My report on the American Immigration Lawyers Association National Conference

Regina Germain (second from left), Legal Director of the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center and author of AILA’s Asylum Primer, Fifth Edition, discusses asylum law with Steven Langer (left) and other immigration attorneys at the 2009 AILA National Conference.

Here is my report on the American Immigration Lawyers Association National Conference in Las Vegas last week.

I talked at length with Regina Germain about asylum cases. Ms. Germain is the author of the leading book on asylum. I made more notes at our dinner meeting than at any other event I attended at the conference. She gave those who attended several “golden nuggets” of information on asylum law.

I attended the Norton Tooby/Dan Kesselbrenner crimes and immigration seminar. I got to chat with Dan Kesselbrenner. Norton Tooby is very sharp but I relate better to Dan Kesselbrenner’s thought process. I’m glad they do this important seminar together.

I talked to Brent Renison to congratulate him on his widow penalty victory in US District Court in Los Angeles.

As far as Oklahoma lawyers, I saw Larry Davis, Melissa Tipton, Carlos Williams, Doug Stump and Tim Cook. Congrats to Doug Stump on being elected National Treasurer of AILA.

One more thing: I got to see on of the presentations given by Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association. Jim is a fabulous ambassador of the OBA and Oklahoma attorneys. I’m fairly critical of legal seminars but I’d say the presentation I saw was among the best three or four received at the conference.