In my prior legal job, I represented insurance companies. Â My job was to find the weaknesses in injured people's cases and figure out ways to minimize the exposure to the insurance company. Â I did my job very well. Â The day that I decided to quit that area of the law was the day that I had to cross-examine a mother about the tragic death of her son, who had been runover in a speedboat collision. Â Not a fun task.
Practicing immigration law has allowed me to represent individuals and to stand up for their rights. Â No longer is my goal to minimize the amount of money that an insurance company has to let go. Â Now my goal is to protect my clients' ability to live, work and remain in the U.S. Â In insurance cases, most cases settle. Â In immigration, it is much closer to a zero sum game - you either win or you lose. Â Your client receives the visa, or she does not. Â Your client gets to stay in the U.S., or he gets deported. Â Not a lot of gray area.
The other nice aspect of representing individuals in immigration is the great stories you get to hear about people's exciting lives. Â Many people experience tremendous hardships in coming to the U.S. and work very hard to make a successful life here. Â In my humble opinion, the vast majority of immigrants - both those "legal" and "illegal" - want the same things as everyone else - safety, warmth, food, a nice life. Â Helping them get there is a great reward for me.
This morning, I spent some time with a mom and dad and their adopted son. Â The son came from Central America several years ago and had great difficulty in getting his naturalization certificate. Â He was eligible to become a citizen because his adopting mother was a U.S. citizen. Â But due to some bureaucratic snafus at USCIS, his application for a naturalization certificate had been denied. Â When we got involved, the application had been denied and the time to appeal had expired. Â We gathered additional documentation in support of the case and asked USCIS to reopen. Â Surprisingly, they agreed and, with very little fanfare, scheduled the boy for this morning's ceremony.
Nothing beats standing next to the happy parents, the naturalizing boy and a bunch of new citizens, reciting the pledge of allegiance together. Â Knowing that I helped, in a very small way, to bring that about means a whole lot more than the fee that our office earned on the case.