Dear Readers:

I’m writing this week’s Openers on a flight en route to Vancouver , Canada where the annual meeting of the American Immigration Lawyers Association will be taking place. Many of our immigration lawyer readers will be there and I look forward to seeing you there.  

One of the key reasons I attend the annual AILA meeting each year is because the leading government officials involved in immigration attend and it is possible to learn about where the various agencies are headed as well as get specific policy questions answered. High on the priority list will be attending a session that will discuss the recent shocking announcement that one of America ’s largest immigration law firms is having all of its PERM cases audited and over something that seems like little more than the law firm providing legal advice to its clients.  

We’ll also want to hear about a variety of adjudication problems that are happening at the USCIS Service Centers where examiner are more and more frequently coming up with decisions that are out of left field and ignore decades of precedent.  

I’m also excited for my colleague Karen Weinstock in our Atlanta office who will be signing copies of her new H-1B book at the ILW booth in the exhibit hall. Karen’s book is really great and I’ve already been using the manuscript as a reference tool on my desktop.  

I’ll be speaking on a panel on marketing in the mature law firm with Cynthia Juarez-Lange from the Fragomen firm and Paul McLaughlin, a law firm practice management advisor in Alberta , Canada who I’ve been friends with for many years. My colleague Ari Sauer will be speaking on a panel on the Child Status Protection Act. Ari’s become a nationally known expert in this area of immigration law.  

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In firm news, My partner Lynn Susser and I have been named to Whos Who in International Corporate Immigration Law. I was also quoted in the news twice this week. The Memphis Commercial Appeal interviewed me for a story on foreign nurses. The National Law Journal interviewed me for a story on the Department of Labor auditing of the large immigration firm I noted above.  

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Finally, as always, if you are interested in becoming a Siskind Susser Bland client, please feel welcome to email me at gsiskind@visalaw.com or contact us at 800-748-3819 to arrange for a telephone or in person consultation with one of our lawyers.  

Regards, 

Greg Siskind