#Immigration Practitioner in Miami

[mariacallous]

The internet meme “Florida Man” captures the absurdity many have come to expect from the U.S. state. It’s easy to dismiss zany stories about Floridians catching alligators in trash cans and planting banana trees in potholes as having little bearing beyond the state’s borders. But foreign-policy practitioners cannot afford to ignore the upcoming battle between two important Florida Men: the candidates vying for the state’s governorship on Nov. 8.

The gubernatorial election, held on the same day as the U.S. midterms, will pit Florida’s sitting governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, against the state’s former governor, Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist. DeSantis, who outpaces his opponent in both campaign contributions and name recognition, is widely expected to win; FiveThirtyEight’s average of recent polls shows DeSantis leading Crist by 8.1 points. Some observers say DeSantis’s competent response to Hurricane Ian, which barreled across Florida last month, has further boosted his chances of victory.

Florida is known for its hyper-local yet nationally consequential political landscape; razor-thin margins in the state have decided national races, including the 2000 U.S. presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. But DeSantis’s likely triumph in Florida’s gubernatorial contest could have broad implications for U.S. foreign policy, too.

Though U.S. foreign policy is typically considered a function of the federal government, state governments also frequently work with foreign governments and businesses—a trend experts say has only accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Florida is no exception: In 1996, then-Gov. Lawton Chiles unveiled a joint partnership to support Haiti’s democratic and economic development. In 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott attended conservative Colombian President Iván Duque’s inauguration in Bogotá. And DeSantis issued an executive order last month to limit state and local government trade with companies linked to seven “countries of concern” that he alleges pose a cybersecurity threat, including China and Russia. DeSantis also waded into the foreign-policy conversation in June when he labeled Colombia’s new leftist president, Gustavo Petro, a “former narco-terrorist.”

More than one-fifth of Florida’s residents were born abroad, and the state boasts the largest diaspora populations of Colombians, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans in the United States. Coupled with its geographic proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean, these demographics have given Florida significant influence on U.S. policy toward the region.

For decades, the state’s powerful diaspora interest groups have generally backed hard-line positions toward socialist regimes in Havana and Caracas. The Cuban American National Foundation, headquartered in Miami, steered the United States toward a staunchly anti-Fidel Castro policy beginning in the 1980s, and Florida’s senior U.S. senator, Marco Rubio, exemplifies the community’s continued influence. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio reportedly drove the Trump administration’s reversal of the Obama-era thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Immigrants have flocked to Florida for decades, many fleeing oppressive regimes, political instability, and violence. Thousands of Haitians have set sail for Florida in recent months, often in overcrowded and ill-equipped boats. Across the United States, border officials encountered more than three times the number of Venezuelan migrants during the 2022 fiscal year than they did in the 2021 fiscal year, and more Cubans are arriving now than during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. But observers say Florida residents, including those of Latin American and Caribbean origin, increasingly oppose the influx of newcomers—a tension already affecting U.S. immigration policy. As of September, 47 percent of residents in the Miami-Dade region—home to Little Havana, Little Haiti, and “Doralzuela”—supported the Florida government sending migrants out of state.

Though the U.S. federal government retains primacy in regulating immigration, DeSantis has repeatedly proved himself willing to push the limits of his power and tangle with federal authorities. On Sept. 14, DeSantis used state funds to fly 48 unwitting Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. His office argued the move granted them “an opportunity to seek greener pastures.” Though DeSantis now faces several lawsuits—including from the migrants themselves and from the Florida Center for Government Accountability—his administration plans to continue such flights.

U.S. President Joe Biden rebuked Republican officials like DeSantis for “playing politics with human beings,” but the Biden administration has also faced criticism as it balances the political, humanitarian, and legal dynamics of immigration policy. This challenge is clear in the administration’s recent announcement that it will offer humanitarian parole to some Venezuelan migrants yet increase expulsions of others who enter the United States illegally.

As governor, DeSantis has also signed legislation banning so-called sanctuary cities, which generally help shield undocumented migrants from deportation by restricting collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The state’s newly redistricted election map, meanwhile, skews heavily in the Republican Party’s favor—increasing the likelihood that the midterm elections deepen the bench of like-minded Florida members of Congress willing to reinforce DeSantis’s interests in Washington and beyond. Rubio, in particular, has allied with the governor, even defending a DeSantis-backed Florida riot law from criticism by a United Nations committee aimed at combating discrimination. DeSantis himself is also a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his time on Capitol Hill has helped him forge ties with non-Florida legislators such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who supported the Martha’s Vineyard stunt.

