Seminar Outline

Speaker bios

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Each call features an hour of analysis, strategy and practice tips, followed by 30 minutes of questions and answers from participants. MCLE Credits for CA and TX.

SEMINAR OUTLINE

As the Bush Administration ends and Team Obama takes command, developments in employer sanctions law are spewing forth as fast as chocolates on the assembly line in the famous "I Love Lucy" episode. Employers and their immigration and labor lawyers are buckling under the weight of new regulations, enforcement policies and other ominous developments:

• E-Verify - despite a 4% error rate and a program sunset in March, 2009 - is required in at least 12 states.
• Federal contractors and most of their subs must soon decide how best to comply with the mandatory E-Verify rule that takes effect on Jan. 15, 2009 (unless a Federal Court enjoins the rule at the behest of five business and HR groups that sued DHS on Dec. 23, 2008).
• A new I-9 Form and a companion regulation go live on Feb. 2, 2009.
• Raids of worksites and indictments of employers reached a peak in 2008, but no one yet knows if and how they might continue under the Obama Administration.
• The latest DHS Social Security No-Match rule faces a court hearing in March, 2009.
• Immigration-related worker protections are likely to be more vigorously enforced with the appointment (and likely confirmation) of pro-labor Hilda Solis as Secretary of DOL.
• USCIS is expanding its Fraud Detection and National Security unit, with the likely effect of many more employer site visits and delays in adjudication of immigration benefits requests.
• USCIS Service Centers and the Administrative Appeals Office join ranks in disregarding Headquarters policy memorandums and micro-managing business by demanding burdensome responses to multi-page boilerplate RFEs.

FIRST Phone Session on January 28: E-Verify Update

• Strategic Considerations for Federal Contractors and Subs
• Does mandatory E-Verify violate IIRIRA and other laws?
• Compliance strategies for Multi-State Employers
• USCIS Ombudsman's E-Verify Recommendations
• Successor-in-interest E-Verify problems in mergers, acquisitions and corporate reorganizations.
• E-Verify issues for STEM students and traveling Adjustment of Status applicants
• Dealing with TNCs (Tentative Non-Confirmations)

SECOND Phone Session on February 25: I-9 Update

• Key Changes in the New I-9 Form and New DHS Regulation
• E-Verify Mandates That Change the I-9 Process
• Paper-Based versus Electronic I-9s - Pros and Cons
• Employer Self-Audits and Attorney Audits - Practical and Legal Concerns
• Employer Compliance Policies and Raid-Readiness Precautions
• Constructive Knowledge: Beyond No-Match Concerns

THIRD Phone Session on March 25: Anticipating and Addressing the Government's Fraud Detection and Enforcement Strategies

• The battle over Agency Policy: USCIS Headquarters Versus the AAO and the Service Centers
• Dealing with Extralegal Agency Initiatives: The Rogue RFE and the Rewriting of Legislative History in H-1B and L-1 Cases
• Constitutional, Statutory and Criminal Law Strategies for Raids, Lawsuits and Indictments
• DOL H-1B Audit Defense: Best Practices in an Era of Heightened Enforcement
• Greeting the USCIS FDNS Field Examiner or Contractor at the Employer's Doorstep

Citations for Session 1        Citations for Session 2        Citations for Session 3       

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Angelo Paparelli (Discussion Leader) is a partner of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Paparelli, with a bicoastal practice in Southern California and New York City, is known for providing creative solutions to complex and straightforward immigration law problems, especially involving mergers and acquisitions, labor certifications and the H-1B visa category. His practice areas include legislative advocacy; employer compliance audits and investigations; U.S. and foreign work visas and permanent residence for executives, managers, scientists, scholars, investors, professionals, students and visitors; immigration messaging and speech-writing; corporate policy formulation; and immigration litigation before administrative agencies and the federal courts. He is frequently quoted in leading national publications on immigration law. He is also President of the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, a 30-firm global consortium of leading immigration practitioners. Paparelli’s blog and a comprehensive list of his many immigration law articles can be found at www.entertheusa.com. He is an alumnus of the University of Michigan where he earned his B.A., and of Wayne State University Law School where he earned his J.D. Paparelli is admitted to the state bars of California, Michigan and New York.

Ronald Alan Atkinson is Chief of Staff of the USCIS Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS). The Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) is a division housed within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Security and Records Verification Directorate.

Richard H. Coffin, Jr. is Deputy Chief of the USCIS Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS). The Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) is a division housed within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Security and Records Verification Directorate.

