Top Rated Immigration Attorney in San Francisco, CA

Honors and Awards:

• Americans Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit, Big Sky, Montana, 2016 (The Award honors, on a federal circuit basis, "a senior lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law.")
• The Immigrant Legal Resource Center's Phillip Burton Award for Outstanding Immigration Lawyering, San Francisco, California, 1993
• American Immigration Lawyers Association's Jack Wasserman Award, Excellence in Immigration Litigation, Houston, Texas, 1998
• The National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom's Constitutional Rights Award For Outstanding Legal Service Against the Use of Secret Evidence, Washington, D.C., 2001

Bar/Professional Activity:

• California, 1988
• U.S. District Court Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court Central District of California
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit
• National Lawyers Guild, Member
• American Immigration Lawyers Association, Member
• State Bar of California, Member

Scholarly Lectures and Writings:

• "The Detention Alternative", (Co-Author With Wolf and Jobe), The Washington Post, 1993
• "Establishing the Threat of Persecution on a Country-Wide Basis", Washington, D.C.: American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1994
• "Establishing the Threat of Persecution on a Country-Wide Basis", Immigration and Nationality Law, 1995
• "Motions to Reopen and Reconsider: Essentials and Recent Developments", American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1996
• "Motions to Reopen and Reconsider: Essentials and Recent Developments", California Conference Handbook (Washington, D.C.), 1996
• "Voluntary Departure under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996", American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1997
• Voluntary Departure under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996", Immigration and Nationality Law Handbook, Vol. II, 1998
• "Suspension of Deportation and Cancellation of Removal under IIRIRA", American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1997
• "Suspension of Deportation and Cancellation of Removal under IIRIRA", Practice Under IIRIRA: One Year Later (Washington, D.C.), 1997
• "Strategies for Reopening In Absentia Deportation Proceedings and Mitigating the Time and Numerical Limitations on Motions to Reopen" , American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1998
• "Strategies for Reopening In Absentia Deportation Proceedings and Mitigating the Time and Numerical Limitations on Motions to Reopen" , California Conference Handbook (Washington, D.C.), 1998
• "Establishing Asylum Eligibility through Past Persecution" (Co-Author With Jobe and Radel), American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2000
• "Establishing Asylum Eligibility through Past Persecution" (Co-Author With Jobe and Radel), California Conference Handbook (Washington, D.C), 2000
• Winning Asylum Cases (San Francisco: Immigrant Legal Resource Center 2004), (Co-Author With Jobe, Silverman, and Katz), Leading Treatise on the Law of Asylum, 2004
• "Challenging Removal Through Habeas Corpus: An Outline of Critical Issues", American Immigration Lawyers' Association, 2003
• "Challenging Removal Through Habeas Corpus: An Outline of Critical Issues", Immigration Litigation: Winning in Federal Court (Washington, D.C.), 2003

Verdicts and Settlements:

• Saini v. USCIS, 553 F. Supp. 2d (E.D. Cal. 2008)
• Ahmed v. Mukasey, 548 F.3d 1023 (9th Cir. 2009)(rejecting BIA's holding in Matter of Velarde-Pacheco, which had made an alien's ability to reopen removal proceedings in order to seek adjustment of status contingent upon DHS's non-opposition)
• Al Mutarreb v. Holder, 561 F.3d 1023 (9th Cir. 2009)(reversing an in absentia removal order because DHS failed to present clear and convincing evidence that the alien was, in fact, removable)
• Brezilien v. Holder, 569 F.3d 403 (9th Cir. 2009)(reversing a removal order against a Haitian asylum applicant because the BIA illegally substituted its factual findings for those of the IJ)
• Nevarez Nevarez v. Holder, 572 F.3d 605 (9th Cir. 2009)(finding that a recent Supreme Court decision limiting an alien's ability to reopen her removal proceedings cannot be applied retroactively)
• Kaur v. Holder, 561 F.3d 957 (9th Cir. 2009)(declaring unconstitutional the government use of secret evidence in an exclusion proceeding)
• Coyt v. Martinez. 598 F.3d 902 (9th Cir. 2010)(invalidating a DHS regulation that prohibited reopening a removal proceeding following an alien's deportation)
• Matter of N-M-A-, Int. Dec. 3368 (BIA 1998)
• Jagraj Singh v. Ilchert, 801 F. Supp. 313 (N.D.Cal. 1992)
• Surinder Singh v. Ilchert, 69 F.3d 375 (9th Cir. 1995)
• Hardev Singh v. Moschorak, 53 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 1995)
• Harpinder Singh v. Ilchert, 63 F.3d 1501 (9th Cir. 1995)
• Borja v. INS, 175 F.3d 732 (9th Cir. 1999) (en banc)
• Sidhu v. INS, 220 F.3d 1085 (9th Cir. 2000)
• Kankamalage v. INS, 335 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2003)
• Li v. Ashcroft, 356 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir. 2004) (en banc)
• Cheema v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 848 (9th Cir. 2004)
• Narayan v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 1065 (9th Cir. 2004)
• Lolong v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 1215 (9th Cir. 2005)
• Bhasin v. Gonzales, 423 F.3d 977 (9th Cir. 2005)
• Murillo-Salmeron v. INS, 327 F.3d 898 (9th Cir. 2003)
• Kankamalage v. INS, 335 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2003)
•  Park v. INS, 252 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2001)
• Lujan-Armendariz v. INS, 222 F.3d 728 (9th Cir. 2000)
•  Aguilera-Medina v. INS, 137 F.3d 1401 (9th Cir. 1998)
•  In Barahona-Gomez v. Reno, 167 F.3d 1228 (9th Cir. 1999), aff'd 236 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2001)
• Matter of N-J-B-, 21 I & N Dec. 812 (BIA 1997)
• Castillo-Perez v. INS, 212 F.3d 518 (9th Cir. 2000)
• In Guadalupe-Cruz v. INS, 250 F.3d 1271 (9th Cir. 2001)
• Vo Van Chau v. Dep't. of State, 891 F. Supp. 650 (D.D.C. 1996)
• ("LAVAS I"); Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers v. Dep't. of State (LAVAS II), 74 F.3d 1308 (D.C. Cir. 1996)
• Hong Kong. See, Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers v. Dep't.of State, 45 F.3d 469 (D.C. Cir. 1995)
• Matter of N-K- and V-S-, I & N Dec. 879 (BIA 1997)
• Ineffective Assistance of Counsel:Maravilla-Maravilla v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 855 (9th Cir. 2004)

Educational Background:

• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, B.A., Major: Political Science, April, 1982