From Dad

Dad posted this as a comment, but I think it deserves it's own post. It is such an amazing opportunity for dad to be able to do this. This just really proves that all the expertise he has gained in immigration law is not only appreciated, but noticed because of how much of an expert he really is. Congratulations dad, you're amazing!


By the way, something else just occurred. I arrived at work Tuesday morning and logged onto my computer. I saw a letter from the State Bar. That is typically bad news: some client has complained, and now you have to defend yourself, explaining what you did and why. It's very time consuming as you have to dig out the file, review it, write a response. However, this letter thanked me for accepting a speaking assignment. Huh? Nobody had asked me, I hadn't said yes to anybody. But there was the letter. I've been asked to speak on immigration consequences at the annual California State Bar Convention in Long Beach this September. I have spoken with the folks at the State Bar, and arrangements are being made. My co-panelist is an attorney with the United States Department of Justice in San Diego. She prosecutes persons for the crime of illegal re-entry. Anyway, I'm really quite excited. The two of us will be able to speak from different perspectives. I've a PowerPoint presentation I'll use, she doesn't. There are thousands of attorneys in California, and lots go to the convention. However, I expect somewhere between 50 to 150 to attend my session, which is Friday the sixteenth, early in the afternoon, the second day of the convention. There are about 150 courses offered over four days, and ours will be one of them. I'm jazzed that I've been asked to do this, out of all the lawyers in the state, there's only about 200 who speak. The Bar site reports that there are over 200,000 attorneys eligible to practice in California at this time. The DOJ lawyer and I will have an hour and a half between us, and the subject is, of course, the consequences of criminal convictions on the noncitizen.

One last thing. The I-Pad 2 has been issued to us, and I'm coming to grips with it. It does not replace our Windows based laptops in our offices, but will replace all the paper client files we currently deal with. I'm excited. They are having us establish our I-Tunes account (through which we will work our cases) privately rather than through the county website because (1) the county would be too restrictive about content (our boss wants us to take these things everywhere so we'll be more productive, able to work a file anywhere, anytime, so she's allowing us to download our own books and music, and even some games; and (2) the county has really small limits for our files, and with digital .pdf files for our clients, we would exceed those limits quickly. I'll keep you posted.

Love, Dad