Law Office of Tatiana Pahman

         LAW OFFICE OF TATIANA PAHMAN

Newspaper “ Russkaya Reklama” May 3-9, 2002; issue N18 (472)

                  THE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
                       on "both sides of Barrier"

Life stories can be various. N. has lived in the United States for 7 years with the
green card that she
had won in DV lottery.It had happened that she committed small crime and was
convicted
for five months of imprisonment. Then, few years later, she left the United States
for Moscow on
personal matter. But on the way back, at the JFK Airport, she was detained and
about to be imprisoned. But N. was released on temporary “parole” and was due
back to the Department of Immigration for the trial within a few weeks. What was
N’s next step? That is correct – she wentto see an Immigration
attorney, who was Tatiana Pahman.“We arrived together in the United States
Immigration at 26
Federal Plaza”, - recalls Tatiana. – “The situation was bad for N. she had to be
handcuffed and escorted to a prison because of her criminal record and re-entry
to the United States”. N. was not a U.S. Citizen and therefore, she had
immigration consequences re-entering the United States. I decided to fight
Immigration System based on the appropriate law that could be used in this
particular situation. As a result, I was able to avoid imprisonment subject to
future Court determination. On the way out from the Department of Immigration,
N. with tears of joy and happiness in her eyes, Dashed towards me with the
words of gratitude. Honestly, in this moment I felt myself like a surgeon after
successfully handled operation...”

What defines the success of an immigration attorney or to be exact, What is the
formula, if any, for legal success? The answer is simple, knowledge and
experience. But what is an experience, where is it comes from? Does it only
comes from the number of "cases" the attorney has handled or may be from the
variety of situations this particular lawyer has faced in his practice? How
lawyers differ from one another? Not against the truth I shall say, Tatiana Pahman
possesses an unique experience, passing all steps of the professional growth
being figuratively on both sides of "barrier." From the further tale it will become
clear what I mean.

Tatiana immigrated to the United States 13 years ago with her family. She
graduated from the Kharkov Law School, profession was elected not without
influence of her mother who was also an attorney in the former Soviet Union.
From the beginning, Tatiana started working in the United States in the area of
law closed to her profession. Managing to “get” English quick and mastering
computer, Tanya got job in the large law firm. There were 21 competitors for
this position but she was selected. Then, she worked for HIAS (Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society). Tanya was the first Russian-speaking employee who got
an Immigration Counselor position.

“That was very interesting and responsible work , I helped many people who
wanted to stay in the United States not to return to the former Soviet Union full of
inner-ethnic conflicts. In my big office on Broadway I assisted HIAS’ clients in
applying for asylum. I also represented clients at the Immigration Asylum
interviews and solved the other Immigration matters. Thousand of clients got
immigration status with my help and 70% granted asylum.

Tatiana Pahman graduated from the Fordham University School of Law with
Honors. Aslo, what is important that she passed the bar exam and got so-called
the official license to practice law in the United States. That fact alone can
definitely be count as a considerable victory for the recent immigrant. Ever
since, Tanya never stopped in her achievements because of her nature and
knowledge, every step she made was an onward march. Her next goal was to
become an Asylum Officer at the Immigration and Naturalization Department.
Wherein Mrs. Pahman and her colleagues went to defend the interests of HIAS’
clients. (Remember, I mentioned both sides of barrier”, this side and that side?)

In order to get this position, Tanya’s background was checked for six months, not
worse than KGB. Even neighbors were interviewed on the issues of Tatiana’s
potential drinking and or drug problems, if any. Only then, when everything was
O.K. Tatiana got her new position-Asylum Officer at the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Department. Tatiana listened to the stories of the political asylum
applicants and their lawyers and made decisions on their cases. Naturally, she
perfectly knew the situation in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the
other countries in the world by constantly keeping check on occurring changes.
“Whole world came to my office”, -says Mrs. Pahman, and this was true without
any exaggeration. Her clients were people from all over the world: Republics of
the former Soviet Union, Africa, China, Yugoslavia and other countries…

Tatiana has also worked in immigration prison for six months. Unlike majority of
her own colleagues she knows these institutions not on the surface but from inside
out. Really, is that important for immigration attorney? Also, as an Asylum
Officer, Tatiana was sent on a business trip to the former Soviet Union, Moscow.
There, for three months she was working at American Embassy as s refugee
interviewer.

