I just returned from Las Vegas, Nevada, where I spoke on a panel at the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (“AILA”) Federal Court Litigation CLE Practicum.  I spoke on a panel with my friend, Olsi Vrapi, an immigration lawyer from New Mexico.  We spoke on a panel entitled, “Filing the Case and Post-Filing Issues.”  Most of our talk was about the process that goes into initiating a case in U.S. District Court, such as mandamus actions.

On March 2, 2012, I spoke at the NY Immigration Coalition on Immigration Litigation in U.S. District Court.  Continuing legal education credit was given to the immigration lawyers that attended.  I explained how cases are filed in U.S. District Court and discussed specific types of actions that relate to immigration like: (1) actions under the Administrative Procedure Act to challenge decisions by agencies like the U.S. Citizenship Immigration Service; (2) delayed adjudication actions like mandamus actions; (3) petitions for review of denied naturalization applications; and (4) habeas corpus actions.  I’ve done many continuing legal education courses on federal court litigation before.  However, this was the first time that I spoke about all of these topics at once.  Normally, when I speak at a continuing legal education course, I’m part of a panel of speakers.  However, at the NY Immigration Coalition, I was the only speaker.  I spoke for two hours.  It was a nice change of pace being the only speaker.  I enjoyed speaking and I’m excited at the thought that now that I’ve taught this course, there are more immigration lawyers ready to go out there and take the Government to court.

The Brooklyn Defender Services (“BDS”) has invited me to be on its Advisory Board for its Immigration Unit.  BDS originated as a public defender service and has expanded its services to include immigration.  The BDS Advisory Board provides guidance to the BDS’ immigration lawyers.  I’ve been helping their Immigration Unit with developing strategies for their cases and answering their questions about immigration law and immigration court practices.  I enjoy mentoring immigration attorneys.  One of my favorite things to do at the law firm that I used to work for was to train the new associates and supervise the interns.