Is Your VAWA Attorney Qualified to Handle Your Case?

Let’s face it, VAWA cases are not as easy and straightforward as they sound. In fact, despite being a self-petitioned case, it is still one of the hardest cases to prove. Before acquiring permanent residency through the VAWA route, you have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you’ve been abused. Besides, the abuse must come from a US citizen or a lawful permanent resident who’s directly related to you. Not to mention the numerous authentic documents and evidence you’ll be required to bring. 

A VAWA attorney can step in to simplify the whole process for you. Truly, it’s difficult to think well when you’re battling physical and mental abuse and that’s why you should let a qualified VAWA attorney do the thinking for you. But how will you know that a VAWA lawyer is qualified for your case? Here’s an article that exposes all the right things you should be looking at to determine an attorney’s qualification for your VAWA case.

Define the Type of Lawyer you Need

The first and most important step to finding a suitable VAWA attorney for your case is to define your case. Note that different lawyers may specialize in different practice areas. Therefore, it makes sense to find one that specializes in dealing with immigration cases. When you make the move to find qualified lawyers, you’ll find that there are many lawyers who claim to be VAWA attorneys in the U.S. Thus the question: is every VAWA attorney qualified to handle my case? The answer to this question is obvious. Not all lawyers can handle your case as efficiently as you would want and that’s why you should look out for the best. But how can you know the right lawyer that can handle your case? Well, let’s get to that. 

Factors to Look out for in a VAWA Attorney

Here are some of the qualities you should specifically watch out for when hiring a VAWA attorney: 

Experience

Like doctors and other professionals, one of the first pointers to an attorney’s qualification is their experience. If a VAWA attorney has successfully handled a VAWA case before, they’ll likely handle it well again. Why? Because they now know what’s involved. VAWA is a self-petitioned case, so if you’re calling an attorney, it’s probably because you lack experience. So it doesn’t make sense to still have your lawyer guessing the next step. You want a lawyer that knows the next turn from the previous one. Look up their portfolio to see what they’ve done before. If they’ve been successful in this kind of case before, they’ll definitely add it to their portfolio. If they don’t have one on their website, be bold enough to ask them to provide one when you’re interviewing them.

Established Communication Line

If you’ll hire a lawyer for your case, it better be one that will update you throughout the process. The primary purpose of hiring a lawyer is to represent your best interest. There’s no way you can know they’re representing your best interest if you’re not talking to them. Beyond building a strong client-attorney relationship, your lawyer should also be able to establish a relationship with every other party involved. And there’s no way to do this without good communication skills. So, be sure a lawyer is ready and willing to communicate the process to you before hiring. If they’re not, simply move to another lawyer. 

Look at how They Performed with Past Clients

We’ve talked about experience before, and there’s no better way to know about a client’s experience than looking at how they performed before. This time, look at it from the perspective of their past clients. Clients are typically sincere when they rate the performance of their attorneys. So, if clients are rating a VAWA attorney poorly, best believe that the lawyer is not as good as they claim. 

Never underestimate the power of reviews in determining an attorney’s expertise. If you can reach out to one of their past clients yourself, please do. They can narrate their experience with the lawyer and tell you what to expect from the case. 

Geographic Location

VAWA is a national law, but its application can also vary by how a judge interprets your case. So you see, you should hire a VAWA attorney from your state simply because they understand the legal system in your locality. A VAWA attorney from your state is familiar with the judges and how they handle cases. They’re also familiar with the local judicial council and authorities. This familiarity automatically improves your chances of doing well. 

However, beyond this, being close enough means you can visit them at any time to report a new development. Some petitioners even go as far as filling out their attorney’s address in the petition form so that their attorney can receive correspondence on their behalf. 

Ensure they Understand your Language

Seeking VAWA immigration means you’re a foreigner. If so, language can often be a barrier to how your case progresses. However, most people are able to overcome this barrier by hiring a VAWA attorney that understands English and their native language. Such lawyers automatically returns you to the driving seat of your case since they can correctly interpret everything to you. So if English is not your first language, or you’re not proficient enough, look for a VAWA attorney that can help you. Fortunately, many VAWA attorneys try to learn more than one language because of situations like this. 

Coleman Law Group Can Help You

Finding the right VAWA attorney that checks all the boxes can be hard. But don’t worry, we have you covered. The lawyers at Coleman Law Group are qualified and experienced to handle your case. There’s hardly any kind of case we’ve not handled before, so you can rest assured we have the experience to handle it all. Contact us now to learn more about all we can bring.