As we come to the end of 2018, I hope it was a good year for you and that you've set yourself up well to start strong in the new year. Looking back at this past year, it was a good one for me. On the immigration side of my practice, I continued to place an emphasis on naturalization matters: at the individual level, every client who naturalized was solidifying their status in this country and their right to be here, now and into the future. At the macro level, looking way dow

"After Latin, it seems to me there is no language so fitted for prayer and for talk about God as Spanish: for it is a language at once strong and supple, it has its sharpness, it has the quality of steel in it, which gives it the accuracy that true mysticism needs, and yet it is soft too, and gentle and pliant, which devotion needs, and it is courteous and suppliant and courtly, and it lends itself surprisingly little to sentimentality. It has some of the intellectuality of

Just as I rely on the important work of coworkers, including paralegals and administrative staff, around me, so do doctors rely upon and need the important work of nurses around them. Nurses are on the frontline of doctor-patient contact, and in that sense perform not just much of the textbook medical work on behalf of the patient, but also importantly play the role of customer service agent: communicating directly with the patient, understanding the patient's personality and

To those of you who are Christians and to those of you who celebrate at a purely secular level: I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas! This time of year is all about family. The holiday is marked by the birth of Jesus into his family. You and I should take some time away from work to spend with our respective families, as we reflect on the year that's ending and look forward to the one that's coming. Resist the materialism and consumerism that is emphasized in t

I went to high school with Jeff Selby, the lead singer of The Quixote Project. I'm really proud of the work he's done as a musician. Their music can be classified as roots, neo-folk, alternative, or Americana, among others. Hailing from the easternmost edge of the Philadelphia suburbs, with the mighty Pine Barrens as their backyard, The Quixote Project hearkens to a certain romantic, rustic thread of our American history, a time when relationships mattered most and the feel

As we soon look forward to a new year, and the idea of resolutions comes to mind, please do what you can, however seemingly small, to minimize climate change: -- reduce your use of plastics; buy and use a reusable container -- use less water -- walk, bike, or take public transit, whenever possible -- set your thermostat a couple degrees warmer in the summer and a couple degrees cooler in the winter -- scale back, even a little bit, your consumption of meat Please. Every litt

I remember a time years ago when I was driving a car from Guápiles to San José in Costa Rica. It was nighttime. And for those that are not familiar, the road winds through the mountains in and around Braulio Carrillo National Park, with the road literally cut into the side of the mountain, so that there are steep mountainsides above you to one side, with steep drop-offs on the other side, often directly off the side of the road. On this particular night that I was driving,

A good lawyer must be a good listener. If asked, most people would likely describe their image of an excellent lawyer as a lawyer who is good in trial advocacy (in the courtroom), good in public relations, and good in his or her writing. All of these forms of communication are outgoing. But what is lost upon many people is that, in order to fully and properly understand a case, a lawyer must gather facts and information before formulating the above-mentioned outgoing communi

People all over the world should have the right to peaceful protest. Provided it is peaceful, a people should be allowed to express itself in a public, visible way. Outside of elections, it's the best form for people to express themselves in a democracy. Expression is a form of communication -- to the leaders, to the politicians, to the powers that be, to the rest of society.

I read this heart wrenching article today about the sentencing of a man who shot a teenager in the head in an incident of road rage. At the end of the article, which I urge you to read in full, is the teenager's father's victim impact statement to the judge. In its narrowest, it's a story of a senseless tragedy for the victim's family and the just consequences of a terrible crime by the shooter. More broadly, though, I can't help but think of all the examples of bad drivers