Roll Call

A recent caller, who wished to hire me, did the right thing first: He called friends in his ethnic community to get other referrals for a second opinion after eliciting mine. He told me this during a call, after we met, when he was explaining why he wished to retain me.

He asked me, "hey, I didn't know you were such a prominent guy in my community". I explained that I wasn't. I'm not prominent within any particular ethnic community. He explained that my name had come up as a suggested lawyer from several people he asked for a referral from, in order to get a second opinion. I told him it is always flattering to have my name suggested, much less on multiple occasions, when a client is looking for an immigration lawyer.

I also explained to him that we don't focus on any one or two communities, like many lawyers do. We focus on cases, period. The more difficult, the better. The more a person has been wronged, the better, because we have the tools to right those wrongs, and enjoy doing so.

He then asked, "What countries have you had clients from?" I told him, at last count, we had handled cases from 110+ countries. Thinking that over, I realized I had not added to the list I keep in some time. Here is an updated list:

Afganistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Balarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bolivia
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
Bulgaria
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Columbia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Korea, South
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Mauritania
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Nepal
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Serbia & Montenegro
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Thailand
Togo
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe

So, what's a list like this mean? Not much probably, except that I've been very fortunate with the outcome of trying to start a practice 17 years ago, in large part because of great employees and an unbelievably supportive Partner. I've also managed to consistently find very kind and appreciative clients who pass my name to many others, in and outside of, their own ethnic communities.