The following is collected and archived by CND-Canada. If you have any questions regarding the following information/message, please contact the original sender(s) listed below. Thank You. China News Digest - Canadian Regional Services (Bo Xiong) --------------- Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 09:21:36 EDT Reply-To: GOOD 1994 Sender: FCSSCD-L is a list for the open discussion and info exchange From: GOOD 1994 Subject: Immigration #2 To: Multiple recipients of list FCSSCD-L Status: R Immigration #2. HOW TO FIND A GOOD LAWYER (April 13, 1994) Dear Colleges: When considering HOW to find a good lawyer, first of all, it has to be clear in your mind what makes a lawyer be a GOOD lawyer. People are almost obsessed with the concept of "money-back guarantee" which obviously is an arrangement attracting many clients to a lawyer, however, it is neither a complete nor a necessary condition for a lawyer to be good. I emphasize this: the guarantee is definitely very nice and good for you, but it is far from the whole story. I believe that what you really want is the success rather than a promise to be reimbursed if the application is unsuccessful. Even if you get the money back in the case of failure, you may still get hurt and lose a lot, at least you can not get the Governmental Processing Fees back, and your chances of admission to Canada in the future may be prejudiced. Obviously, it is not in your favour to have a record of rejection by Immigration Officials, and you may have lost a good opportunity. If you want to reach your goal successfully, you must consider the reasons why some lawyers can provide you with better services which translate into a greater likelihood of success in your application while others can not under the same circumstances? What makes the difference? I am not a lawyer, but I have been dealing with some lawyers and I have also researched this area quite carefully. I believe that the following three factors are crucial ingredients which make-up a good lawyer: 1), the lawyer's REPUTATION AT PROCESSING POSTS ABROAD; 2), the lawyer's EXPERIENCE AND PRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMMIGRATION POLICIES AND PROCESS; and 3), the lawyer's SERVICES (including how much energy is put into your case). It is crucial to choose a lawyer who has an excellent reputation at processing posts abroad. A recommendation at a processing post by a reputable lawyer will make an extra-ordinary difference to an application for permanent residence in Canada. By contrast, applications filed by unqualified groups and individuals who have a terrible reputation at processing posts are probably treated even worse than an application which you could file on your own! Second, experience and practical understanding of Canadian immigration policies and process are also important aspects of a good lawyer. Just as you have your own field of specialty,lawyers have the special field of their own. A good lawyer understands that there are different immigration categories: family, refugee, independent and business, in which applications will go through different process under different criteria. There are, as my lawyer told me, not only a plethora of unqualified groups and individuals who are there trying to "assist" independent PR applicants, but also many immigration lawyers are actually refugee lawyers who have decided to "dabble" in the field of independent and business immigration applications. They are, however, amateurs and do not possess the experience which will truly facilitate your immigration to Canada. With respect to my third point, a lawyer's services are made up of various factors. Some of the factors will affect your success, such as how carefully your case will be prepared, the tactics used to protect you, the lawyer's communication skills and relationships with the immigration officials, etc; Other factors do not influence to your success, but will affect your feelings and will therefore impact your relationship with the lawyer, such as how high the retainer fee is, money-back guarantee or not, how amiable and friendly the lawyer is, etc. The next matter I would like to address is HOW to find a good lawyer. I know that someone wouldn't be happy with what I am telling you here, but I believe that it would be good for you as a PR applicant who is looking for a good lawyer. A simple way to distinguish between lawyers and consultants is the following: If a lawyer, you will see the lawyer's firm name plus "associates" or "barristers and solicitors". If a consultant, you will see at the end of the name the word "company" or "immigration service" or some other kind of name. Lawyers will always have "barrister and solicitor" under their names or the law firm's name. There are however some lawyers that operate as consultants for the purpose of immigration processing. These individuals set up a company and perform all immigration work through the company. There are many reasons why lawyers do this ... . Sometimes, because they do not want to abide by the rules of professional conduct and sometimes because they have been disbarred. However, there are some lawyers who operate as consultants exclusively for business reasons. Generally speaking, a good lawyer should never promise you what he/she can not do. If you are told (directly) by a lawyer that he will guarantee that your PR application will be successful, he is definitely NOT a good lawyer, since the final decision is not make by the lawyer. In the early stage of your PR application, there are some factors which are uncertain, such as the medical examination results, the results of your security/background check, and how well you would behave yourself in the interview, etc. It is not logical for a lawyer to give you the (100%) success guarantee. A good lawyer more likely promise you by a certain distance from what he/she has in mind that he/she could do for you and approach your case more strategically and realistically since he/she is more concerned about the reputation. By contrast, a less effective lawyer likely promise you more than he can do since he will probably be more interested in making a profit from you. A good lawyer spends more energy in dealing with immigration officials in order to insure that immigration officials appreciate the unique circumstances surrounding your application. I am just generally speaking here and it is hard to be more specified. Since the "Immigration #1" was posted weeks ago through the network, I received many messages to ask the name of my lawyer. On my understanding, the friends believe that I must have chosen a good lawyer for myself. Yes, it is true. Why not! I think, however, there is difference between choosing a lawyer for myself and introduce the same to the public, since something I can accept based on my understanding, but the same you may not. >From the lawyer I am dealing with, I can get every good point mentioned above except one, no money-back guarantee. That was one reason why I once "shopped around" for a quite while (so that I may tell you now something maybe you don't know). I didn't retain the lawyer until I understood more about what the guarantee really mean, and what are crucial for a good lawyer. Even though I have every confidence that my lawyer and the lawyer's firm are excellent on all my understanding, I still fell not comfortable to introduce my lawyer to our public before I can give you more and give you better than I got. I am currently negotiating with my lawyer and suggesting the firm to provide services more favour to my follow Chinese graduate students. The suggestions include giving the money-back guarantee, I know that it would be good for you although it is not crucial, and some other benefits and convenience (I wish that I am not requesting too much for trying to have my colleaques and friends appreciate in their applications). If the guarantee can not be arranged, I am certain that there must be a good reason why it cannot be done given the fact that I trust the lawyer's goodness and integrity. I will therefore keep you inform of the progress and see what we will have.