Top Rated Immigration Attorney in San Francisco, CA

Honors/Awards:

• 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
• American Immigration Lawyers Association's Jack Wasserman Award, Excellence in Immigration Litigation, Houston, Texas, 1998
• 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

Bar/Professional Activity:

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

Scholarly Lectures/Writings:

• "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
• 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
• "Strategies for Reopening In Absentia Deportation Proceedings and Mitigating the Time and Numerical Limitations on Motions to Reopen" , American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1998
• "Establishing Asylum Eligibility through Past Persecution" (Co-Author With Jobe and Radel), California Conference Handbook (Washington, D.C), 2000
• "Establishing Asylum Eligibility through Past Persecution" (Co-Author With Jobe and Radel), American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2000
• "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
• "Suspension of Deportation and Cancellation of Removal under IIRIRA", Practice Under IIRIRA: One Year Later (Washington, D.C.), 1997
• "Suspension of Deportation and Cancellation of Removal under IIRIRA", 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
• "Voluntary Departure under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996", American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1997
• "Motions to Reopen and Reconsider: Essentials and Recent Developments", California Conference Handbook (Washington, D.C.), 1996
• "Motions to Reopen and Reconsider: Essentials and Recent Developments", American Immigration Lawyers Association, 1996
• "Establishing the Threat of Persecution on a Country-Wide Basis", Immigration and Nationality Law, 1995
• "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

Verdicts/Settlements:

• Ineffective Assistance of Counsel:Maravilla-Maravilla v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 855 (9th Cir. 2004)
• Narayan v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 1065 (9th Cir. 2004)
• 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)
• ("LAVAS I"); Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers v. Dep't. of State (LAVAS II), 74 F.3d 1308 (D.C. Cir. 1996)
• Kankamalage v. INS, 335 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2003)
• Castillo-Perez v. INS, 212 F.3d 518 (9th Cir. 2000)
• Harpinder Singh v. Ilchert, 63 F.3d 1501 (9th Cir. 1995)
•  Aguilera-Medina v. INS, 137 F.3d 1401 (9th Cir. 1998)
• Jagraj Singh v. Ilchert, 801 F. Supp. 313 (N.D.Cal. 1992)
• Kankamalage v. INS, 335 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2003)
• Kaur v. Holder, 561 F.3d 957 (9th Cir. 2009)(declaring unconstitutional the government use of secret evidence in an exclusion proceeding)
• Lolong v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 1215 (9th Cir. 2005)
• 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)
• Hong Kong. See, Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers v. Dep't.of State, 45 F.3d 469 (D.C. Cir. 1995)
• Li v. Ashcroft, 356 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir. 2004) (en banc)
• In Guadalupe-Cruz v. INS, 250 F.3d 1271 (9th Cir. 2001)
• Borja v. INS, 175 F.3d 732 (9th Cir. 1999) (en banc)
•  In Barahona-Gomez v. Reno, 167 F.3d 1228 (9th Cir. 1999), aff'd 236 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2001)
• Surinder Singh v. Ilchert, 69 F.3d 375 (9th Cir. 1995)
•  Park v. INS, 252 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2001)
• 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)
• Bhasin v. Gonzales, 423 F.3d 977 (9th Cir. 2005)
• 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)
• Matter of N-K- and V-S-, I & N Dec. 879 (BIA 1997)
• Cheema v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 848 (9th Cir. 2004)
• Saini v. USCIS, 553 F. Supp. 2d (E.D. Cal. 2008)
• Vo Van Chau v. Dep't. of State, 891 F. Supp. 650 (D.D.C. 1996)
• Sidhu v. INS, 220 F.3d 1085 (9th Cir. 2000)
• Matter of N-J-B-, 21 I & N Dec. 812 (BIA 1997)
• Hardev Singh v. Moschorak, 53 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 1995)
• Lujan-Armendariz v. INS, 222 F.3d 728 (9th Cir. 2000)
• Matter of N-M-A-, Int. Dec. 3368 (BIA 1998)
• Murillo-Salmeron v. INS, 327 F.3d 898 (9th Cir. 2003)
• 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)

Educational Background:

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