Over the course of my legal career, I have held several rewarding professional positions. In 1995, I was appointed to the United States Board of Immigration Appeals by Attorney General Janet Reno and served as a Board Member from 1995-2002, deciding over 15,000 immigration appeals from the decisions of Immigration Judges and immigration district directors, some of which included separate concurring or dissenting opinions that have been cited favorably by the federal circuit courts of appeal and the Supreme Court.  I've provided training in immigration law for state and federal judges, and served as rapporteur on the subject of social group persecution for the International Association of Refugee Law Judges.  In 2002, I founded and directed the Defending Immigrants Partnership, a collaborative effort to train, mentor and provide resources to criminal defense counsel, judges and others in the criminal justice system. In addition, I taught for 7 years between 1997 and 2004 as an adjunct professor at the Washington College of Law at American University, and during that time, I created three new courses to expand students' exposure to aspects of immigration practice and immigration policy issues involving naturalization, citizenship, admissibility, the provisions of VAWA, consequences of criminal activity, refugee protections, and relief from removal. 

I am the co-author of the leading treatise, Immigration Law and Crimes, published in 1984 and updated annually, and an active member of the National Immigration Project.  I have been a columnist for Benders Immigration Bulletin since 2002, and regularly engage as pro bono counsel in amicus litigation. My previous legal experience includes private practice, as well as work in the Centro Presente refugee center's legal program and legal services, and I was Director of the American Immigration Law Foundation's Legal Action Center between 1991-95.  I am a long-active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and serve currently as an elected Director on AILA's Board of Governors, and AILA's 2009 Right To Counsel Task Force. In these capacities, I engage in agency liaison, provide judicial training and continuing legal education, contribute commentary, regulations comments, and draft legislative provisions requested by members of Congress relating to possible statutory reforms in the areas of admission, custody, EOIR and BIA practice, removal, motions practice, adjustment of status, and government structure.  My extensive training and writing credentials are provided in greater detail in my Curriculum Vitae, which is available by request.

I am passionate about achieving justice and success, and enthusiastic about working with the laws, the agencies, and the courts. I am devoted to my individual noncitizen clients and my legal professional clients alike, and dedicated to ensuring that they understand the law involved and participate fully in the consultation process. I work "hands-on" with my professional clients, offering comprehensive case evaluations and cutting-edge, on-point research, developing creative interpretations, strategies, and written arguments, and collaborating on persuasive presentations that will benefit their clients or proposals in or out of court.  I love mentoring and training attorneys/advocates who strive to provide their clients and organizations with the highest quality representation possible, be it on paper, for oral argument, or through in-person presentation.

Immigration and refugee law is about people, their quest for human rights and better lives for themselves and their families, their dreams of living in peace and prosperity, and the enrichment of U.S. society as a whole.  My overriding professional goal is contribute to the improvement of the substance and application of U.S. immigration law and policy so that it comports with our constitutional standards and values, as well as with international human rights norms.  In my role as a legal expert and consultant,  I am committed to advancing ethical and professonal legal representation, and to securing fairness and justice for the individuals and institutions that are affected so fundamentally by immigration laws and policies - one consultation at a time.   

          Lory Diana Rosenberg  
         August 2009