Immigration

Expert Analysis

• Ethics Tips For Attorneys Telecommuting Across State Lines

  

  Attorneys working remotely from jurisdictions in which they are not admitted should take precautionary steps to avoid engaging in unauthorized practice of law, say John Schmidt and Michael Seaman at Phillips Lytle.

• 6 Ways Legal Employers Can Help Pandemic-Weary Parents

  

  Parenting during the pandemic has introduced a series of competing personal and professional obligations for attorneys and professional staff, and even organizations that are supportive of their parent employees can take steps to do better, says Meredith Kahan at Saul Ewing.

• Republican AGs Likely To Challenge Biden On Multiple Fronts

  

  During recent presidential administrations, state attorneys general have challenged federal regulations and obtained nationwide injunctions against executive orders — and there is every reason to believe that Republican attorneys general will continue this trend, resisting Biden administration efforts on climate change, health care, immigration and more, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

• Inside The Immigration Reform Bill's Business Provisions

  

  Provisions in the recently introduced U.S. Citizenship Act that aim to reduce the employment-based green card backlog and attract STEM students are welcome business immigration reforms, but the business community is skeptical of its more restrictive provisions, say attorneys at Akin Gump.

• Remote Working Tips For Lawyer Trainees And Their Firms

  

  The prospect of joining a law firm during the pandemic can cause added pressure, but with a few good practices — and a little help from their firms and supervising attorneys — lawyer trainees can get ahead of the curve while working remotely, say William Morris and Ted Landray at King & Spalding.

• Employer-Friendly Changes May Revive H-1B Visa Program

  

  Recent H-1B visa program improvements that are favorable to employers — such as e-registration and more predictability in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services decision making — may lead companies to reconsider this visa category as a resource for adding foreign-national talent to their workforce, says Matthew Minor at Hammond Neal., says Matthew Minor at Hammond Neal.

• What Biden's Ethics Pledge Means For Gov't Revolving Door

  

  Attorneys at Nossaman look at how President Joe Biden’s ethics pledge goes beyond those of his predecessors by imposing post-employment shadow lobbying and golden parachute restrictions on his administration’s appointees — and how a House bill proposing expansion of federal ethics law could affect enforcement.

• Opinion

  Punishing Bar Exam Policies On Menstrual Products Must Go

  

  Law graduates across the states are sitting for the grueling two-day bar exam this week despite menstruation-related barriers, such as inadequate menstrual product and bathroom access, which could be eradicated with simple policy tweaks, say law professors Elizabeth Cooper, Margaret Johnson and Marcy Karin.

• It's Time For Law Firms To Start Loving And Leveraging Data

  

  The volume and diversity of data managed by law firms today — from client files to internal financial records — may seem daunting, but when properly organized, good data can help practitioners stay competitive by providing sharper insight into firm resources and cost of work, say Jaron Luttich and Barry Wiggins at Element Standard.

• Keys To Protecting Clients During Law Firm Dissolution

  

  Whether a law firm dissolution is amicable or adversarial, departing attorneys should take steps to maintain their legal and ethical responsibilities toward clients, and beware client confidentiality pitfalls when joining new firms, say John Schmidt and Colin Fitzgerald at Phillips Lytle.

• How Case Management Orders Can Support New Attorneys

  

  Courts are leading the way in ensuring oral argument opportunities for newer attorneys by incorporating innovative language in a variety of orders, and private parties can and should follow suit by incorporating similar language into case management orders, say Megan Jones and Halli Spraggins at Hausfeld.

• The Employment Immigration Landscape Is Already Changing

  

  Recently proposed immigration legislation and other Biden administration actions that suspended or reversed Trump-era orders affecting noncitizens are reforms that may provide stability for some employers of foreign nationals while creating new difficulties for others, says Eleanor Pelta at Morgan Lewis.

• An In-House Counsel's Guide To Better Work Management

  

  Amid economic uncertainty and increasing pressure on corporate legal departments to do more with less, work management processes should be aimed at tracking legal teams' every contribution, including routine matters that can be reallocated to nonlegal staff, says Aaron Pierce at LexisNexis CounselLink.

• Avoiding Materially Adverse Conflicts After New ABA Opinion

  

  The American Bar Association's recent guidance on what constitutes materially adverse interests between clients makes clear that lawyers should not take comfort in a current representation just because a former client is not on the opposite side of the v., and those hoping to avoid disqualification should consider five steps, says Hilary Gerzhoy at Harris Wiltshire.

• Opinion

  USCIS Is Improperly Denying Visa Change Applications

  

  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' special instruction requiring nonimmigrant visitors who apply for a change to F-1 student status to simultaneously apply for an extension of their visitor status should be set aside because it was implemented without following the notice-and-comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, says Rabindra Singh at HSD Immigration.