On July 1, 2015 HMA Law Firm attorney Hassan Ahmad will be conducting a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) for Virginia criminal defense lawyers on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions.

Register here. 2.0 live MCLE, 0.0 ethics. Replay on July 16, 2015 (also counts for live 2.0 MCLE).

Many of the concepts will be useful even for non-Virginia practitioners. Don’t get Padilla’ed, avoid an ineffective assistance of counsel claim!

Learn the language of “crimmigration,” how the deportation system works, what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys look for in a record of conviction when assessing a non-citizen’s removability, and how to achieve the best possible result for your non-citizen clients to avoid or minimize the risk of detention and deportation.

In Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the defendant was entitled to post-conviction relief because he entered a plea based on his counsel’s erroneous advice regarding the immigration consequences of conviction. As a result of Padilla, a defense counsel has an affirmative duty to advise non-citizen clients of the immigration consequences of their criminal convictions, or risk IAC claims. Don’t let this be you.

In this first-of-its-kind seminar, experienced immigration and criminal defense attorney Hassan Ahmad will explain the collateral immigration consequences of criminal convictions in Virginia so you are prepared to tackle the issues.

Topics to be covered include:

• The importance of understanding immigration consequences
• An overview of the deportation system
• Understanding Deportability vs. Inadmissibility
• Crimmigration categories
• Advice on handling the non-citizen client
• Practice aids to include a Crimmigration Checklist and templated Padilla-compliant warnings (in English and Spanish)