What makes a good immigration attorney

Glowing Record with the State Bar Association If any attorney has ever been censured or had formal complaints filed against him by, for instance, former clients, records of these matters will be recorded and kept by the state bar association. Has good communication skills At any given point while your immigration matters are moving forward, you will likely want to be kept in the loop and informed about what is happening with your case, what challenges may be arising and what you may need to do to overcome these obstacles.

This means that you need to be able to rely on the fact that your immigration lawyer will be proactive about reaching out to you and that, when he does, he will be forthright about the status of your case. If a lawyer has a history of not getting back to his former clients which you may learn about from client testimonials, for example , then be careful about moving forward with that attorney, and continue shopping around for another lawyer.

Services in Multiple Languages While you may speak and read English fluently, having an immigration attorney who provides services in multiple languages can be essential if your immigration affairs involves family members, colleagues or others who do not speak or who only speak limited English. If language may be an issue for you or someone else who will be involved in your immigration case, make sure that any lawyer who you choose to hire and move forward with offers services in your native or preferred language.

Honesty At the end of the day, you need to be able to trust your immigration attorney, rely on him to tell you the truth about your case at any given time and give you clear, upfront advice regarding your options when your case hits roadblocks or any challenges. At the Hanlon Law Group, P. Shopping around for an immigration lawyer can be quite overwhelming.

There are so many standout attorneys across the United States that you may not even know where to start looking. However, you can make the process smoother by looking for qualities that may suit your personality and situation the best. Before you sign on a lawyer to represent you, consider whether they have any of the following traits. When you begin looking for immigration lawyers in Las Vegas and further afield, one of the essential qualities to consider is communication skills.

The legal language can be complicated at the best of times. However, when navigating your way through immigration paperwork, there can be terms and phrases that can be misunderstood through language barriers.

A legal team that can explain everything you need for filing your paperwork can take a significant weight from your shoulders. Regardless of the level of legal advice you require, it can be helpful to have a persevering lawyer on your side. Any missteps can cause significant delays of months or more. Immigration law is very complex and is extraordinarily detail-intensive. An immigration attorney who claims to have immigration law experience but also represents clients in criminal law or corporate law is not likely to have the same expertise as one who practices immigration law exclusively.

Often, attorneys who practice immigration as well as other fields such as corporate or family law, do not have a great understanding of immigration law as a whole.

More often than not, they have some understanding of simple petitions and may handle standard cases, but they tend not to have broad immigration law experience or expertise for more complicated cases. Even if you think your case is simple, you probably want to have the best representation possible to improve your chances of getting your case approved. The immigration attorney practices with others in a multi-lawyer firm.

When you hire an immigration lawyer, you are not hiring just one person to handle your case, you are hiring a team of legal professionals. The advantage of hiring an attorney from a multi-lawyer practice is that your attorney will have an immediate pool of additional resources to serve you. No one can be an expert in everything — having a team of talented and experienced immigration lawyers working closely together will inspire and allow your attorney to tackle a myriad of different immigration issues.

You can also continue to receive communication from the legal team in case your lawyer is out of the office, such as attending an immigration appointment with other clients, appearing in immigration court, or out on vacation. Is well-known and well-respected in the community. Immigration law is a very specialized field and reputation is everything.

Before hiring an immigration lawyer, do your research to find out if your lawyer is a respected member of the professional community. Your local state bar website will disclose if your attorney has any complaints or violations that have been filed against them. This is the official professional organization for immigration lawyers and can provide you with recommendations on immigration lawyers in your area.

For that, you will have to look into client reviews, such as Google reviews on such authority websites as Avvo , an online lawyer directory featuring client testimonials.

Very few client reviews can be telling but many positive client reviews over from trusted sources like Google reviews that require an account to submit them are great resources. Examining client testimonials from third-party websites such as Google can be a tremendous help in your research.