Immigration Court Skills: Procedure, Examination, Objections, and Appellate Preservation

Ms. Beach-Oswald, JD is President and Managing Partner at Beach-Oswald Immigration Law Associates. She has used her 25 years of experience in immigration law to help individuals immigrate to the United States for humanitarian reasons. Ms. Beach-Oswald advocates for clients from around the world who seek freedom from torture in their country, or who are victims of domestic violence and trafficking. She has litigated for family reunification and presenting employment-based petitions for professionals who qualify as having an extraordinary ability and whose work in the U.S. is considered to be in the national interest. Ms. Beach-Oswald has worked with numerous expert witnesses who have testified on her cases for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), forced marriage, illegal organ transplants, female genital mutilation, and political country experts for various countries all over the world. Ms. Beach-Oswald has represented clients from over eighty countries. With her extensive experience in family-based and employment-based immigration law, she not only assists her clients in obtaining a better standard of living in the United States; she also helps employers obtain professional visas and petition for family members. As such, Ms. Beach-Oswald handles many complex naturalization issues and numerous waivers for non-immigrant and immigrant visas.

Ms. Blessinger has been practicing immigration law for over a decade. As the founder of Blessinger Legal, PLLC, she has litigated thousands of cases before United States Immigration Courts, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Asylum Offices, Federal Courts, and the State Department. In addition, Ms. Blessinger has provided commentary regarding important immigration topics in national and international media, bringing the legal perspective on current immigration policy. She is held as an expert in immigration matters by her colleagues and has appeared numerous times as an expert witness on immigration law in federal courts. Ms. Blessinger has been recognized for her work as an immigration attorney by Washingtonian Magazine, Super Lawyers Magazine, and Virginia Business. These accolades are given by both peer and public nomination. As a dual citizen of Ireland, Ms. Blessinger participates in the Irish Network of the District of Columbia and the Ireland Fund. She has been recognized by The Irish Echo as a top 40 under 40 Irish American and by the Federal Bar Association (“FBA”) Immigration Law Division as Younger Lawyer of the Year in 2017. Ms. Blessinger is active in a number of professional organizations, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) and the FBA. She sits on the board of directors for the ACACIA, a nonprofit dedicated to enriching the lives of immigrants throughout the United States and currently serves as the Secretary for the DC Chapter of AILA.