Many migrants arriving in Florida are caught in a feedback loop of insecurity fueled by lax U.S. firearm regulations. Florida, which trails only Texas in its number of federally registered guns, is a wellspring for arms trafficking to Latin America and the Caribbean. As recently as 2016, U.S. firearms accounted for 99 percent of guns recovered and traced after crimes in Haiti. This month, Mexico filed a lawsuit in Arizona to curb trafficking of U.S. guns across the southern border.

Though Florida is not solely to blame for making the Americas the world’s most murderous region, its gun regulations are felt by U.S. neighbors and bear consequences for national immigration and security policies. Mass shootings at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub in 2016 and Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 thrust Florida to the forefront of the U.S. gun control debate. Endorsed by the National Rifle Association, DeSantis favors further loosening Florida’s firearm laws.

Meanwhile, the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South, a condominium building near Miami, drew international attention to the low-lying, peninsular state’s climate vulnerability. Experts have not definitively linked the collapse to environmental factors, yet Florida is clearly an early warning signal for emerging climate threats. A 2022 U.N. report singled out the state as an example of a place uniquely vulnerable to coastal flooding and other climate-related issues. Experts say ocean warming will only intensify storms—as Floridians learned last month with Hurricane Ian.

DeSantis has embraced some environmental reforms, championing an expansive resilience effort. This has included creating a state-level office for resilience and grant-making to help Florida communities reduce their vulnerability to sea level rise and flooding. DeSantis also helped lock in billions of dollars to restore the Everglades, a wildlife-rich wetland in the state. (Critics charge that these initiatives are smokescreens for DeSantis’s continued support of precarious development projects and the fossil fuel industry.)

How Florida’s next administration chooses to handle climate change could be a blueprint for other environmentally vulnerable communities around the world. DeSantis’s largely effective response to Hurricane Ian does not negate the storm’s massive devastation, which laid bare Florida’s continued lack of resilience to climate change. As such storms intensify, there is increasing urgency to develop effective defenses that low-lying communities worldwide can implement.

The election has another, potentially troubling dimension: DeSantis’s ties to the political upheaval that has compromised the United States’ global standing in recent years. The FBI probe into whether former U.S. President Donald Trump kept classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his South Florida resort, has drawn international attention to DeSantis’s state. The club itself—an alleged magnet for foreign intelligence agents—has also become a national security liability.

Trump has suggested he may run again in 2024, but possible criminal charges cloud his political future. Some observers believe DeSantis is the Republican Party’s best bet in that race, though it’s unclear whether he will defy Trump—his longtime ally—and launch a presidential bid. Either way, DeSantis will need to appeal to the former president’s fan base, which dominates the Republican Party.

We don’t yet know whether DeSantis would court political support by complicating the federal investigation surrounding Trump and Mar-a-Lago. Overt obstruction is a remote possibility, but anything could happen in the current political arena, which has been shaped by the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. And even DeSantis’s continued criticism of the probe would hurt the United States’ global reputation as a standard-bearer for the rule of law. Whether DeSantis would intervene to defend Trump—as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, DeSantis’s close ally, has done—or delegitimize him is unclear.

Sabotaging Trump could eliminate DeSantis’s strongest Republican competition for 2024, but it could also alienate pro-Trump voters whose support DeSantis might need in a faceoff against the Democratic nominee. A DeSantis presidential run—if done in the Trumpian mold—could also induce a U-turn in U.S. foreign policy and solidify the extreme right’s transformation of this sphere. DeSantis’s success or failure in Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial election could be an early predictor of his national viability. This may be the race’s greatest foreign-policy implication.

Whether DeSantis keeps his office or Crist makes an unlikely comeback, Florida will stay relevant to quagmires like U.S.-Cuba relations and emerging threats like climate change. As a top destination for international travel, the often-ridiculed state is the country’s face to millions of international visitors each year. Ignoring Florida Men could have broad consequences for the United States’ global image.

[lawyersdatascraping]

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[wildeslaw]

If you are already residing in the U.S. and want to bring your spouse or the whole family to the U.S. but have been unable to do so due to coronavirus, you are not alone. Ever since the pandemic in 2020 began, the immigration process has become much more challenging. There has been a lot of delay in processing the applications for business visas, employment visas, and other immigration visas. So, you might want to consider hiring the best immigration lawyers in Miami for expert assistance and avoid any more delays. 

