Immigration Consultation

Welcome to the Metropolitan Public Defender’s Padilla Project. If you are a defense attorney, you may fill out the questionnaire below and receive advice about how a potential conviction will affect your client’s immigration status. The Padilla Project advice attorneys are Stephanie Engelsman and Josh McCarthy. Stephanie currently devotes half her practice to immigration law and the other half to major felony cases. The idea behind this project is to get you the most accurate answers on immigration questions from attorneys who also understand the nuances and practice of current criminal law. Our goal is to help you find the best path in your criminal case and to help you assist your client in deciding whether to plea or go to trial. Sometimes the path and the decision are obvious. But sometimes subtle changes in the wording of the plea, the conviction of record or the sentence can have an enormous impact. If you have any complaints, questions or comments about the Padilla Project, please don’t hesitate to contact the project supervisor, Alex Bassos.

This consultation is similar to a consultation that one would receive by submitting a question to a list-serve or by asking a mentor a “hypothetical”. The crucial aspect of such consultations is that you not give us any identifying information. That’s why we aren’t asking for your client’s name or date of birth or even the county of prosecution. Please see this Ethics Opinion (PDF) for more information. By submitting this questionnaire you are certifying that:

• To the best of your knowledge your client is not a defendant in any cases in which a co-defendant is currently represented by Metropolitan Public Defender
• To the best of your knowledge this consultation does not constitute a conflict for Metropolitan Public Defender.
• This consultation does not create an attorney-client relationship between your client and Metropolitan Public Defender.

MPD will keep the information you submit confidential to the same extent that we would in a formal client representation. It is extremely important that you get us as much of the information requested below as possible. Most of the time that means you will need to ask your client these questions directly. If the information is unknown, it is okay to leave the answers blank. However, please know that we have asked each of these questions because their answers may make all the difference in terms of the immigration consequences to your client.

Thank you so much for coming to the Padilla Project. You should hear from someone within 24 hours to confirm that we’re working on your case.