Given the highly complex nature of U.S. immigration law, opportunities abound for miscommunication with clients, whether it's setting unreasonable expectations or improperly explaining an immigration benefit.
Few legal fields can be as personal or emotionally fraught as immigration. Perhaps you're helping a company transfer a crucial foreign manager during a stressful merger or overseeing a lengthy green card process for a talented employee. Or maybe you're handling a deportation case for an immigrant with deep ties to the U.S. whose ability to remain with her family rests in your hands.
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However, using the word 'clearly' in talks with clients isn't a great idea, according to Nataliya Rymer of Greenberg Traurig LLP, who said it can come off as patronizing.
"In my experience, it's something lawyers tend to want to do naturally, because we think in a very analytic way, and certain things are clear to us," she said. "But most of the time, people ask questions because the answers are not actually clear to them."