Monday, September 12, 2011

Feels like the first time!

You would think after doing this lawyer thing for awhile once could just coast, right? Name recognition and reputation are all you need, right? Wrong. I must admit that I have not been doing all I can to be the great lawyer I know I am. Today I renew my dedication to my career and my clients. Watch out CIS!

There is no bad news for current clients. Everything will continue to be great. But future clients will be evaluated carefully to make sure that they are right for my firm. I find that I work best with people who are invested in their future. Trying to help someone who refuses all help is frustrating.

It will be just as easy to hire a lawyer from my office for great immigration work. It will just not be so easy to hire me to handle your case. I will focus on a small number of extremely important cases, while overseeing the other cases in the office but leaving routine work for another attorney.

I have been doing this a long time. I know a great deal. But by pulling back and taking fewer clients as personal projects I will be better able to help all of the clients of my firm.

Neil

Friday, September 9, 2011

September 2011

The world is beautiful, the air smells better, food tastes better, and I now wear pants that are six inches less around the waist than pants I wore just three years ago. I have been through some changes!

In 2007 I weighed 250 pounds on my 5'10" frame -- at last check I weighed 205. I am stronger, smarter, and more ready to help my clients than every before!

And this is good, because while the law may be getting nicer, CIS sure is not. Other lawyers used to be jealous that I worked in Tampa, where the relationship between lawyers and government was not at all contentious. This was good because with lawyers involved many more cases can be handled more quickly than without. I used to just try to make the ISO's job easy when I saw them. Those days appear to be over. It appears that CIS Tampa is no longer interested at all in what lawyers want or how we can help move cases along.

Even the most mild mannered lawyers I know are getting mad about the treatment our clients are getting in Tampa. It is not too much to ask that the people who work for the local CIS office do their best to do their jobs as quickly as possible. Lawyers help, we do not hurt. If CIS chooses not to work with us, they will find AILA lawyers to be a persnickety, nitpicky bunch. I am not sure that any dispute will end well, and I hope CIS comes around.

Neil Lewis