Our Annual Conference Program Committee has put together an event that includes a strong CLE offering and unsurpassed educational tracks that will help you better serve your clients and successfully manage your practice.
Explore the entire program or view the Day-At-A-Glance. You can also customize your unique conference experience with our myPlanner tool!
Here are just a few of the educational sessions offered at the premier immigration law event of the year.
Fundamentals Boot Camp
Roundtables
Asylum
Business
Worksite Enforcement/Business Hot Topics
Crimmigration
Family
Federal Litigation/Bond/Detention
Fundamentals
Naturalization & Family
Removal Defense/Waivers
Trial Skills Practicum
Fundamentals Boot Camp
If you're looking for a crash course or a refresher on immigration basics, our boot camp is the place to get it! Including an agency overview, nonimmigrant visa basics, an overview of family-based immigration, and removal; this boot camp will get your fundamentals into shape.
Roundtables
Challenging Form I-213: What to Do When DHS Alleges Your Client Is a Bad Actor
A Form I-213 can contain damaging information about your client that can have far-reaching effects, even when DHS does not have substantial evidence to support its claims. Panelists address creative ways to fight I-213 allegations in immigration proceedings and before the federal courts. Specifically, panelists address allegations relating to gang membership, reason to believe the noncitizen is a drug trafficker, role as a past persecutor, and material support to a terrorist organization.
Clinical J-1 Waivers for Physicians
This panel explores clinical J-1 waivers filed on behalf of physicians who are subject to the two-year home residency requirement under INA §212(e). It also covers the different interested government agencies that sponsor these waivers and the various steps involved in the multi-agency waiver process. The panel also provides practice tips on how to address common issues that arise during the waiver process.
Effects of Corporate Restructuring on Nonimmigrant and Immigrant Visas
This panel examines the different types of company reorganizations in an increasingly more global and complex marketplace. The speakers discuss the effects on nonimmigrant and immigrant visas when a company undergoes restructuring, such as a merger, acquisition, spin-off, or bankruptcy.
What Do I Do If? (Adjustment Roundtable)
This roundtable covers issues related to adjustment of status cases that can cause practitioners to lose sleep, and maybe question their choice of profession.
Asylum
Particular Social Groups
Panelists discuss how best to present an asylum claim based on a particular social group. They share their experiences and provide examples for which particular social groups may prove viable based on the latest in BIA and circuit law.
Hot Topics: Statutory Bars to Asylum and Withholding of Removal
Panelists define and present some emerging exceptions to the one-year, material support, persecutor, and terrorism bars. They also discuss how relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) may be a welcome alternative to removal.
Business
Sudden Impact: The Effect of DOL FAQ s and BALCA Decisions on the PERM Process
You've read the PERM regulations from start to finish. Think you know all the steps to prepare and file a successful PERM application? Not so fast! DOL FAQs and BALCA decisions can significantly impact the PERM process. This session addresses pertinent information not in the regulations that practitioners need to know. Panelists identify recent FAQs and BALCA decisions and provide advice on what to do when they impact a case midstream.
Masters: EB-1 in the Age of Kazarian
This masters level panel discusses what is state-of-the-art in petitions for foreign nationals of extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, and professors. It includes practical suggestions for framing the strongest case from the outset.
Worksite Enforcement/Business Hot Topics
Worksite Enforcement in the Age of Prosecutorial Discretion and Deferred Action
Since 2009, when DHS issued new guidance on worksite enforcement, there has been an increase in ICE raids, I-9 audits, and both civil and criminal actions against employers. It is clear that increased efforts against employers will continue to be part of the landscape, regardless of any other movement toward immigration reform. In this session, panelists will look at the current state of worksite enforcement and the challenges practitioners face in working with corporate clients on these issues.
Globalization, Technology, and Telecommuting: Does Where You Are Mean Anything Anymore?
DHS, DOS, and DOL have yet to fully confront a new reality: geographical location may not mean that much anymore. Instead, it is where you are in cyberspace that counts! Is telecommuting a benefit to an employee? If my employer is in Location A, and I can work on my computer from any location in the world, as long as I can log on anywhere, where am I working? What are the implications for adjudications that are location sensitive?
Crimmigration
Padilla Retroactivity: What's the Deal?
