Article:

Picking Immigration Counsel

Article by C.E.Strategies, LLC November 9, 2004 ~ featuring Advice by Christina Lang Wallace

We scoped out some helpful hints on picking your optimal immigration legal services provider. While easy when done right, immigration matters pose some unusual difficulties. Hiring a US worker, managing corporate transfers or organizing a family-based sponsorship are not easy matters. You should be able to call an attorney who can easily advise you on the right strategy or approach needed for the particular situation. Here’s what to look for in your attorneys.

1. Immigration Specialty Area. Find a law firm and make sure it specializes in immigration AND in your type of immigration problem. There are many fly-by-night notarios, as well as good law firms doing various types of law but not specializing in immigration. Even with pure immigration law firms, make sure the attorney you use has experience having handled your type of case -- temporary work visas, green cards, asylum matters, deportation/removal, cross-border immigration matters, immigration policy or I-9 training – whatever it may be.

2. Responsiveness. Make sure the firm you choose gets back to you and defines what they will do for you in short order. They will either outline a plan for you immediately and send you the appropriate questionnaire to proceed. Or they should schedule you for a consultation (usually for a fee) during which they should clearly start a course of action.

3. Fees. Keep in mind that there are always three main fees in your immigration representation: the legal fee, the disbursement charges, and the filing fees to the government. Consider whether you wish to use a firm with a Standard Flat Fee pricing structure (typical in immigration law) or whether you are hiring a firm that runs its fees on an hourly basis. You should ask for a Fee Schedule. Flat fees tend to guarantee that you are not paying for negative efficiencies.

4. Representation of Interests. When your case involves deportation/removal or asylum, your case is about you against the US government. However, in business and family immigration legal cases, the attorney normally represents the interests of two separate parties (you and the sponsor) vis-à-vis the government. This is called dual representation. Make sure that the firm doing the work represents and understands your interest and that your sponsor allows you to have reasonable access to information regarding your own case.

5. Communication/IT Tools. Your immigration law firm should have an IT communication and databasing tool that tracks certain critical information: like personal and visa information, visa projects being completed with due dates on everything, company information being utilized on government applications, expiration dates, easy to understand tracking features and reports. You may or may not get password access to it, but your law firm should be using IT tools.

6. Good Lawyering. Don't forget to check the credentials of the law firm. Immigration law, in the complexity as it exists today, is fairly new and as a result the industry is riddled with sloppy lawyering. Has the firm been around for 10+ years, have they seen the immigration landscape grow and change? Is the attorney a member of AILA, the American Immigration Lawyers Association www.aila.org?

7. Adequate staff. How large is your sponsoring company and how large is the firm's immigration group? Or, if you are working with a family based lawyer, does he or she have the time or staff to adequately and efficiently handle your immigration needs? Some corporations require several immigration lawyers and paralegals to handle the corporation's volume of cases. Some individuals need a single lawyer or paralegal to help.

Friendly Reminder: Your Job and Copies of Paperwork. When providing information to the attorney, and the government, always give copies only. This means spending a little time at a copy machine in advance (or at the lawyer’s office), to make sure you keep the original of everything you have sent or received from the US government regarding immigration and travel. Also, note that you will always be asked to provide some sort of timeline of events, either prospective dates you wish to travel, or past exits and entries to the US that are relevant to your case. Provide your counsel with thorough information.

Please do not hesitate to call our expert, Ms. Christina Wallace, to discuss your current immigration services. Ms. Wallace practices immigration law with a US-Canadian immigration firms, Serotte Cumming LLP (www.serottecumming.com). As part of her varied experience from large, multispecialty law firms to small immigration boutiques serving many types of individuals, Ms. Wallace consults clients on how to best obtain optimal immigration legal services. Christina Wallace, 703-531-0790, cwallace@cestrategy.com.