[armsdealing]

the worship of the dorados -- aequismo, also known as suxuhismo -- is a polytheistic, henotheistic religion that has background dating back at least five hundred years. it revolves around three main deities, dubbed laws, that are said to rule over all "matters of being and nonbeing" -- and two minor deities, which are said to be supporting agents to the laws.

the laws in question are called laws because aequismo acknowledges the existence of other gods from all other religions -- including the christian one -- but they believe that the laws have a preponderance over them. aequistas entertained the idea of multiple realities and parallel universes long before they became widely discussed in modern society/science, and they ascertained that all gods were gods within their realities, but that laws rule over the very fabric of all realities. the laws in question although personified in their worship are closer to the laws of physics than anything else. they are tenets that aequistas believe mold "existence itself". the tenets in question being retribution (justice), chaos (madness), and obliteration (death).

aequistas believe universes are made and unmade all the time at every point by the laws as need dictates. some universes live longer than others, whilst others last about a blink of the eye before they collapse unto themselves. the success of a universe depends on how well inhabitants can maintain the balance between the laws. too much retribution makes universes inhospitable to life. too much chaos disintegrates any possibility of stability. both prospects make it likelier for universes to fall and be obliterated.

they believe this earth is not the only earth there is, and that it is their duty as inhabitants of the earth to tend to the laws in order to ensure the survival -- or rather, the flourishment -- of all people. that means they base their practices not on hatred of the other but on love towards the other. they accept the unknown as natural and embrace change as necessary. that means aequists have always been on the progressive side of political discourse. members have always been firebrand and staunch in advocating for the rights of people, even before this was popular or safe. as a result they have always been objects of prosecution within their countries. aequist are staunchly anti-colonization, anti-imperialism, and anti-slavery, have been since the inception and solidification of their belief system. they have always been pro-worker, anti-racist, pro-lgbt (before the term existed), and anti-authority be it in the form of governments or the form of law enforcement. and because of their entrenched history opposed to the catholic church and their influence over what became known as latin america during colonial times, they are also -- on paper -- anti-christian, especially anti christian hegemony and anti christian power structures. on the other hand they tend to hold amicable relationships toward most other religious groups, with exceptions made for their fundamentalist/extremist/orthodox factions.

funnily enough, aequists in current times are considered to be an extremist hate group within the countries they inhabit (they have a widespread presence in most countries of the americas, especially colombia, venezuela mexico, brazil and the united states) if not a downright criminal organization. this because of the aforementioned anti-christian practices. aequistas have been linked to the burning of churches they considered to be manned by corrupt officials, and they have been linked to the assassination of religious authorities. because of their proximity to leftism, they are also presecuted by fascistic and conservative groups all the time -- aequistas, in turn, have a historied background of violently fighting back against the rise of conservatism within their countries.  

aequism does not always present itself in the same way. being a henotheistic religion, worshippers may choose around which deity to center their practice. the carminista (justice) wing of the religion is the most well known, since they tend to be the most politically visible, while the desiderista and marenista wings are more centered around in-group efforts, or are subtler in how they reach out to outsiders. all wings are represented equally within the worship, all count with representatives (called ejecutantes) that are meant to work together for the betterment of all practitioners.

aequismo is a semi-closed practice. it is not impossible to become an aequista, and people from all walks of life are welcomed within their institutions, but it takes work to actually become a member and not everything is revealed right away and not everyone makes it in. aequistas do not openly disclose the full extent of their belief systems and ritualistic practices. many of them are a mystery even to this day, which fuels the mistrust many might have toward them. they have been referred to as satanists, as occultists, as cultists, as heretics, and as degenerates by their political enemies. fear-mongering about them has caused the public to fear them in the past, and while a lot of that fear has subsided (in no small part thanks to the aequistas' constant advocacy for the poor and marginalized), they are a controversial topic within their countries, especially since those countries still are under strong catholic or (in the case of the united states) protestant influence.

aequistas center their worship, like i said, around love of the other. they firmly believe that the things they do are done out of love. this love isn't soft, but it can be merciful if mercy is needed. it isn't always kind, but it is always compassionate toward those that require compassion. in turn, it can also be a merciless form of love. aequistas -- especially the carminista faction -- are not opposed to killing those they deem "evil"; authorites that abuse their power, that use it to lie and abuse others, tend to be their prime targets. they have a "no tolerance for the intolerant" policy within their circles, which mean that no form of bigotry is ever acceptable. usually a rehabilitative angle is employed first, but only if they consider it could work. if they think it won't -- as they think often in the case of nazis, rapists, and ethno-nationalists -- then death is considered to be the only solution.

