Useful Tips When Searching For Washington DC Immigration Lawyers

By Marie Stewart


When you have to deal with issues related to immigration, you should consider hiring an immigration lawyer. It is important to note the situations when help from such an expert is required, and the qualities you have to look for before you make a choice. For residents of Washington DC immigration lawyers can be hired from within the state, or outside. This is because immigration issues are usually federal so a lawyer from any state can help you.

For most people, the decision to hire an attorney is not clear-cut. Failure to decide whether you need the attorney, or not can lead to poor decision making. One thing that makes people unsure whether to hire an attorney, or not is the availability of information from the immigration department. However, it is important to note that the department will bear no liability, or responsibility if you interpret the information wrongly. It is therefore good to seek legal help right from the beginning.

Sometimes, you might find people who call themselves immigration consultants. You should not consider such people legal experts because most operate without a license. Even if you might save money when you get help from such a person, you should realize that there are limited recourse options should the person turn out to be dishonest.

It may not be very easy to evaluate and choose an attorney to represent you because there are so many offering these services. You can use the fees charged by the attorneys as your yardstick when evaluating them. The evaluation is also good because it will help you know the current market rates. Any attorney whose rate is way beyond what others are charging might not be genuine. You also need to find out whether an attorney has faced disciplinary actions in the past.

After serving many clients, a lawyer will have a positive, or negative reputation. It is important to check the reputations of the ones you are considering. Anyone with a lot of negative feedback might not serve you to your satisfaction.

Because immigration laws and procedures keep changing from time to time, you are better off hiring an attorney who specializes in this area only. Lawyers who practice in other areas might not have enough time to keep up with the changes. This can affect the quality of representation that you get.

The ratio of lawyers to paralegals in a firm matters. Many firms in Washington, DC hire several paralegals to assist their lawyers in handling cases. This way, they can keep costs manageable. However, if the ratio is more three paralegals per lawyer, it means that most aspects of your case will not be handled by the attorney you hire.

You should also check the workload a potential attorney has. Some lawyers are good, but they take too many cases than they can handle effectively. Therefore, even when an attorney seems perfect, but the workload seems too heavy, you should not hire him or her because your case will not be given full attention. The tips discussed here should help you decide which attorney to hire when you have immigration related issues. With the legal expert assisting you, you will have sufficient information, and proper interpretation. The information will also help you find an attorney who will dedicate enough time for your case.




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