I wrote this letter in response to a writer who asked who Stefano Riznyk
Esq was. No sooner was it posted, BritishExpats.com deleted it. We
contacted them as to why but received no response, so we are posting
again. A lady who went by the handle “Hockey Chick” wrote in wanting
to know about us and some persons had responded that although we were
members of AILA, or the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association,
they did not personally know of us (there are 10,000 immigration lawyers
in the country…it is difficult to know every single one). Here again
was our response, which belongs in a different section of the web site,
but BritishExpats will not allow us to respond so we place it here:
Hello Hockey Chick:
Thanks for the sincere effort in discovering who I am; I do appreciate
the effort you took. One of my clients informed me of this string of
messages and suggested I reply to you to clear a few things up.
I 'am' a member of AILA (American Immigration Lawyers' Association), as
well as the State Bar of California. I have been practising for 16 years
and seem to receive a lot of complex cases; especially those that other
lawyers state cannot be won.
I assume you have most likely hired someone else by now, but I feel if I
provide some information in can help other readers with some insights on
hiring lawyers.
We do not advertise our address for an important reason. The Internet is
an advertising medium for lawyers and many others. For the public, it is
a number of things. We have, in the past, received cases Registered Mail
24 hours before an appeal is due with no phone number or e-mail address
and were forced to prepare the appeal for free in order to save the
appeal case. We have bills to honor too (not all lawyers are all about
the money). As a result, we only provide our address to sincere clients,
not the whole world. We provide an e-mail address and a toll-free
number, so anyone who wants to contact us has no problem; 95% of our
calls are returned the same day and no appointments are even required.
The days of sending letters for information are long gone. Every client
that hires us is in a hurry, so why write when calling is easy and free?
As to members here not knowing me, it doesn't really mean anything. On
any given day or night some people on any web site will know someone or
not. There are 10,000 immigration lawyers in the country; not knowing
one person on a given day or night cannot really have much meaning. We
have been around a long time and 60 law firms nationwide hire us to
research their most complex cases, yet we don't expect everyone to know
us. Some firms are more popular because they spend more on advertising.
Our goal is not to have that kind of machinery; we are into pesonalized
service. Each client can always reach the lead attorney and lead
paralegal any time they want; not a junior person who will provide less
than experienced advice. That can only be achieved by keeping the firm
smaller. When I studied Strategic Management at Harvard University, I
set out to develop a better model for a law firm. The firm has to be client-
centric and that takes, among other things, quick response times (we can
prepare a Supreme Court Appeal in 10 days or less), a high-level or
research, and personalized service.
As to the issue of fees, we still offer 1% of our clients the ability to
make payments. However, of those, 90% default. We stopped payments a
long time ago when we realized we were never getting paid when we
offered people interest-free credit terms. Even now, we try to help
people who truly have a financial need, and are still spending a lot of
time collecting our money. However, every client has the option of
paying 70% down and the balance in 10 days when the case is complete.
You have to understand that apart from collection issues, the other
problem we as lawyers face is that people will change their minds on
cases or decide they want to save the money and prepare them alone, and
we are stuck with the custom work that cannot be used again for someone
else. Unlike most firms that send out cover letters with cases, most of
our cases come with a detailed and well-researched legal brief at no
extra cost (value $3500-$7500). As a law firm, we spend a greater amount
of professional time on a case than the average firm, and that costs us
more. Our profit margins are substantially lower, so the least we ask is
that we are paid for our services. We don't mind the extra work,
however, as it is reflected in our wonderful success rate with some very
high-level and complex cases.
As to doing your own case. Sure, some cases are easy to do, and we
actually tell callers what forms they need and suggest they consider
conducting their own case. Some cases need a lawyer (waivers for
criminal offences or appeals, PERMs, L1s, and so on) and there it is
risky. However, on other cases it is a matter of doing your homework and
knowing the law that goes with the forms.
Typing is easy; reading daily changes to the law and understanding their
impact requires work. I have read that Fiancee visas, for example, have
a 42% denial rate. When everything is going well, it's easy, but when it
isn't, there are challenges and to fix the mistakes someone made can
cost several times more than the original case would have cost. In fact,
we are dealing with one such case now, and it has gotten to be a
challenge where it could have been very easy. I tell clients doing your
own case is like changing the brakes on your car for the first time.
Let's hope you got it right when the person on the freeway slams the
brakes and you are traveling 60 mph!
As to references, I have posted a number of references on our web site,
www.MyImmigrationLawyer.net and those people dealt with us completely by
phone. Thanks to phone and e-mail, we are able to complete any case in
10 days or less and provide instant access to our staff without an
appointment. In the old "walk into the office with an appointment"
model, a lawyer can only see 6 people a day and the client loses out by
waiting a week.
We do not charge most clients for e-mails, calls and faxes (unless they
overdo it) and that is not something every firm does. I hired a lawyer
for a business matter and she charged me $39.00 for a one-line e-mail
confirming my appointment the next day! Again, it's about the client and
not about us and growing to be a huge firm; we never take on more than
25 new cases at a time so that we get to know every client as a human
being-we have a first name only policy here-for the clients and for us.
I have the credentials-lectured on immigration at Oxford University and
conducted seminars all over the world on the topic but unfortunately I
do not advertise on this site (of course I will look into it :) and no-
one here knew me that day. However, it does not mean we do not care or
do not do a great job for our clients--we have over 3 inches of thank
you letters we have not had the time to post on our web site, not to
mention boxes of thank you presents and invitations to stay at clients'
homes all over the planet. In short, we love what we do and we are here
for you, the client.
Thanks for your efforts hockey chick and I hope that your case goes
easily, quickly and smoothly.
Have a wonderful day
Warmest regards
Steven Riznyk
Lead Attorney
American Immigration Attorneys Inc.
www.myImmigrationLawyer.net
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