It feels good to win an asylum case, particularly a case where the client faces a real danger in the home country, or where winning seemed unlikely. But one thing I’ve noticed about winning – that good feeling doesn’t last long.
It’s better for court cases, when you are actually present to hear the decision. Since you’re not in the office, the win can be savored for a while; at least until you return to work. With most Asylum Office victories, you receive the result by mail, so you might have a good couple minutes when you call the client to congratulate her. After that, it’s back to the grind stone.
Losing, on the other hand, is a different story. When you lose an asylum case, you need to explain to the client what went wrong. If you’ve screwed up, you need to explain that too, and hopefully in a way that doesn’t generate a bar complaint. If it’s the client’s fault, you need to be diplomatic–why add insult to injury? And even if you have done everything right, it’s hard not to feel guilty when a client loses his case. Maybe you could have done more? Of course, you can always do more, and since you lost the case, you clearly should have.
You also need to explain the appeals process, and how much you charge. You have to discuss the chances for success on appeal. For most clients, this is a conversation that you will have more than once.
And then, of course, you actually have to do the appeal. These are a lot of work. If the appeal is with the BIA, you won’t receive a decision for a year or two. During that time, the client will call repeatedly to ask why there is no decision. If you lose an appeal with the BIA, you then have to explain the process in the federal circuit courts and start the whole process again.
So what’s the lesson here? According to a recent survey of asylum advocates in the U.S. and the UK, we need to take time to celebrate our successes. Many advocates report that there are moments of great joy in their work. For these advocates, seeing individuals that they have supported win asylum is a strong source of motivation. Even though we are busy, we should take time to savor our wins. We help make people’s lives better. If we take some time to appreciate our successes, it will help us enjoy our work more, and that will make us better advocates for our clients.
I just sent you an email, but for some reason it did not seem to go. I would like to know the name/email of someone with whom I could have a discussion concerning some substantive issues.
Would someone in charge of your website give me an email so that I could talk with them about some substantive issues?
I’ve always said, as great as it feels to win, it feels even worse to lose. Any good lawyer loses cases, because you don’t just take sure things. I’d rather survive the loss than not try a long shot.
Well said sir. And Todd, we celebrate that victory with you!
Attorny is very right. First thing is asylum seekers do not see attorneys like a businessperson. Our lives is at stake for Christ sake. We see attorneys like a lead actor in Hollywood movie who is a cop and we consider ourself as being held hostage inside a bank by bad guys. Even a arrogant and cocky person will consider attorneys like God. When a case is over you move on to another case but Everytime we in future sit back and analyze our lives, persons like you are thanked once again because for us we are surviving with ur once help. You will be never forgotten until death and you should definately take time to celebrate because u just did not win a case but u dragged someone out of a gun point kind of situation where death was almost certain. Even though its the law of this great country to save people but usually its possible because of your hard work and committment. Thankyou.
Savoring a great asylum victory right now! Gracias a Dios. A pretty rough day up until now.