AILA Presents Thomas Ragland with the 2013 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 27, 2013
| CONTACTS: | |
|---|---|
| George Tzamaras 202-507-7649 gtzamaras@aila.org |
Belle Woods 202-507-7675 bwoods@aila.org |
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will award Thomas Ragland with the 2013 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in advancing the practice of immigration law. He will receive the award today during AILA's Annual Conference in San Francisco, CA.
Mr. Ragland is a founding partner of Benach Ragland LLP in Washington, DC and has practiced immigration law for more than 18 years. Prior to joining private practice, Mr. Ragland worked for 10 years in the U.S. Department of Justice, joining directly after graduating from law school through the Attorney General's Honor Program. At DOJ, he represented the government in the Boston Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), and the Civil Division's Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL).
Since leaving the government in 2004, he has focused his practice on litigation before the federal courts, immigration courts, and BIA as well as representation of clients before the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. consulates abroad. He is a seasoned litigator known for handling complex matters for both individual and corporate clients and has extensive experience in appellate litigation, defense against removal, immigration consequences of criminal convictions, asylum, waivers of inadmissibility, naturalization, complex consular matters, and defense against terrorism- and security-related bars to admission.
Over the past year, Mr. Ragland has scored a number of important victories in federal courts that have provided a significant benefit for immigrants nationwide. In addition to those successes, he always makes himself available to mentor other litigators. By taking on leadership of AILA's Federal Court Litigation Section, Mr. Ragland has helped this new section grow into an enormous success, bringing this practice area much visibility and support. He has done much to promote aggressive, careful and competent litigation to counter irrational and abusive decisions by the government.
Thomas earned his J.D. cum laude from Boston College Law School, where he was Editor in Chief of the Boston College Third World Law Journal. He was awarded a B.A. in philosophy, with honors, from the University of Virginia. He has been a competitive cyclist and runner and is an avid scuba diver. He lives in Falls Church, Virginia with his wife and three children.
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The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.