“Immigration Consequences of Criminal Conduct” Training- AILA/PAIR/EOIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

This training will orient you to the complex intersection of immigration law and crimes, and will address how crimes affect deportability, inadmissibility, naturalization and other forms of relief.  It will also discuss how criminal conduct may affect good moral character, mandatory detention, and bars to asylum for particularly serious crimes; and it will train you in analyzing whether a conviction is a crime of moral turpitude or an aggravated felony. Presenters include Heather Friedman of PAIR, Susan Churchill of Demissie & Church and Bill Graves of Graves & Doyle. This training is free of charge. 

To RSVP for this training, please contact Antonio Castro Aranda at acaranda@pairproject.org.

Friday, May 17, 2013, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Room 900A
15 New Sudbury Street
Boston, MA

"Representing Detained Clients With Mental Disabilities in Immigration Court"- BBA Training

A panel of experienced immigration attorneys and mental health professionals will discuss the representation of mentally ill and mentally disabled respondents in Immigration Court and offer tips for best practices. Panelists include: Jon Wesley Boyd, Cambridge Health Alliance; Stephen Dekovich, Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition; Heather Friedman, PAIR; and Sarah Sherman-Stokes, PAIR. Register by visiting here.

Thursday, May 30, 2013, from 12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

Recent Past Trainings

"National Immigration Project Membership Meeting"

This day-long session, which is FREE for members, renewing members, and prospective members of the NLG National Immigration Project, will include interactive discussions on recent asylum issues; creative responses to immigration enforcement; legislative developments and strategies; immigration benefits for same-sex couples; and DACA: practices and obstacles, as well as extended break-out sessions on immigration litigation, criminal/immigration law issues, VAWA and U Visas.  PAIR Asylum Attorney Anita Sharma and PAIR Executive Director Sarah Ignatius will co-chair the Asylum discussion. 

Friday, May 3, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Boston University School of Law
Barristers Hall
Boston, MA 02215

"Asylum: Application Through Appeal"- BBA Training

This program will cover the life-cycle of an asylum case beginning with an affirmative asylum application, to a hearing in front of an Immigration Judge, to an appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and through an appeal at the First Circuit. This course is essential for attorneys who want to understand asylum law and procedure and who are new to representing asylum clients. Panelists include: Ilana Greenstein, Kaplan, Friedman & Associates; Thomas Hutchins, Immigrant and Refugee Appellate Center; Lory D. Rosenberg, IDEAS Consultation and Coaching; and Howard A. Silverman, Ross Silverman. PAIR Asylum Attorney Anita Sharma helped organize this program. Register by visiting here:

Tuesday, April 30, 2013, from 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

"Holistic Caring for Refugees and Torture Survivors Conference" - Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights

PAIR Staff member, Anita P. Sharma, will be speaking at the Holistic Caring for Refugees and Torture Survivors Conference on Friday, April 19, 2013, on an introduction to asylum law and procedure for medical professionals, focusing on how a successful partnership between legal advocates and health professionals makes a tremendous difference in the legal cases of our clients/patients. Register by visiting here.

Friday, April 19, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Boston University Medical School
Hiebert Lounge, 14th Floor
80 East Concord Street
Boston, MA 02118

"Representing Asylum Seekers” - PAIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

This training will cover issues of asylum law and practice, including an overview of asylum law, procedures before the Asylum Office and Immigration Court, and how to work with clients seeking asylum. The faculty includes Sarah Ignatius and Anita P. Sharma of the PAIR Project, and Elizabeth Badger, of Boston University School of Law. The fee for this training is $85. To register, please contact Amy Mercure, amercure@pairproject.org.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013, from 2:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
1 Financial Center
Boston, MA 02111

"Representing Asylum Seekers” - PAIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

This training will cover issues of asylum law and practice, including an overview of asylum law, procedures before the Asylum Office and Immigration Court, and how to work with clients seeking asylum. The faculty includes Anita P. Sharma of the PAIR Project. The fee for this training is $85. To register, please contact Amy Mercure, amercure@pairproject.org.

Friday, March 1, 2013, from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
WilmerHale
60 State Street
Boston, MA 02109

"Bond Hearing and Know Your Rights" Training- AILA/PAIR/EOIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

This training will cover Know Your Rights presentations and consultations with immigration detainees, and the substantive standards and Immigration Court procedures for representation in bond proceedings. The session will also include a mock hearing. This training is free of charge for pro bono attorneys.  To RSVP for this training, please contact Antonio P. Castro Aranda at acaranda@pairproject.org.

Friday, February 1, 2013, from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Room 275C
15 New Sudbury Street
Boston, MA

"Anatomy of a Removal Proceeding"- Boston Bar Association Brown Bag Seminar

What does it mean when my client receives a Notice to Appear? What should I expect at the Master Calendar Hearing?  What relief might my client be eligible for? This Brown Bag is
geared toward attorneys who are interested in representing clients in immigration court but are new to removal proceedings. The program will offer an overview of immigration removal proceedings, from receipt of a Notice to Appear through the merits hearing and appeals process.  Attendees will receive practical tips on navigating immigration removal proceedings, and learn the basics on developing a removal defense case from Professor Mary Holper, the Director of the Immigration Clinic at Roger Williams University School of Law and an expert in the field.  To attend this event, you must register through the Boston Bar website.

