Ten Commandments of an Immigration Attorney

Our Director of Marketing, Hayley Pickard, recently suggested that we write blog on the ‘ten commandments of being an immigration lawyer.’

Having been an immigration lawyer for close to 25 years, I’ve obviously witnessed a lot in this field.  Whether it be different clients, laws, successes, failures, challenges, staff, etc., I’ve seen it all.

So, I told Hayley I’ll tackle her challenge and try to take my years of experience and simplify it into ten commandments for being an immigration lawyer.

In no specific order, here we go!

1. Listen to your client, but make sure they listen to you as well;
2. Always learn and keep up with changes in the law;
3. Be truthful with clients and the USCIS;
4. Be creative and think outside of the box, but always within the confines of the law;
5. Be upfront and forthcoming with legal fees;
6. Put yourself in your client’s shoes, it’ll help you understand them better;
7. Truly appreciate the impact you are making on people’s lives;
8. Be more than a lawyer, connect with your clients on a personal level;
9. Immigration law is stressful, but don’t let the stress cloud your judgment;
10. Humans aren’t perfect, admit your mistakes and fix them.

After I wrote this, I thought to myself – if I took out ‘lawyer’ and ‘client,’ much of this can apply to almost any person and profession.  It’s just a simple guide, to do good by others, and don’t forget to do good by yourself too.

I’m glad Hayley encouraged me to go through this exercise.  We all get very busy in life and it’s easy to forget the simple things sometimes.

If any of you who read this blog have a ‘commandment’ of your own that you think we forgot and should add to list, please contact us.  We’d love to hear from you!