Our Philiosophy

Many Internet-based “full service” law firms do not offer much more than a glitzy website full of hard-to-connect information and document assembly services. We do not believe that the immigration law or frankly any other kind of law can be successfully practiced “remotely” without any need for a face-to-face interreaction. It has been proven too many times that only a long in-office interview reveals a sufficient amount of information needed to make a sensible decision on how to proceed.

Our long experience tells us that there is no such thing as a standard case or too much caution when dealing with the federal bureaucracy, especially in this very sensitive national security field. The immigration law is a complex body of statutory rules, court and administrative rulings spread over many layers of lower tier regulations. Some of the rules are quite local and self-help instruction simply will not do it.

For these reasons alone, we do not advise anyone to attend the adjustment interview, which is the norm these days in all but a few types of cases without assistance of an experienced attorney. Similarly, we would not attempt to file a labor certification application without assistance of someone experienced in the area and especially if the potential beneficiary is physically in the US in a vulnerable temporary status , or without any status at all. Not even an adjustment case based on a marriage to a US citizen is a routine mater anymore. Up until quite recently, these types of cases required not much more than a set of supporting documents and carefully crafted forms. The attorney’s presence during an interview was an a la carte option offered usually to the candidates with somewhat troubled immigration past or a borderline criminal history. Today, in what seems to be a reaction to the increased waive of questionable applications, most likely caused by the immigration reform stalemate, short conversation-like interviews of the past morphed into long and tense semi-interrogations.

These are just examples of common situations that may result in many unnecessary complications. The additional cost of hiring of an experienced attorney must of course be a consideration, but the consequences of foolhardy attempts to rush over the immigration hurdles may easily prove to be the perfect example of being penny wise and pound foolish. Our fees are mostly simple no-risk flat fees. Only the more unpredictable matters, requiring in depth law research, court appearances and complex motion practice are based on the traditional time/fee retainers or a combination of the flat fee arrangements with hourly-based compensation. We understand that our clients do not generally belong to the now proverbial “1%” and thus we try to assist everyone in the most economical way possible.

You can call our offices anytime, and we will gladly discuss your case over the phone to the extent that is practical. The best course of action would be, as always, to arrange for in-office consultation in one of our two metropolitan locations. Our one-time consultation, regardless of the time needed to discuss and analyze the issues is $150. The fee is always subtracted from the total compensation if a retainer is signed within 6 months.