Friday, February 1, 2013, from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA

"Representing Asylum Seekers” - PAIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

This training will cover issues of asylum law and practice, including an overview of asylum law, procedures before the Asylum Office and Immigration Court, and how to work with clients seeking asylum. The faculty includes Anita P. Sharma of the PAIR Project, David McHaffey, of Barker, Epstein, Loscocco, & McHaffey and Sondra Crosby, of Boston Medical Center. The fee for this training is $85. To register, please contact Amy Mercure, amercure@pairproject.org.

Monday, January 14, 2013, from 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Ropes & Gray LLP
Prudential Tower, 800 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02199-3600

“Visa Petitions & Adjustment of Status for Detainees” - AILA/PAIR/EOIR Pro Bono
Attorney Training

This FREE training will walk you through the visa petition process and adjustment of status for a couple who marries while the non-citizen is detained by ICE, including how to prepare and file the I-130 visa petition and the I-485 application for adjustment of status, obtain a medical examination for a detainee, manage a visa petition interview, and present the case at the adjustment hearing in Immigration Court. Presenters include experienced AILA attorneys Anthony Drago and Amy Wax. The Immigration Judges will answer questions about issues that arise in adjustment hearings and the Judges’ preferences on the process for attorneys to present their cases. Please RSVP to PAIR Pro Bono Detention Manager Antonio Castro Aranda at acaranda@pairproject.org.   

            Friday, December 14, 2012, from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
            John F. Kennedy Federal Building
            Government Center, Room 275B
            (Second floor of the low rise part of the building next to the cafeteria)

"Deferred Action Training to Assist Childhood Arrivals" - PAIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

PAIR’s next training on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will provide an overview of DACA eligibility criteria and basic immigration law; offer tips on packaging a DACA request and filing practices; review conduct-based activities that could bar applicants from deferred action (including criminal bars); and provide other strategies to assist applicants to meet their evidentiary burden. Anita P. Sharma of PAIR is the presenter. RSVP to Amy Mercure at amercure@pairproject.org. When signing up, please write “DACA Training” in the subject line.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012, from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Foley Lardner LLP
111 Huntington Avenue, Suite 2600
Boston, MA 02199-7610

Five-Day Immigration Law Training

The MIRA Coalition is sponsoring a five-day training on Immigration Law where PAIR staff members, Heather Friedman,  Anita P. Sharma, and Sarah Sherman-Stokes, will present on asylum and detention issues. Other presenters include attorneys from Suffolk Law School and the Committee for Public Council Services. Topics include: Asylum Law; Representing Clients in Immigration Detention; Family-Based Immigration; Criminal Law and Immigration; Applying for Citizenship; Unauthorized Practice of Immigration Law; Immigrant Access to Benefits; BIA Recognition and Accreditation; and Domestic Violence.

Monday-Friday, Oct. 29 – Nov. 2, 2012, from 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
International Institute of New England
1 Milk Street
Boston, MA 02109
Register Here

Rights of Immigrants and Refugees

Amnesty International, as part of its 2012 Northeast Regional Conference, is sponsoring a panel on “The Rights of Immigrants and Refugees,” where PAIR Asylum Staff Attorney Anita P. Sharma will present on the right to political asylum, Deferred Action for certain childhood arrivals, and other legal and human rights.

Saturday, November 10, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Boston University – George Sherman Union
775 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Lawyering Skills & Tips for Immigration Court: Pro Bono Attorney Training

PAIR and the Immigration Public Service Committee of the Boston Bar Association are co-sponsoring a brownbag training on how to represent a client in Immigration Court. This training will help prepare attorneys for issues that may arise with the Immigration Judge and Trial Attorney.  Speakers include PAIR Detention Staff Attorney Heather Friedman, Halim Moris of Moris & O'Shea, LLC and Howard Silverman of Ross, Silverman LLP. Topics will include the effective use of witnesses, briefs, pleadings, motions, and supporting documents in Immigration Court.  The training will focus on practical skills and procedures rather than eligibility for relief.

Thursday, November 15, 2012, from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Boston Bar Association
16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA

"Motions to Reopen" - AILA/PAIR/EOIR Pro Bono Attorney Training

The AILA/PAIR/EOIR Pro Bono Program is holding a FREE training on Motions to Reopen. This training is particularly timely in light of the drug lab scandal in Jamaica Plain and we are hoping attorneys who attend will be able to assist detainees whose immigration cases can be reopened for tainted evidence. The training will orient you to sources of the law (statute and regulations) and discuss procedures for filing motions to reopen and in absentia motions to reopen.  The panel will also address time and number restrictions; the exceptions to these restrictions for ineffective assistance of counsel; joint motions; changed circumstances in asylum cases; and sua sponte grants.  The Immigration Judges will answer questions about the factors they find most helpful and the evidence they are looking to see. We hope you can attend this valuable training, hosted by the Immigration Court free of charge. Please RSVP for this training to Antonio Castro Aranda at acaranda@pairproject.org.  

Friday, October 26, 2012 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
John F. Kennedy Federal Building
Government Center, Room 275B
(Second floor of the low rise part of the building next to the cafeteria)