A MESSAGE FROM SISKIND, SUSSER, HAAS & DEVINE

This week, I attended the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in New York City. While many of the 10,000+ lawyers who attend the meeting go mainly for fun and maybe to pick up some credits for attending continuing legal education courses, I usually spend most of my time in meetings.

At the ABA, I wear two very different hats that represent both sides of my career. On the one hand, I run a business - a law firm - and the ABA is a great organization to help me in that regard. I currently serve on the governing council and as vice-chair of publishing for the ABA's Law Practice Management Section. I became active in the section a few years ago after the ABA published my book THE LAWYER'S GUIDE TO MARKETING ON THE INTERNET. As a partner in a law firm, I contend daily with a variety of issues that relate to the management side of my practice - technology issues, personnel management, marketing, etc. The Law Practice Management Section has more than 15,000 members and provides a variety of resources to help lawyers practice more effectively. As a member of LPM's publishing board, I am involved with producing and selling 100+ books on law practice management. LPM also runs the ABA Techshow™, the largest law office technology conference and exhibition in the country. LPM is also known for the excellent Law Practice Management magazine. My involvement with this ABA section has helped enormously in my practice not just in terms of making it more profitable, but in also developing a practice that better serves our clients.

The other hat I wear at the ABA reflects the substantive area of my practice - immigration law. On Saturday, I attended the meeting of the ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law, on which I serve as a member. The Coordinating Committee is primarily charged with developing immigration policies for the ABA as well as advocating for them in Washington. The Coordinating Committee's budget is limited and its staff is small, but Director Carol Wolchok has managed to make the ABA one of the most important voices in the policy debate on immigration. This year, the ABA is devoting considerable efforts to push for such things as repealing many of the harshest provisions of the 1996 Immigration Act, restoring 245i relief and developing systems to protect unaccompanied minors in immigration proceedings. At the meeting this week, all of these issues were discussed as well as very specific details on what Congress can be expected to do on immigration matters as a whole this year.

The roundtable meeting also included a very frank hour-plus long discussion with INS General Counsel Bo Cooper. With all of the problems facing the INS these days, Mr. Cooper, who has only been in his position a few months, certainly has a great challenge in front of him. He began his tenure by having to deal with the Elian Gonzalez case, certainly more than he probably bargained for when he accepted his appointment. Now he is able to again focus on a number of the pressing issues facing the agency - the lack of regulations in a variety of key areas, ongoing problems with processing times, dealing with a 1996 Immigration Act that the agency openly concedes went way too far, etc. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Mr. Cooper was the openness he expressed to listening to the frustrations of the lawyers in attendance. He seemed genuinely interested in receiving input on how the INS could improve, though he cautioned, appropriately, that with a bureaucracy like the INS, rapid change is basically impossible.

One of the more interesting projects we discussed that the Coordinating Committee's staff members have been working on is the development of an extremely helpful immigration guide for judges around the country. That book will soon be available and will no doubt be invaluable in teaching judges who otherwise are not immigration experts. That book is now complete and will distribution will begin in the not too distant future.

In other firm news, we are pleased to welcome to new attorneys to our Nashville office.

Laura Stewart is an associate in SSHD’s Nashville, TN office. Her practice focuses primarily on family-based immigration and asylum cases. Prior to becoming a lawyer in 1999, Laura worked for many years as a paralegal in the firm. She recently has been named to the board of trustees of Abintra Montessori School in Nashville, TN. She is a member of American Immigration Lawyer’s Association, Tennessee Bar Association, the Nashville Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and of the Lawyer’s Association for Women. Laura was originally drawn to Nashville in August of 1991 by Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and she received her master’s degree in Theological Studies from Vanderbilt in May of 1994. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The College of Wooster in Wooster, OH where she received her B.A. in history in 1991. Laura can be reached at lstewart@visalaw.com

Mary Griffin received her J.D. from the University of Tennessee School of Law in 1994 and her B.F.A. from New York University in 1987. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1988-1990 where she became fluent in Spanish. After law school, she worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Walter Kurtz and for six years as an Assistant Public Defender for Davidson County where she handled most of the Hispanic defendant cases. She speaks

frequently on issues relating to the representation of Spanish speakers before a wide variety of audiences. Ms. Griffin can also be heard in Nashville on Radio Melodias (WNQM-AM 1300) on her show “El Café De Las Siete”. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Nashville Bar Association and the Lawyers Association for Women. She is fluent in English and Spanish. Ms. Griffin may be reached at mgriffin@visalaw.com.

There is important news to report this week in immigration. Republican Presidential candidate George Bush provided some of his first detailed proposals on immigration and, in our opinion, there is reason to feel encouraged. Bush plans on addressing many of the service problems with INS rather than focusing strictly on improving enforcement (as many of his fellow Republicans seem to do). Bush proposes splitting the agency into two - an enforcement agency and a service agency. This particular proposal has divided immigration advocate. Many feel that the INS' enforcement culture is so engrained that a formal separation is the only solution. Others believe that as a separate agency, the new service branch would be struggle for proper funding.

Another important news development relates to the INS' policy of detaining indefinitely individuals who cannot be deported because the US and the individual's home country do not have deportation agreements. The INS formally introduced proposed regulations to address how INS district directors are to address these cases. We report on the proposed regulations in this issue.

In our regular features this week, we report on the latest immigration cases coming out of the nation's courts. We also include our regular ABCs of Immigration article. This week we cover M visas for vocational students. We also include government processing times, Border News and a guest commentary from immigration lawyer Gary Endelman on the H-1B debate in the Congress.

And finally, as always, we remind readers that this newsletter is published by a law firm that represents clients throughout North America. If you are interested in scheduling a telephone consultation to discuss immigration questions you may have or to discuss the possibility of Siskind, Susser, Haas & Devine handling your immigration case, please go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html. In most cases, we are able to schedule a consultation within two days and we can often accommodate evening and weekend appointments.

Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.