the whole time, hatred toward these parties isn't the focus, but protection and compassion for their victims. just like they aren't above violent tactics, they are also very involved in their communities, engaging in mutual aid organizing, providing food, housing and medical assistance toward those that need it. this aspect of their engagement isn't publicized as often as their unrepentant violence, but it's just as ubiquitous -- if not even more so.

politically, though they won't back out from being called progressives or leftists, they openly oppose any more labels. they aren't marxists. they are not anarchists. they aren't socialists. they are aequistas. they will ally themselves to those they view as similarly-minded, and they usually happen to be leftists from all sorts of denominations, but they won't automatically ally themselves to any group that labels themselves leftist.

realitistically speaking, though, their stances are very much anarchistic in nature. politically they support progressive policities, and as i said, they're anti-imperialism, anti-racism and anti-facism. this all being said, i reiterate political advocacy isn't their main focus, so much as "human-centered" advocacy is. they focus on things that would strategically help the most number of people, and they organize their efforts around that. as a result, you won't find them linked to any official political party. you will always find them doing their own thing, and advocating for political pragmatism within their circles (when it comes to electoral politics) while pushing for progressive causes and doing things they think will disrupt the current status quo.

now, an important distinction needs to be made: not all aequistas are members of the dorados organization, but all dorados are aequistas. the dorados are a recent affair, comparatively -- starting out their activities around the 30-50s in colombia. it is an organization made mainly of carministas, and helmed by the reyes family. it represents the most militant members of the worship, and are usually the ones you catch on the news being arrested for beating up cops that were trying to extort money from immigrant-run businesses.

currently stronghold cities of aequista activity are miami, new york, los angeles, caracas, maracaibo, medellín, cartagena, panama city, mexico city, oaxaca de juarez, reynosa, rio de janeiro and sao paolo. they have smaller groups peppered through the americas.

[georgia-immigration-blog]

A Look at Some U.S. Immigration Court Problems

While asylum decisions must always be fair and unbiased, this isn't necessarily the case given the wide discretion immigration judges have been granted in deciding such cases, the absence of precedential decisions, and the fact that lots of the immigration judges have come in the enforcement arm of the immigration service and all are hired from the Attorney General of the United States. These factors invariably put the institutional function of immigration judges in conflict with expectations of fairness and impartiality in deciding asylum cases.

People that are new to immigration court clinic and unacquainted with the workings of immigration constraints frequently don't comprehend why the immigration courts operate so differently than our Article III, Article 1, and also our state courts. For a broader world to comprehend how the immigration courts function it's crucial to show and discuss some of the recent problems within our United States immigration courts.

Throughout the last ten years, our immigration courts have wrestled with disparate asylum consequences, both among the various immigration courts, and over precisely the same immigration teams; an immigration judge hiring scandal between 2004 and 2006 that abandoned many immigration positions empty; the execution of a 22-point Plan to improve the performance of the immigration court; the backlog of their immigration caseload starting in 2005; and the perpetual need to standardize immigration court rules and procedures.

Disparate Asylum Outcomes

Immigration practitioners such as myself frequently believed that asylum seekers were not receiving good justice because of the disparities in grants of asylum at the trial level in the a variety of courts. Moreover, there have been often disparities in outcomes in the exact same immigration courts. Professors Ramji-Nogales, Schoenholtz, and Schrag of Georgetown Law School in their Asylum Study have described the differing consequences in asylum choices as"Refugee Roulette."

The analysis is a massive piece of work that's been cited by scholars and others interested in refugee law. The Asylum Study analyzed asylum outcomes in Immigration Courts from 2000 through 2004 for asylum seekers out of what they believe Asylum Producing Countries (APC's). They found that for asylum seekers from countries that create a relatively high proportion of effective asylees, there are serious disparities amongst immigration courts at the prices at which they grant asylum to nationals of all those countries: Albania, China, Ethiopia, Liberia and Russia.

The drafters of the Asylum Study opine that the explanation for the differences between the courts might be"simply cultural" - several courts are more inclined to grant asylum while some might be especially demanding on all asylum seekers. Also, differences from one region may be due to differences in the populations of asylum seekers in different geographic locations. These explanations may be true, however, the question remains: is justice being properly served with respect to asylum seekers or are they being subjected to"Refugee Roulette?"