“I never thought that I would return to Russia in such position. I stayed at
“National” hotel that over viewed Kremlin. I saw the First May demonstration
… All the time I caught myself on thoughts that this occurs not to me… As to my
direct work, I confess, I was struck, insofar that standard of getting refugee status
was much easier to meet than one for asylum in the United States. –Faced and
with purely Russian “focus” where at near by train station called “Barricade”,
not far from the American Embassy, was possible to buy any documents from
false birth certificates, passports to military tickets and so on. In Embassy we x-
rayed the documents of the applicants and hardly found fraud, sent such “refugee”
back home.

Today, Tatiana Pahman practices as immigration attorney. I think, in light of the
stated above excessive to speak of the valuable experience and knowledge that
she possesses. Based on the foregoing, how many more attorneys in New York,
so you know that possess the same service record? She really can help and helps
people on a daily basis. Being on side of the client, she beautifully knows all
reefs, after all not yet so long ago she was on the other side of the so called
barrier herself and therefore, perfectly aware how to represent her client in the
best way. Whether going for citizenship interview with the elderly people asking
for waiver or presenting a political asylum case, it is extremely important not to
give the bureaucracy of this organization even a slightest ground for nags.

What kind of cases do you handle most often?- “Naturally, Immigration Law.
Also Real Estate, Business, Matrimonial and Bankruptcy.
Do you find that presently, after tragedy on September 11, load of immigration
cases have sized ? Yes absolutely, it is became more difficult to arrive in the
USA, and therefore much more complicated to get the so wanted statuses...
The change of this situation has impact on us, attorneys, as well. Our role in such
term increases. The Choice of the correct and experienced attorney – in many
aspects makes the work done. The People must well know which attorney to hire
to properly handle their legal immigration matters. What besides the license to
practice law given to the particular lawyer can distinguish one attorney from
another. It is not a secret that under the name of immigration "lawyers” can be
found many so-called paralegal services that have no idea of how to handle more
sensitive and complicated cases. As a result, denials, disappointments and
scandals occurs on many occasions. It looks like today tourist and business visas
to come to the United State will be granted only for 30 days. Due to that fact
people who come to America as visitors and decided to stay permanently need
immediately consult an attorney. They should find out what can be done and
which petitions have to be filed and not be defrauded by so-called immigration
“experts”.
Moreover, in this case, the chances of a successful outcome correlate with help
of experienced attorney who knows how to avoid mistakes.
Would you please give some specific examples from your personal practice and
experience ?
The Russian citizens from Таshkent came to New York with visitor status and
even though their passports and visas were in order, they were taking into custody
at the airport under suspicion that they could violate their visitor status by seeking
employment. The fact that they were here before for a year and never violated
law made no difference. Immediately, from prison, they contacted me I was able
to help.
Another person, citizen of West Ukraine, while in immigration prison, wanted to
get asylum based on religion. I also handled his case and was able to win, client
was released.
Over the years of practice I handled cases of clients from Albania, Poland and
other parts of the world.
For your information, you do not have to be Jewish to receive political asylum in
the United States. Russians from the Central Asia, Baltic States, Belarus and
persecuted citizens of other countries can count on satisfactory conclusuon of
their cases if their attorneys intelligent, experienced and know what they doing.
Just to remind you, the court procedure is very challenging and to win, it is
necessary to know all cones and prones of the process. I, for instance, before
presenting my case in court, request expert opinion on a particular situation.
Depending on which part of the world my client came from I gather all the news
and supporting evidence. Among the people who provide this information to me
is a professor of Columbia University who is an expert on Uzbekistan, another
professor specializes in Baltic Republic and so on. It is very important to
understand which information to use in any particular situation and of course
education, experience and knowledge are also very useful. Graduating from
Fordham University I did my “master theses” on immigration as well. .
The serious problems appeared after September 11 for so- called illegal
immigrants, it is became more difficult for them to stay in America with expired
visas. The immigration department literally “hunting” them and sending them back
to where they came from. Basically, this concerns people working without
employment authorization in restaurants, taxi and car services. They deeply in
need for consultation of the immigration attorney. Due to that fact my work load
have increased dramatically.
When it was time to say goodbye to Tatiana Pahman, I glanced at her office. As it
is accepted in America, walls were covered with her diplomas. Not at all for the
sake of bagging's – when you come to the office for the first time you can
immediately understand, who you are dealing with. Graduate of the Fordham
University and Academy of Immigration Officers, Member of American and New
York Association of Attorneys, Political Asylum Officer and all this one person
- Tatiana Pahman.
D. Gai

Brooklyn. NY 11229
(corner of Avenue U)
-----------------------------
TEL: (718)-998-9789
TEL: (718)-755-9577
FAX: (718)-998-4219
e-mail:
wtpah2@yahoo.com

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