Anonymous wrote:I am an immigration attorney. in addition to getting an attorney who will file a G 28 form for you I also tell people to memorize the number of a family member or friend who is very competent and will help manage the attorney if you get detained. That person should be prepared to contact congressional members to ask them to email ICE

I guess I also need to memorize the number of my Embassy?

I am an immigration attorney. in addition to getting an attorney who will file a G 28 form for you I also tell people to memorize the number of a family member or friend who is very competent and will help manage the attorney if you get detained. That person should be prepared to contact congressional members to ask them to email ICE

Anonymous wrote:Are resources an issue? The immigration court clerk maintains a list of free or low-cost immigration lawyers. The DC Bar also does immigration clinics once a month (I think).

If cost isn’t a huge issue, I would look at the firms in the suburbs. Which court is your summons for?

OP here. Thanks. No summons. Money is not an issue, but I'm paying, not my workplace, so I don't want to contract with a corporate firm. This is advance planning in case of detention. I want to know I can count on a good attorney with a track record of fast reactions and good judgement. I figure that I need to give my attorney my entire file beforehand, so that if the need arises, they can just pull stuff out and say: "look at this doc, my client was legal all this time". I can't imagine that if this country is still judging on the merits, they would have any reason to deport me, but I've heard of multiple cases of apparently innocent foreigners being deported before getting a chance to argue their case, or languishing in detention without being able to communicate with their attorney. Often attorneys try to contact detentions centers and get no information at all (which is illegal). There was an article in Politico recently about deaths in detention from lack of medical care: apparently there are now more in 2025 than in the entire 4 year term of the previous President. I want my attorney to fight for me on that particular point, since I need daily medication. I can't do anything about ICE breaking the law on client-attorney communications, but I'm trying to give myself a fighting chance.

Are resources an issue? The immigration court clerk maintains a list of free or low-cost immigration lawyers. The DC Bar also does immigration clinics once a month (I think).

If cost isn’t a huge issue, I would look at the firms in the suburbs. Which court is your summons for?

Biglaw corporate rates are untethered to individuals seeking advice from individual or small firm lawyers.

Anonymous wrote:Non- biglaw corporate partners are over $1k/hour so $400 sounds really good. DH’s small to mid sized law firm billable rate is $1100 and he has more work than he can do.

You need to compare rates within the same field, not rates in different fields. What you’re doing is like comparing a radiologist to a family medicine physician.

Non- biglaw corporate partners are over $1k/hour so $400 sounds really good. DH’s small to mid sized law firm billable rate is $1100 and he has more work than he can do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a reason you didn't do a free consult with a suburban attorney? Some of the best immigration attorneys I know are in Fairfax.

That said, $400 is not unreasonable for a consult (depending on length).

With a few practice area exceptions (personal injury being one) attorneys that offer free consultations for retail clients generally are not very good. If they were better they would have paying clients to work on and not give away their time for free.

OP here. Yes, that's what I gathered - that the advice wouldn't be as good. I need the attorney to carefully review years' worth of visas and travel history, so I don't want them giving me a mere fraction of their attention.

Anonymous wrote:That is low. We are paying our real estate attorney $600 an hour. It adds up so be sure that whatever you are using the attorney for is worth it.

Real estate is the area of law that usually is the least complex, and the most affordable to clients. So unless you are dealing with a very complex real estate issue... that seems very expensive, PP.

Anonymous wrote:Is there a reason you didn't do a free consult with a suburban attorney? Some of the best immigration attorneys I know are in Fairfax.

That said, $400 is not unreasonable for a consult (depending on length).

With a few practice area exceptions (personal injury being one) attorneys that offer free consultations for retail clients generally are not very good. If they were better they would have paying clients to work on and not give away their time for free.

That is low. We are paying our real estate attorney $600 an hour. It adds up so be sure that whatever you are using the attorney for is worth it.