How to find an immigration attorney in the San Francisco bay area
A few days ago I read a blog post in the New York Times City Room blog about a man was was arrested after masquerading as an immigration attorney. He apparently told his clients that he was a member of the California and New York bars. As it turns out, he was a member of neither bar. This is a familiar sounding story. People from other countries may not understand our legal system. They go to someone who speaks their language because they think they can trust that person. They do not take the next step and actually check to see if the person is a licensed attorney.
I am going to give you a few tips on how to find and check out your attorney.
1. If you have already found an attorney, check if the attorney is licensed. If you are in removal proceedings, you may only be represented by an attorney in the Immigration Court. Because immigration law is federal law, the attorney may be licensed in any state of the United States. You should ask your attorney what state he or she is licensed in and ask for his or her bar number. You then may then verify with the state bar whether or not the attorney is licensed. For instance, in California, you may go to the State Bar of California's website and perform a search on the attorney by name.
2. If you are looking for an attorney, most county bar associations have a lawyer referral service. The bar association will screen the lawyer ahead of time by performing a state bar license check and ensuring that the attorney carries a minimum coverage of malpractice insurance. Here is a list of the lawyer referral services in the Bay area.
San Francisco Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service
Solano County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service
Alameda County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service
3. Talk to your friends. It is good to know if someone has already had a positive experience with an attorney. This method works well when looking for someone to handle a family- based immigration matter such as with a green card based on marriage, K-1 visa, or representation in a removal proceeding. Do not stop there though and assume that the attorney is legitimate just because your friend was successful. You must verify for yourself whether or not the attorney is licensed. Do not count on your friend to have done the checking for you.
4. Ask the attorney for names of his or her past clients whom you can call. This is more likely to work in the business context if you are looking for someone to do an H-1B or L-1 visa.. An attorney may be able to give you the contact information of the Human Resource ("HR") professional of a company he or she has represented. You can learn a lot about the attorney in this way.
Some people take more time looking for a pair of shoes than for an attorney. It should be the other way around. Take your time and do the checks you need to do before hiring someone. It will be worth your time.
