Immigration Legal Skills

E-learning Course:
Immigration Legal Skills

January 10 – February 7, 2013

$200 per person for CLINIC affiliate agencies (paying annual dues)

$225 per person for other nonprofit agency staff

$325 per person for private attorneys and staff 

How and where do you find immigration laws, and once you find them, how do you use them? Knowing how to find the law, and how to write clearly and effectively, are essential parts of every immigrant advocate's job. This hands-on, four-week e-learning course will focus on building fundamental legal research and writing skills.  Through readings, webinars, and exercises, participants will learn methods for conducting legal research using primary and secondary immigration source books and the Internet.  Students will practice writing persuasive letters and declarations, and will receive substantive feedback from the instructors.  The instructors will also discuss client interview techniques and how to advocate for clients before DHS.  The course is aimed at practitioners who have had little experience with legal writing and research.

Topics include:

• Sources of Immigration Legal Authority
• How to Find Immigration Legal Authority
• Persuasive Legal Writing
• Advocating for Clients with DHS
• Client Interview Techniques

The course starts on January 10^th with access to the e-learning course website and week one assignment. Once you receive your user name and password, you may participate in a variety of activities for self-directed learning, including reading assignments, exercises, and discussion questions.  The course will be interactive, with opportunities for online discussion among students, and between the students and the instructors.  The course also includes four webinars conducted on consecutive Thursdays at 2:00 p.m. EST starting on Thursday, January 17^th.  Each webinar lasts approximately 90 minutes, and is recorded and posted on the course website after the webinar is conducted.  Although we encourage participants to attend the live webinars each week, you will be able to listen to and view a recording of any webinar you are unable to attend whenever you choose to do so.

The instructors for this course will be CLINIC attorneys Sarah Bronstein and Charles Wheeler.  For questions about the course content, please contact Sarah Bronstein at sbronstein@cliniclegal.org.

Training Level: Introductory.  This is an introduction to immigration legal research and writing.  Basic familiarity with the immigration system, especially family-based immigration, is assumed.

For a detailed course outline, including the dates and times of the live webinars, click here.   Course participants are required to attend or view recordings of the course webinars in order to receive a course completion certificate at the end of the course.  

Registration: The training is for the staff of Catholic Charities and other community-based organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status, and attorneys and legal staff of private law offices.  If you are registering as staff of a community-based organization, you must fax a copy of your IRS 501(c)(3) letter designating your agency as a nonprofit entity to CLINIC at (202) 635-2649 to the attention of Andres Abella. Your registration will be confirmed upon receipt of this letter. If you are an attorney, please include your state bar number. Payment is by credit card only. 

Please be sure to register under the correct category and for the correct training. All registration changes or cancellations are subject to an administrative charge of $70.00.  Please note that CLINIC can only issue refunds for an e-learning course until one week prior to the first day of the training.

Please provide the full name and a working email address for each individual taking this course.  We will communicate with each registrant via email only, so it is very important that we have the correct name and email address for each registrant listed on the registration form.

Space is limited. The deadline for registration is January 7^th or sooner if registration is filled. For registration information contact Andres Abella at abella@cliniclegal.org.

CLE: CLINIC is authorized by the State Bar of California to provide minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) trainings. E-learning participants are eligible to claim 1.5 hours of MCLE credits per webinar for the webinar component of our e-learning immigration law courses. If you are an attorney licensed in another state, please check with your state bar to determine whether this training qualifies for MCLE credit.

REGISTER HERE

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IMMIGRATION LEGAL SKILLS E.pdf	9.73 KB