Description:
If you are an immigration attorney who enjoys courtroom work but does not want to spend most of your day chasing documents, handling scheduling, or doing administrative work, this may be a good fit.Bazzi Immigration Law is a small, established immigration firm serving primarily Spanish-speaking families from Central and South America. We are looking for an associate attorney with immigration court experience to join our removal-defense, family, and humanitarian practice.
Our removal-defense docket is primarily non-detained and generally does not involve cases with significant criminal-history issues. Our work includes asylum, cancellation of removal, family-based immigration, humanitarian relief, and related USCIS matters.
We are looking for an attorney who already has enough EOIR experience to handle hearings competently, but who still values having experienced attorneys available to discuss strategy, difficult legal questions, and unusual cases.
Fluency in Spanish is required. You should be able to communicate directly and comfortably with Spanish-speaking clients without an interpreter.
What Makes This Position Different
We want our attorneys practicing law.
Our attorneys have substantial paralegal and administrative support. Routine scheduling, document collection, follow-up, and administrative tasks do not automatically fall to the attorney.
You will be responsible for your own cases, including preparing clients, identifying legal and evidentiary issues, developing strategy, appearing before EOIR, and handling substantive legal work. Experienced immigration attorneys are available to discuss difficult issues and collaborate on case strategy when needed.
We value strong legal work, good judgment, efficiency, and collaboration. We do not believe every case needs to become an emergency.
And we believe time away from work should actually be time away from work.
What you will do:
- Appear at master calendar hearings before EOIR.
- Prepare for and represent clients at individual hearings, including asylum and cancellation of removal matters.
- Review cases and identify legal, factual, and evidentiary issues that require additional strategy.
- Prepare clients for individual hearings and USCIS interviews.
- Represent clients at USCIS interviews when appropriate.
- Draft and review briefs, motions, filings, and other substantive legal work.
- Analyze legal issues and work collaboratively with experienced attorneys on case strategy.
- Communicate directly with Spanish-speaking clients.
- Work closely with paralegals and administrative staff to keep cases moving efficiently.
- Appear in person as needed in Sterling and Annandale, Virginia, and less frequently in Hyattsville and Baltimore, Maryland.
- You are licensed to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
- You have immigration court experience.
- You have personally handled master calendar hearings.
- You have personally handled individual immigration hearings.
- You can communicate comfortably with clients in Spanish without an interpreter.
- You enjoy substantive immigration work and courtroom advocacy.
- You want mentoring and collaboration without being micromanaged.
- You work well with paralegals and other team members.
- You can manage multiple active matters without treating every case as an emergency.
- You know when an issue requires deeper research or discussion and when a matter simply needs to keep moving.
- You care about doing strong work efficiently and proportionately to what the case requires.
The Kind of Practice We Are Building
Immigration law can be demanding. We try not to make it unnecessarily chaotic.
We want attorneys to have the support and time to identify the issues that actually matter, prepare clients well, make sound strategic decisions, and advocate effectively.
Difficult cases are discussed collaboratively. You will have access to experienced immigration attorneys for strategy, mentoring, and substantive legal questions, while maintaining responsibility for your own matters.
