Withdrawing a case with USCIS can be tricky: the practitioner must balance client autonomy with the duty of competent, ethical representation. In some situations, a client wants to withdraw an application for their own reasons. In other situations, the attorney discovers that a case should be withdrawn due to legal concerns or ethical obligations. Panelists will discuss the tightrope act that attorneys must walk evaluating when and if to withdraw a USCIS case.

Featured Topics

• Timing of filing the withdrawal request
• Informed consent
• Risks of withdrawal: Notice to Appear triggers, USCIS possibly still issuing a decision or finding fraud
• Ethical rules to consider with withdrawal requests
  • ABA Model Rules 1.1 (Competence) and 2.1 (Advisor)
  • ABA Model Rule 8.4: case withdrawn due to prior attorney misconduct, which necessitates the request

Faculty

Farah Al-khersan (DL), AILA Ethics Committee Chair, Ann Arbor, MI 

Farah Al-khersan is a solo practitioner in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the current chair of the AILA National Ethics Committee. She specializes in family-based, humanitarian, and complex removal cases. Ms. Al-khersan has served on the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee for the State Bar of Michigan for eleven years and was awarded the AILA Pro Bono Champion Award in 2024. 

Jesse M. Bless, AILA Benefits Litigation Committee Vice Chair/Federal Court Litigation Section Steering Committee, Georgetown, MA 

Jesse M. Bless is the founder and owner of Bless Litigation LLC.  In 2004, Jesse was selected for the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the Department of Justice. Jesse worked at the DOJ between September 2004 and May 2017.  Jesse joined the Law Offices of Jeff Goldman in May 2017. In September 2019, Jesse was selected as the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s first Director of Federal Litigation. Jesse co-counseled on various class actions and challenges to unlawful policies, including the entry-bans, health care proclamation, public charge rule, 2020 fee rule, and DOL wage rule. In September 2022, Jesse started Bless Litigation LLC. 

Catherine Seitz, AILA VAWA, Us, and Ts Committee Chair, San Francisco, CA 

Catherine Seitz is the Legal Director of the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area. She is a former Chair of the AILA Northern California Chapter and co-author of several editions of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center's U Visa Manual. She earned her J.D. from UC Law San Francisco, formerly UC Hastings, and her B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked in immigration law since 1990 and has held positions with several nonprofit legal services organizations.   

Kenneth Craig Dobson, New York, NY 

Craig Dobson is an ethics and immigration lawyer at Dobson Law LLC. He advises and represents lawyers in disciplinary matters and currently chairs AILA’s Lawyer Well-Being Committee. A past chair of AILA’s National Ethics Committee, he also co-chairs AILA New York’s Ethics, Practice Management & UPL Committee. He has long been active in lawyer ethics leadership nationally and locally and is also a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach. 

AILA Membership Benefit

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Enjoy access to free seminar recordings as an AILA Member. AILA encourages live attendance for those wishing to ask the speaker questions. Recordings will be available approximately two weeks after the live event date. AILA members can access these seminars, with no CLE credit, for free.