Possible Causes of Disparities Among Immigration Judges

Judging can be difficult in any forum. It is especially difficult concerning asylum claims since the required persecution must have occurred in a foreign country and may have happened a great while back with few witnesses and small documentation. Furthermore, immigration judges have been needed to make credibility determinations in each situation and the candidates' credibility may be suspect.

Statistics reveal that the five largest immigration courts had immigration judges who were consistent outliers when it came to asylum decisions. From one-third to three-quarters of the judges on these courts granted asylum in APC cases at rates more than 50 percent greater or more than 50 percent less than the national average. The authors of the Asylum Study arrived at the conclusion that discrepancies in the grant rates between judges in the same court may be because of different geographic populations of asylum seekers in different regions. It may also be that certain asylum seekers may come from certain ethnic groups that have similarly viable asylum claims.

The Asylum Study revealed that the single most important factor affecting the outcome of an asylum seeker's case was whether the applicant was represented by counsel. Represented asylum seekers were granted asylum at a rate of 45.6%, almost three times as high as the 16.3% grant rate for those without legal counsel. The number of dependents that an asylum seeker brought with her to the U.S. played a large role in increasing the chance of an asylum grant. Their analysis found that an asylum seeker with no dependents has a 42.3% grant rate, having one dependent increases the grant rate to 48.2%. It could be that asylum seekers who bring children in addition to a spouse appear more credible or some immigration judges may be more sympathetic to asylum seekers who have a family to protect.

The Asylum Study also found that gender of the judge had a significant impact on the likelihood that asylum would be granted. Female immigration judges granted asylum at a rate of 53.8%, while male judges granted asylum at a rate of 37.3%. The statistical calculations show that an asylum seeker whose case is assigned to a female judge had a 44 percent better chance of prevailing than if there is a case assigned to a male judge. This may be significant in that there are far fewer female immigration judges than male judges. Only approximately 35 percent of the 263 immigration judges are women.

The EOIR Hiring Scandal

In the early 2000's the case-loads of the country's immigration courts was rising while the number of immigration judges was simultaneously declining. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), a branch of the U.S Justice Department which oversees the immigration courts, asked Congress for additional funding to hire more immigration judges. However, the reputation of the EOIR was tarnished by the discovery of an illegal political hiring scandal that took place from the spring of 2004 until December 2006. I will write more on the hiring scandal in a later article.

The Attorney General's 2006 Plan For Reform

In the wake of the hiring scandal and criticism from several federal circuit court rulings that sharply criticized the immigration courts, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez issued a 22- Point Plan for improving the operation of the immigration courts. It is not the objective of this article to delve deeply into the implementation of all of the entire reform effort, but I will briefly examine some of the positive changes that have emerged from its implementation.

On June 5, 2009, the EOIR produced a Fact Sheet detailing measures to improve the EOIR. According to the 2009 Fact Sheet, fifteen of the twenty-two proposed reforms had been enacted. These included: obtaining funding to hire additional immigration judges and field supervisors for immigration courts; drafting an immigration examination for all new judges; installing digital recording services in most, but not all, the immigration court rooms; and producing an online practice manual for the immigration court. The reforms also included training for new judges and additional training for current judges. As of July 2012 no sanctions had been granted to the immigration judges or the judges of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to hold attorneys or parties in contempt.

The training plans consisted of expanded training for new immigration judges on legal and procedural issues; a mentoring program for new judges; and periodic training on management. For the first time there was a joint legal conference in 2009 for immigration judges and BIA members. A Code of Conduct for Immigration Judges had been implemented in 2011 under the Obama Administration as well as the completion of installation of digital audio recording systems in all of the immigration courtrooms.

There is statistical evidence that the reforms have helped. The central finding of a 2009 report on the subject contends that judge-by-judge asylum disparities in the Immigration Courts are down. Court data shows that disparity rates have declined in ten of fifteen immigration courts that decide the bulk of all asylum matters. In New York the disparity rate among judges in Asylum cases has dropped by a quarter and in Miami the range among judges in their denial rates dropped almost two thirds from their previous levels. This indicates that justice is being better served for asylum seekers in these busy immigration courts.

