An update from Rebecca's non-baby life

Shocking but true–I do still really like my full-time gig as a staff attorney at the Ninth Circuit. Next week is the last time I present my cases to a panel of judges until I return from maternity leave (in May), so I took the long BART ride in and waddled to my shared office next to the court library to begin the process of preparing my cases.

It turned out to be an eventful and not great day for aliens across America, as yesterday afternoon, the Attorney General decided Matter of Compean, 24 I. & N. 710 ( A.G. 2009), which is probably the first step in sharply limiting ineffective assistance of counsel claims. These claims give an alien a sort of “second chance” when their attorney provided them with terrible (or no) legal services at their first hearing. Many of my friends and family know that I’ve worked a great deal in this specific area of immigration law over the last few years, so the case is of great interest, but I’ll withhold commentary for now.