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Padilla v. Kentucky, holding that failure to advise criminal aliens of the potential deportation consequences resulting from guilty pleas constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. Panelists assess the state of the law on whether the Supreme Court's decision in Padilla applies retroactively, and discuss the interplay with statutes that limit the period of time to seek post-conviction relief.
Immigration Defense in Illegal Reentry and Other Federal Criminal Cases
Illegal reentry prosecutions represent the fastest-growing type of criminal case in federal courts today. This panel is a primer for the experienced immigration law practitioner, and provides the tools necessary to fill an area of systemic need: effective representation for defendants who often have never had a lawyer recognize their unique situations.
Family
Dreaming About Deferred Action, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
From June 2012 to June 2013, what has happened with President Obama's plan for deferred action for qualified young immigrants, DACA? Learn about the top issues in deferred action requests.
Trouble Behind, Trouble Ahead: Clouds Over LPR Status
Sometimes lawful permanent residents have obtained their status through government error or their own misconduct, such as improper attainment of asylee or nonimmigrant status, or marriage fraud. When this happens, it can cast a cloud over an individual's status for years to come. This panel helps practitioners analyze their client's immigration history so they can try to anticipate when this problem might arise. It also helps practitioners to identify and develop defenses to the allegations and pursue relief.
Federal Litigation/Bond/Detention
Bars and Standards in Federal Appellate Jurisdiction
The standards governing federal appellate jurisdiction and the scope of review are complex and perplexing even for the most experienced practitioner. This panel of experts will delve into the most common bars to jurisdiction and standards of review, focusing on practical advice about effective framing of appellate claims. Special focus will be on briefing before the Board of Immigration Appeals to maximize the likelihood of jurisdiction in the U.S. courts of appeals.
Getting Your Client Back to the United States After a Federal Court Win
Obtaining the return of your client to the United States after winning your appeal in a circuit court of appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court can often be more difficult than the appellate litigation leading to the victory. Panelists discuss the implementation of and updates to the April 2012 DHS NKen memo.
Fundamentals
Prevailing Wage Determinations for H-1B Visas and Labor Certifications
This panel introduces the concept of the "prevailing wage," as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor. Practitioners learn the key concepts and methodologies used to obtain a prevailing wage.
Introduction to Removal: Applying for Relief
This panel will provide an introduction to the common forms of relief from removal, as well as a "check list" of the basic requirements for each type of relief.
Naturalization & Family
Unlawful Presence
Unlawful presence exemplifies many of the problems with immigration law and advising noncitizens. Years after this concept was introduced into immigration law, we have a statute but no regulations. Instead, practitioners have to rely on nonbinding and contradictory sub-regulatory guidance, anecdotes, and assumptions, with potentially disastrous consequences for clients. This panel helps practitioners identify some of the uncertainties in this area of law and develop tools to better advise clients.
Provisional Waivers
When USCIS announced its intention to develop a stateside provisional waiver process, it was viewed with excitement. The expectation was that for those granted a provisional waiver, the consular interview would be a mostly routine process. This panel discusses the facts versus the fiction of the new provisional waiver process.
Removal Defense/Waivers
Shifting Waves in the Ocean: Burdens of Proof
Learn to distinguish which standards and regulations apply to burdens of proof and applications for immigration benefits. The latest developments about FOIA are discussed as well as "how much" evidence is enough to meet the burden, and whether that burden must be met by the noncitizen or the agency.
Redefining the Standards of Hardship Waivers
Current standards for extreme hardship are based in the pre-IIRAIRA statutory structure. That structure did not include the severe consequences for unlawful presence and fraud contained in the current statute. This panel presents strategies and arguments supporting an appropriate and humane definition of extreme hardship based on the fundamental right to a unified family.
Trial Skills Practicum
Trial Skills in Immigration Court
Space is limited! Knowing how to present a case in court is crucial to winning a client's removal proceeding. This panel discusses critical skills necessary to represent your client effectively.
Human Rights Advocacy: How It Works & How It Helps
Space is limited! After a case has been lost at the court of appeals, the practitioner still has recourse to the International Human Rights Tribunal. This panel is an introduction to the world of human rights advocacy. It covers the basics of relevant international human rights standards and tribunals, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. It addresses the strategic value of combining advocacy based on domestic and international human rights standards, and how to work effectively with human rights lawyers.