If disparity rates have declined in ten of the fifteen immigration courts that hear the bulk of asylum claims this is real progress toward a fairer and more impartial system. Training for new immigration judges and the judicial mentoring programs have helped many new judges take their cases more seriously. However, this drop in disparity rates may well also be caused by better lawyering in those ten courts where there has been a drop in disparity rates. We know that an applicant has a better chance of succeeding if represented by counsel and so the implementation of the reforms of the 22-point plan may not necessarily be totally responsible for the drop in asylum disparity rates.

The Immigration Court Backlog

Our immigration courts are backlogged, which denies swift justice for asylum seekers. There has been a backlog of approximately 300,000 cases awaiting adjudication. The growing immigration court backlog is not a recent problem, but has been steadily growing since at least 2005. One important cause for this problem was the Bush Administration's failure to fill vacant and newly-funded immigration judge positions during the period of the political hiring scandal. Government filings seeking deportation orders increased between Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 and (FY) 2008 by thirty percent while the number of immigration judges on the bench saw little increase and for some periods fell. Subsequent hiring to fill these vacancies during the Obama Administration has not been sufficient to handle all the cases that wait attention.

Although there is still a backlog in the immigration courts, the Obama Administration instituted two initiatives to help clear the backlog. During the first quarter of 2012, immigration courts issued 2,429 fewer deportation orders than in the fourth quarter of 2011. Thus, the proportion of cases resulting in an order of deportation fell slightly to 64.1 percent. In over a third of all cases, the individual was allowed to stay, at least temporarily, in the U.S.

This historic drop in deportations began in August of 2011 when the Obama Administration initiated a review of its 300,000 court case backlog. The stated goal of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) review was to better prioritize and reduce the backup of pending matters that led to lengthy delays in immigration court proceedings of noncitizens it wanted to deport. To achieve this longer term objective, ICE attorneys assisted by court clerks, law clerks and paralegals had been redirected in a dramatic effort - part of this prosecution discretion (PD) initiative - to review all 300,000 cases to prioritize which to focus upon. A consequent drop in overall case dispositions occurred while these reviews were being carried out. As a result, overall court dispositions during the first quarter of 2012 fell to 50,489 - the lowest level since 2002.

Another Obama Administration initiative has resulted in fewer deportations. On June 15, 2012, the President announced a policy to grant young undocumented noncitizens a chance to work and study in the U.S. without fear of deportation. Under the new policy, ICE would stop attempting to deport these undocumented noncitizens who are under 30 years old, came to the U.S. as children and are otherwise law abiding. It has been estimated that as many as 800,000 such undocumented residents now in the U.S. could qualify for this new status.

Need For Standardizing Immigration Court Rules

The final problem this article will explore is the need for standardized rules and procedures for the immigration courts. As of the time of writing, there are now 59 immigration courts spread across 27 states of the U.S., Puerto Rico, and in the North Mariana Islands with a total of 263 sitting immigration judges. However, there are no set or standardized rules of procedure for the immigration courts.

One scholar has commented on the 22-Point Plan for improvement of the immigration courts contending,"the projected reforms, while greatly needed, fall short because they fail to include one of the basic tenants of our American court system - rules. It's hard to play by theminvoke themor enforce them if there are not any." Some basic immigration court procedures are set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Yet, in everyday practice in different immigration courts one will find locally accepted, but unpublished, procedures that are inconsistent with respect to when exhibits must be filed, marking exhibits, and how much hearsay will be allowed at an asylum hearing. Each immigration court seems to have its own set of entrenched customary practices.

Conclusion

Our immigration courts are busy tribunals wherein appointed immigration judges must decide in many cases who should be granted asylum and who should be denied. It should be a system that strives to be fair and impartial in its decision making concerning those fleeing persecution. More often than not the immigration courts do not appear to be fair and impartial in their decisions.

In examining recent statistics on asylum, it is heartening to find that asylum case filings are down. However, grants of asylum are higher than they have been in the last twenty-five years. This is a wonderful trend. Nevertheless, over the years there have been disparities in grants of asylum among various immigration courts, as well as disparities in such decisions between judges on the same court. The Asylum Study findings that I have cited in this article serve to reinforce and give statistical support to what I and other immigration court practitioners have often believed: while an ideal court system should be fair and impartial, more often than not, a request for asylum by a noncitizen becomes a game of"Refugee Roulette" in our current immigration court system.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, June 19, 2021

UN: Millions driven from homes in 2020 (AP) The U.N. refugee agency says war, violence, persecution and human rights violations caused nearly 3 million people to flee their homes last year, even though the COVID-19 crisis restricted movement worldwide as countries shut borders and ordered lockdowns. In its latest Global Trends report released on Friday, UNHCR says the cumulative total of displaced people has risen to 82.4 million—roughly the population of Germany. It marks the ninth straight annual increase in the number of people forcibly displaced. Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said conflict and the impact of climate change in places such as Mozambique, Ethiopia’s Tigray region and Africa’s broad Sahel area were among the leading sources of new movements of refugees and internally displaced people in 2020.

