AILA Conference - Friday and Saturday

The last two days of the AILA conference were as educational and informative as the first two days.  On Friday, I attended sessions on employment-based immigration (specifically, how to file successful H-1B for high skilled workers and L-1 petitions for managers, executives, and employees with specialized knowledge).  I also attended the AILA Southern California Chapter reception, giving me a chance to catch up with some of my local colleagues, as well as meet new members of our chapter.  On Saturday, I attended sessions on building a case for extreme hardship in waiver applications, dealing with ethical dilemmas, immigrating the children and spouses of asylees, requesting immigration status for the same-sex partners of LGBT asylees, and litigating Special Immigrant Juvenile status cases in state court and before the immigration agencies for abandoned, abused, and neglected children.  

Another great, informative conference!  I look forward to next year's conference in New Orleans!

American Immigration Lawyers Association Conference - Thursday

The conference officially kicked off this morning.  Many of the attendees were disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision this morning in United States v. Texas, where a divided court allowed the injunction of President Obama's executive action on immigration to remain in place.  However, I was excited about the Supreme Court's decision in Mathis v. United States, which directly impacted the panel I sat on this afternoon discussing the modified categorical approach.  I also attended panels on the categorical approach and on new case law from the Board of Immigration Appeals and the federal circuit courts.  I'm looking forward to attending some of the conference's social events tonight to see colleagues from around the country.  

American Immigration Lawyers Association Conference

I arrived in Las Vegas today for the annual American Immigration Lawyers Association conference.  Though the conference officially kicks off tomorrow, there are some very interesting roundtable discussions tonight on federal litigation.  I'm looking forward to brushing up on my habeas and mandamus litigation practice!