I’ve been an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School since 2012. I created a course called “Immigration Workshop: Deportation Defense,” and I’ve really enjoyed teaching it.

One of the reasons I created the course was that I wanted to share my knowledge and experience and help make better immigration lawyers. I’m particularly proud that some of my former students are now supervisors at the Legal Aid Society and Catholic Charities.

Unfortunately, practicing immigration law has gotten too crazy under the Trump administration. For years, I was able to maintain my practice and teach. However, I can no longer do both, and I have to focus on my practice.

There have been so many changes in immigration law and policy under the Trump administration that it has become difficult to keep up. The Board of Immigration Appeals has been issuing precedent decisions on an almost daily basis. Keeping my course materials and syllabus current with all of the changes to deportation defense would take more time than I have.

So, after 14 years of teaching at Brooklyn Law School, I’ve decided to retire from teaching.

I’m going to miss teaching. But I hope that the lawyers who took my course will carry what they learned into their own practices and continue helping immigrants who need good lawyers.

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the opening of the Law Office of Matthew L. Guadagno.

It’s been an amazing 15 years.  I’ve argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.  I’ve been an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School.   I’ve had some incredible cases in immigration court.  I’ve helped a lot of people get their citizenship and green cards.

I updated the website in July, but I never got a chance to post about it. My office is now located at 299 Broadway, Suite 802, New York, NY 10007.  Just like the last time I had to move, my office building was sold and repurposed, so I had to move.  The move worked out well for me.  I’m now literally across the street from 26 Federal Plaza, so my new location is a great place for an immigration attorney to have an office.

I have another anniversary post. I just finished teaching the spring semester at Brooklyn Law School.  This was my tenth year of teaching at Brooklyn Law School as an adjunct professor.  I created a course called, “Immigration Workshop: Deportation Defense.” It’s a different kind of law school class. It’s a “case simulation” course. I don’t just teach immigration law – I teach my students how to practice immigration law. I’ve created a legal problem about a lawful permanent resident who is facing removal because he was convicted of a crime. I teach my students about immigration law as we discuss how we would represent this imaginary client.  We talk about the intake process, how to evaluate the issues in a case, what to do in immigration court, how to do an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, and how to litigate a petition for review in the Court of Appeals.  Instead of an exam, the final paper is to write a legal brief about why the “client” shouldn’t be deported.

I love teaching. I’m very concerned about the quality of the immigration bar. I regularly do consultations with people where I am shocked by what their previous lawyers have done wrong. There are a lot of people out there with horror stories about having hired bad immigration lawyers. I created my class because I want there to be good immigration attorneys out there that help people.