Hay228

Hello,

I am looking for a lawyer recommendation in San Francisco,
San Jose area. (I believe I could do all the forms myself, thanks
to this newsgroup, but this is way way too important to let anything slip
up)

I have looked over other posts with similar question, but they
seem to be very vague. Here are some of the questions I am trying to sort
out:

*How helpful are the practice interview session with the lawyer?
*How much does it cost ?
*Does processing include translation of the necessary papers?
(i.e. is the notarization fee included in the lawyer fee)
*How affective can lawyer be if something goes wrong with the case?
(on couple occasions I was told that they know _the_ number to call,
how true is that?)

Would really appreciate to hear your experiences and/or recommendations
for the Bay Area, both good and bad.

Here is what I am finding so far: prices anywhere from 750 to 1500 for
filing papers to local BCIS office and the oversea embassy. And I should
note that the lawyers on 750 side sounded quite a bit shady. The adjustment
of status after fiancée arrives is another 1200-2500 (filing fees are
extra in both case). Another detail, are fees to lawyer paid as one "check"
or
as a couple as you advance along the process?

Also in some of the posts I heard a phrase that a lawyer should "look over
the forms to make sure all i are dotted and all t are crossed". I am finding
this is not exactly the case. It sounds like that "just to look over the
forms"
is not done. A lawyer does not want to take that kind of responsibility,
without
actually filling out everything themselves. Any comments on this ?

So far I was searching through the www.findlaw.com and got one referral
from www.aila.org (will call that one tomorrow). Also www.bigyellow.com
map based search is very useful.

Sorry for long post
Please post to the group, the email is not checked.

Susanna

This guy is excellant
Capp and Marsh Immigration Lawyers.
He is British and been here for 10yrs also a UK Barrister.
Go to [email protected]
or look up Capp and Marsh.
Good luck

Oh yer you need Johnathan Capp

Joe

"hay228" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > Hello,
    >
    > I am looking for a lawyer recommendation in San Francisco,
    > San Jose area. (I believe I could do all the forms myself, thanks
    > to this newsgroup, but this is way way too important to let anything slip
    > up)
    >
    > I have looked over other posts with similar question, but they
    > seem to be very vague. Here are some of the questions I am trying to sort
    > out:
    >
    > *How helpful are the practice interview session with the lawyer?
    > *How much does it cost ?
    > *Does processing include translation of the necessary papers?
    > (i.e. is the notarization fee included in the lawyer fee)
    > *How affective can lawyer be if something goes wrong with the case?
    > (on couple occasions I was told that they know _the_ number to call,
    > how true is that?)
    >
    > Would really appreciate to hear your experiences and/or recommendations
    > for the Bay Area, both good and bad.
    >
    > Here is what I am finding so far: prices anywhere from 750 to 1500 for
    > filing papers to local BCIS office and the oversea embassy. And I should
    > note that the lawyers on 750 side sounded quite a bit shady. The adjustment
    > of status after fiancée arrives is another 1200-2500 (filing fees are
    > extra in both case). Another detail, are fees to lawyer paid as one "check"
    > or
    > as a couple as you advance along the process?
    >
    > Also in some of the posts I heard a phrase that a lawyer should "look over
    > the forms to make sure all i are dotted and all t are crossed". I am finding
    > this is not exactly the case. It sounds like that "just to look over the
    > forms"
    > is not done. A lawyer does not want to take that kind of responsibility,
    > without
    > actually filling out everything themselves. Any comments on this ?
    >
    > So far I was searching through the www.findlaw.com and got one referral
    > from www.aila.org (will call that one tomorrow). Also www.bigyellow.com
    > map based search is very useful.
    >
    > Sorry for long post
    > Please post to the group, the email is not checked.

Here's is part of my boilerplate caveat on the AILA:

A query to the AILA about the level of experience of their referred
lawyers resulted in this reply:

"Many of our members are new lawyers, so in that sense you aren't
guaranteed years of experience in immigration law with one of our
members. Still, a lawyer is not likely to pay the required fees to
join AILA unless they are serious about practicing immigration law.
AILA membership doesn't confer any special certifications, so the fact
that membership is strictly voluntary might indicate that our members
are dedicated to keeping up to date with changes in immigration law."

Because *any* lawyer can join the AILA, you could possibly be referred
to an immigration lawyer "in training". I recommend interviewing your
AILA referral for their level of appropriate experience just as
carefully as any other referral you come up with.

Good luck with it all,
Joe