The pandemic and your teeth (Washington Post) Beyond its psychological toll, the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on our bodies: Many people have put on pounds, picked at their skin, broken their toes—and, according to dentists, damaged their teeth. As more Americans return to dental offices, practitioners say they’re seeing a significant rise in tooth-grinding and jaw-clenching likely brought on by pandemic-related stress and anxiety. They’re also seeing an increase in cavities and gum disease that may be due to a combination of lapsed appointments, pandemic eating and drinking habits, and less-than-stellar brushing and flossing. In a February survey conducted by the American Dental Association, 76 percent of general practice dentists said the prevalence of teeth-grinding, or bruxism, among their patients had increased compared to pre-pandemic times. About two-thirds reported seeing a rise in associated problems of chipped and cracked teeth as well as headache and jaw pain symptoms, the survey found. Meanwhile, about 30 percent of respondents said they observed more tooth decay and periodontal disease, an infection of the tissues surrounding teeth, in their patients.

Tropical system to bring heavy rain, flooding to Gulf Coast (AP) Forecasters predict a tropical system will bring heavy rain, storm surge and coastal flooding to the northern Gulf Coast as early as Friday and throughout the weekend. A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida—extending from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Okaloosa-Walton County line in the Florida Panhandle, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The system is expected to produce up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain across the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, and up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) through the weekend along the central U.S. Gulf Coast.

‘El Chapo’ has been locked up for 5 years, but business has never been better for the Sinaloa cartel (Business Insider) It’s been five years since Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested for the last time. He’s been in a US “supermax” prison since 2017, serving a life sentence after being found guilty of all 10 federal charges he faced. But according to official US data, security analysts, and some of his own lawyers, business has never been better for his cartel. At the time, US authorities said Guzmán’s arrest was “a significant victory and a milestone” in combating violence and drug trafficking. Richard Donoghue, former US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Guzmán would never again “pour poison into our country or make millions as innocent lives are lost.” While El Chapo has been portrayed as a guiding force for the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, his organization and other criminal groups don’t seem to miss him.      According to official US figures, since Guzmán’s arrest the influx of drugs into the US and the violence in Mexico have never been worse. Cocaine seizures in the US jumped from more than 52,000 pounds in 2016 to more than 62,000 pounds the following year. The total for 2021, as of April, is 62,324 pounds. In 2015, with Guzmán still at large, 29,000 pounds of meth were recovered in the US. Five years later, with El Chapo locked up, seizures inside the US jumped to 117,600 pounds. So if El Chapo is locked up for 23 hours a day in a 7-foot-by-12-food soundproof cell but drug busts are at an all-time high, what exactly was the point in arresting him? Guzmán’s arrest has also failed to reduce bloodshed in Mexico. Homicides there have steadily risen in recent years, jumping from about 10,000 a year in 2014 to almost 20,000 in 2020, the highest annual total in Mexican history. Criminal organizations in Mexico have proliferated, from 20 in 2000 to more than 200 in 2021. That growth is due in large part to the fragmentation of larger cartels after their leaders have been captured or killed.

After Pandemic and Brexit, U.K. Begins to See Gaps Left by European Workers (NYT) Agnieszka Bleka has had to work hard in past years to find companies that need workers, spending much of her day reaching out to local businesses in the northern English city of Preston where she is based. But now, Ms. Bleka, who owns Workforce Consultants, a company that finds jobs in Britain for mostly Eastern and Central Europeans, said that she was fielding several calls a day from companies looking for temporary staff, and that she can’t keep up with the demand. “The fish pond is getting smaller,” she said. “And people are picking and choosing the jobs, or leaving as well, going to their home countries.” Free movement between Britain and Europe technically ended at the start of 2021 because of Brexit, but the effects were masked by strict pandemic travel restrictions. Only lately, as the economy picks up steam, is the new reality beginning to be fully felt. And there is little question that many companies are having considerable trouble filling jobs.