Laura Danielson is the chair of the Immigration Department at Fredrikson & Byron. She has been an immigration lawyer since 1989, is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, and teaches immigration law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is also co-author of Immigration Law in a Nutshell. As a founding member of the Academy of Business Immigration Lawyers, a think tank of seventeen premiere U.S. immigration lawyers, she has been especially active in developing its global consortium of immigration practitioners in countries throughout the world. Splitting her time between Minneapolis and Fredrikson & Byron’s international offices, Laura is committed to developing and providing global immigration services. Concentrating on business and arts-related immigration, Laura works with companies, investors, physicians, engineers, scientists, artists and entertainers, and other professionals in non-immigrant and immigrant visa matters. She also has expertise in I-9 audits, employer sanctions, family immigration, asylum and naturalization matters.

Bonnie Gibson is Partner at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Before joining Fragomen in 2008, Bonnie Gibson was the office managing shareholder for the Phoenix headquarters of Littler Global. Her emphasis is in immigration, worksite immigration compliance, and corporate immigration compliance programs. Bonnie practices at the intersection of U.S. immigration and labor law, bringing 25 years of California labor and employment experience to a practice now concentrated on immigration and immigration compliance. Her I-9 services practice counsels companies nationwide on developing and managing immigration compliance programs, including I-9 training and audits. She regularly advises about immigration compliance issues in mergers, acquisitions and contracting relationships and represents companies in Immigration and Customs Enforcement proceedings.

Douglas D. Hauer is a partner with Chin & Curtis, LLP. He joined the firm in 2001 after receiving his J.D. from Boston University. Mr. Hauer represents corporate clients in a wide range of business immigration matters. He has defended clients in Department of Labor LCA audits as well as in Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and FBI investigations. Mr. Hauer also has broad experience in complex family-based immigration law and related litigation matters. He serves on the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program Committee of the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) in Washington, D.C., and frequently speaks and writes on immigration law issues, I-9 compliance, and ethics for national, state, and local organizations. Mr. Hauer received his B.A. in German literature and Russian from Ohio State, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. Before pursuing a career in immigration law, he received his M.A. degree in Yiddish and Hebrew literature from Harvard University and an M.A. degree in German Studies from the University of Chicago. Mr. Hauer speaks German and Hebrew.

John Quill is a partner in the Business Immigration group in the Boston Office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Quill handles all aspects of immigration and nationality law, including processing of B, E, H, J, L, O, and TN non-immigrant visa positions, applications for PERM labor certification, Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Researcher and National Interest waiver petitions, adjustment of status, consular processing, and naturalization. Mr. Quill is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and is the volunteer attorney for the Irish Immigration Center. He also serves as a frequent panelist at immigration seminars, has served as co-chair of AILA regional conferences and has authored numerous articles on business immigration topics.

Peter Schey is President and Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law Foundation (CHRCL Foundation) 1980 to present. Mr. Schey also has his private practice of law principally focusing on complex constitutional, transnational, corporate, criminal, administrative, and appellate litigation. He served as lead counsel or co-counsel in over 100 major civil rights and class action cases in federal courts throughout the United States involving access to education, health and welfare benefits, administrative law, the rights of children and indigenous people, rights of immigrants and refugees, and complex individual cases involving constitutional, criminal, transnational, and corporate issues. Mr. Schey's litigation against the federal government has resulted in the largest attorney fee awards in the country. Mr Schey is also the founder and director of "Safe Haven" and "Freedom House" ("Casa Libre") group homes for unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children; acquired $2 million funding to purchase and operate shelter facilities to provide youth with temporary housing, family reunification services, legal services, medical care, mental health counseling, etc.

Batya Schwartz Ehrens is an immigration attorney specializing in business immigration at Pollack, Pollack, Isaac, & DeCicco, LLP in New York, NY. She advises large and small corporations on visa strategies and immigration compliance. She also represents investors, executives, and artists seeking green cards and visas. Ms. Schwartz Ehrens has authored several articles and lectured at financial institutions on the topics of employment-based immigration options, E-Verify, and I-9 Compliance. She currently serves as the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) New York Chapter New Members Division co-chair. An active voice for immigrant rights, she has also published articles on grassroots advocacy and has served as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Young Leaders New York Chapter co-chair and Education and Advocacy chair. Ms. Schwartz Ehrens was named an AILA Pro-Bono benefactor in 2007 for her contributions to immigrant and refugee communities.

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