2024 AILA NE Conference

Thursday 7 November

Pre-Conference Reception
Hynes Room 306

Friday 8 November Schedule

Plenary Sessions (Room 302)

Ethics

• Assessing under Lozada: Fallout to Clients Injured from Prior Counsel’s Mistakes, Poor Judgment, and/or Fraud
• Top Mistakes Busy Lawyers Make and How to Avoid Them
• Best Practices When a Client Expresses Dissatisfaction with Representation
• Responding to Client Threats of Disciplinary Action and Demands for Fee Refunds
• Bar Complaints: Do’s and Don’ts of How to Respond
• BBO and New England Bar Resources

Moderator:

• Rebecca Leavitt, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Lowey

Speakers:

• Linda Bauer, Massachusetts Clients’ Security Board
• Stefanie Fisher-Pinkert, AILA NE CBP Committee, Araujo & Fisher

Chapter Chair’s Welcome and Remarks

Hot Topics
Hear updates from national figures on policy trends, legislation, litigation, and more immediately following the 2024 Presidential Elections.

Moderator:

• Miki Matrician, AILA NE Chapter Chair, WR Immigration

Speakers:

• Kelli J. Stump, AILA National President
• Jeremy Robbins, American Immigration Council
• Trina Realmuto, National Immigration Litigation Alliance

Networking Break

Interagency Panel: USCIS, CBP, EOIR Boston, and EOIR Chelmsford
Invited government speakers will present updates on the latest developments in their respective agencies and answer questions submitted in advance by the membership.

Moderator:

• Jeannie Kain, AILA NE ERO Committee, Kain Immigration

Speakers:

• Denis Riordan, Director, USCIS District 11
• Judge David Cheng, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, EOIR Chelmsford
• Judge Theresa Holmes-Simmons, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, EOIR Boston
• Sam Kiley, Chief Officer, Customs and Border Protection, Boston Logan Airport

Networking Break

Practice Management: Sustaining a Successful Practice in Times of Large-Scale Change
This panel will offer practical strategies for lawyers practicing in a post-pandemic workplace and in an area of law uniquely challenged by volatile political, economic, and technological change

• Keys to Maintaining a Sustainable Practice
• Flourishing on a Team or as a Solo
• Crash Proof Systems Every Lawyer Must Now Have
• Embracing Change in How You Practice

Moderator:

• Tania Martinez, AILA NE Chair-Elect, Gomez & Martinez

Speakers:

• Ruby Powers, Powers Strategy Group
• Catherine Macris, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
• Eleni Bakst, Harvard Immigration & Refugee Clinic

Catered Lunch in Room 304/306

Track Panel 1
See info

Networking Break

Managing Client Expectations and Maintaining Healthy Workplace Boundaries
This panel will help attendees thrive as immigration advocates for in long term by providing advice on creating and maintaining healthy and sustainable boundaries with clients and colleagues.

• Importance of Setting Boundaries with Clients and Colleagues
• How Managers Can Support Healthy Boundaries
• Client-Centered and Trauma-Informed Advocacy with Awareness of Power and Privilege
• Defining Scope of Services and Duration of the Attorney-Client Relationship

Moderator:

• Irma Dias, AILA NE CBP Committee, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy

Speakers:

• Kelly Morgan, AILA NE CBO/Pro Bono Committee, Central West Justice Center
• Keighly Rector, Immigration Project, Volunteers of Legal Service
• Craig Dobson, AILA Wellness Committee, Dobson Law

Employment Track (Room 313)

DOL Update
This panel will report on:

• Updates on Adjudications of ETA Form 9089 in FLAG and Audit Trends
• Strategies on Application Drafting and Intersection with EPT Law
• Recent Developments Including Schedule A, 2028 SOC Codes and Prevailing Wages, and H-2 Modernization

Moderator:

• Magaly Rojas Cheng, AILA NE DOS Committee, Clark Lau

Speakers:

• Bob White, AILA DOL Committee, Masuda Funai
• Robin O’Donoghue, AILA DOL Committee, O’Donoghue Law
• Edward White, AILA DOL Committee, Law Office of Edward White

Networking Break

Plenary Session: Managing Client Expectations

Networking Break

Challenging RFEs and Challenges at USCIS
This is an advanced panel on how to overcome RFEs and denials specifically for:

• L-1B, L-1A and EB-1C
• O-1, EB-1A, and NIW

Moderator:

• Michelle Shepard, AILA NE Vice Chair, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy

Speakers:

• Shiva Karimi, McLane Middleton
• Suzanne Seltzer, The Seltzer Law Firm
• Brian Coughlin, Fisher Phillips

Networking Break

Alternative Strategies for F-1 Students Not Selected in the H-1B Lottery
This advanced panel will discuss potential solutions for F-1 students who were ineligible or were not selected in H-1B lottery

• STEM OPT, CPT, O-1 as Alternative Strategies
• Entrepreneur Parole and Permanent Residency Options

Moderator:

• Julie Galvin, WR Immigration

Speakers:

• Elizabeth Goss, Goss Associates
• Michael Murray, Ford Murray Law
• Susan Ellison, Dartmouth College

Removal Track (Room 302)

Much Ado about Ts and Us

• Screening for T/U Visas for Viability
• Winning Tough T/U Visa Cases (including for detained clients)
• When to Consider Mandamus for Long-Pending T/U
• When to Apply for T/U as a Backup Pathway

Moderator:

• Emily Leung, Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts

Speakers:

• Lindsay Rosenbaum, Araujo & Fisher
• Julie Dahlstrom, Boston University
• Erica Reilly, Benach Collopy

Networking Break

Plenary Session: Managing Client Expectations

Networking Break

Pursuing Collateral Relief for Clients in Removal Proceedings

• When to Pursue Administrative Closure, Continuances, or Termination
• How T, U, VAWA, TPS, SIJS Interact with Removability and Removal Proceedings
• How to Use Collateral Relief as a Mechanism for Getting Your Client Out of Detention (e.g. leveraging the ICE Victims Directive)

Moderator:

• Stephanie Marzouk, Marzouk Law

Speakers:

• Lara Wagner, AILA NE CBO/Pro Bono Committee, Kids in Need of Defense
• Ron Abramson, Shaheen & Gordon
• Christina Corbaci, Corbaci Law

Networking Break

Preserving Your Record: Effective Strategies for Preserving Issues for Appellate Review

• What Do Oral Objections Look Like?
• What Kind of Evidence Should You Include in Your Call-Up Packet?
• What are Effective Proffers?
• When and How to State Something for the Record when Something Inappropriate is Happening (e.g. IJ tone)?

Moderator:

• Aimee Mayer-Salins, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights

Speakers:

• Paul Wickham Schmidt, Retired Immigration Judge, EOIR Arlington
• Michelle Méndez, National Immigration Project
• Sarah Owings, CBP Committee, Owings MacNorlin