, where she was raised. Bergquist graduated from Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Physics in 1971. She then lived in Norfolk, Virginia, before moving to Gaeta, Italy, for two years. After earning her law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1977, she opened her own law practice, Beryl B. Farris Immigration and Customs Law. Bergquist also completed a short course in international business at the London Business School as a member of the 1987 class of the Society of International Business Fellows. In 1985, she was elected president of the Emory Law School Alumni Association and was named a distinguished alumna for Sweet Briar College. Bergquist won a federal court case that recognized engineering as an appropriate profession for prospective immigrants and compelled the Immigration and Naturalization Service to grant a professional visa to her client. In addition, she wrote legislation that required issuance of Georgia birth certificates to foreign-born adoptive children where they could choose to list their birth country or the United States.