In Memoriam: Fran Berger
The American Immigration Lawyers Association lost a treasured member with the passing on December 26 of Fran Berger, a longtime leader and member of the New York Chapter. She will be remembered not just as a rock-solid friend and mentor, but as a charming, humorous, and intelligent woman of integrity and strength.
Fran practiced employment-based and some family-based immigration law for close to 40 years. While she concentrated on foreign students, hospital and medical professional-related issues, and the financial services industry, she developed a particular expertise in labor certification law. She was the “go-to” person among New York practitioners with questions about the labor certification process. The answer to lots of labor cert questions was: “Ask Fran.”
Fran was an active member of AILA on both the local and national levels. She co-chaired the national AILA-USCIS Vermont Service Center liaison committee, and for years, she was an AILA liaison to the New York state and U.S. labor departments. Though the labor department can be a difficult agency to deal with, Fran was able to bring her intelligence and decency to bear and actually develop fond relationships with labor department officials. They liked liaising with Fran.
Fran was a member of the AILA Board of Governors, served on AILA conference planning committees, and received AILA’s Presidential Award in 2004 and 2006. She was Chair of the Committee on Immigration & Nationality Law of the New York City Bar Association, and had been Adjunct Professor at New York Law School. She was listed in, among others, Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and Chambers USA.
Fran’s family has asked friends and colleagues to consider donating in honor of Frances C. Berger to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to further Parkinson’s disease research. Donations may be made online at https://www.michaeljfox.org or by mail to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, P.O Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741.
May her memory be a blessing to those who were fortunate enough to know her.