Best advice to start practicing solo as an immigration attorney? I worked for 5 years as a law clerk in civil litigation but have some knowledge of immigration law since I took care of all my paperwork and process to get my green card through marriage (also helped a lot of friends) and all my F1 visas + CPT and OPT. I’m waiting for my bar results and was thinking of starting my own practice right away if I passed, but also recognize that it might be a risky move… (continue in the comments)

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I think you should first join AILA and start networking with some immigration attorneys. Learn about their practices and the types of work that they do. I've done every type of immigration law over the past 5 years or so, and even I wouldn't consider going out on my own at this point. There's a very very steep learning curve, even for family-based cases, and you should for sure find a mentor who can review your work before you attempt to take a case yourself. Making a mistake can have huge repercussions that can't always be fixed.
You should also explore pro bono opportunities now as a way to get more experience.
But don't be discouraged! If this is something you truly want to do, get involved with AILA and look for opportunities to learn more and work alongside people who do immigration full time.

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Mine is the opposite trajectory. Worked as an immigration attorney for a few years and now doing a clerkship in civil division. There is very little overlap and i dont think there’s much that you learned in civil litigation that’s transferable. It took me 6 months to understand what was going on in civil court. The systems and processes are just very different. And as AA1 said mistakes have really big repercussions and are hard to fix. So definitely get some experience in the area before you take on clients solo and don’t have anyone reviewing your work.

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What do you guys think? Is it imperative that I first work at an immigration firm before I start my own practice or can I manage to start and learn as I go? Getting clients wouldn’t be an issue as I already have a lot of people from my home country that are asking me for help with their immigration matters, but I’m more concerned about not having enough experience.

What is the best way to learn as much as I can about immigration without working at an firm? Please only constructive advice. Thank you so much!

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