It’s Not Too Late to Avert a Historic Shame (The Atlantic) In the past few weeks, the outlook for Afghans who helped the United States in Afghanistan has gone from worrying to critical. As U.S. and NATO troops leave the country with breathtaking speed, the Taliban are attacking districts that had long been in the Afghan government’s hands, setting up checkpoints on major roads, and threatening provincial capitals. Many of the 18,000 Afghans who, along with their families, have applied for Special Immigrant Visas will soon have nowhere to hide, no armed force standing between them and their pursuers. The unfolding disaster has seized the attention of international organizations, American news outlets, veterans’ groups, and members of Congress. On June 4, a bipartisan coalition of House members (many of them veterans), called the Honoring Our Promises Working Group, released a passionate statement that urged the Biden administration to skip the cumbersome ordeal of reviewing thousands of visa applications and instead evacuate these Afghans and their families to the U.S. territory of Guam, where they can be processed in safety. (The governor of Guam has declared that the island is prepared to accept them.)      The Association of Wartime Allies, a veterans’ group, keeps a tracker of how many flights a day will be needed to get these endangered Afghans out if all U.S. forces leave Afghanistan by September 11, as President Joe Biden has promised, or July 4, as now seems a likelier end point. Between this past Tuesday and July 4, 17 flights carrying 3,737 people would have to take off daily. With every passing day, of course, the number of flights goes up, and the logistics get harder. Right now, there are zero daily flights to save Afghans who helped Americans. As far as I can tell, the administration does not intend to evacuate Afghans anytime soon, if ever. That U.S. officials don’t want to take the extreme step of organizing flights out of Afghanistan is understandable, but at this point, nothing else will keep our Afghan allies safe. If we leave without them, they will be killed one at a time. Their deaths will be obscure, and the news might not reach us for weeks or years, if it ever does at all, but they will haunt our memory.

Myanmar Fire Kills Two (CNN) Myanmar’s security forces reportedly set fire to the village of Kin Ma, in the central part of the country, after clashing with opponents of the ruling junta. Two elderly people in the village of 800 burned to death when they were unable to flee. About 200 homes were reduced to piles of ash and bricks by the blaze that was large enough to be recorded by NASA’s satellite fire-tracking system at 9:52 pm local time Tuesday. Most of the village’s residents continued hiding in nearby forests, but those who returned Wednesday said only about 25 homes remained. Myanmar has been gripped by violence and protests since the military overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1. Western condemnation of the junta has grown due to the military’s use of force against its opponents. One human rights group said security forces have killed more than 860 civilians.

Bear goes on rampage in Japan, storms military base, airport (Washington Post) A wild bear went on a rampage in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on Friday, storming a Japanese military base, forcing its way into an airport and injuring four people, before being shot. Dangerous encounters between bears and humans have risen sharply in Japan in recent years, with the animals increasingly coming down from their mountain habitats in search of food. Last year, experts blamed a shortage of acorns in the mountains for a surge in sightings, but there is a deeper reason: Japan’s shrinking rural population. The trend has led to the abandonment of farmlands in the foothills that once formed buffer zones between the bears’ mountain homes and the populous flatlands. As a result, the bears’ habitat has expanded into these flatter lands and closer to human populations.

Iran votes in presidential poll tipped in hard-liner’s favor (AP) Iran voted Friday in a presidential election tipped in the favor of a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fueling public apathy and sparking calls for a boycott in the Islamic Republic. State-linked opinion polling and analysts put hard-line judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi as the dominant front-runner in a field of just four candidates. If elected, Raisi would be the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by the U.S. government even before entering office over his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, as well as his time as the head of Iran’s internationally criticized judiciary—one of the world’s top executioners. It also would firmly put hard-liners in control across the Iranian government as negotiations in Vienna continue over trying to save Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers, as it enriches uranium to the closest point yet to weapons-grade levels.

More Gaza airstrikes (Foreign Policy) Israel bombed Gaza late Thursday night, the second time it has struck the territory since agreeing a cease-fire with Hamas following an 11-day conflict in May. The strikes came in response to incendiary balloons launched from Gaza, itself a reaction to an Israeli far-right march through Jerusalem’s Old City deemed provocative by Palestinian groups. The Israeli military said it had struck “military compounds and a rocket launch site” and was ready for a “variety of scenarios including a resumption of hostilities.”

Policeman killed, more than 80 students abducted in attack on Nigerian school (Reuters) Gunmen killed a police officer and kidnapped at least 80 students and five teachers from a school in the Nigerian state of Kebbi, police, residents and a teacher said. The attack is the third mass kidnapping in three weeks in northwest Nigeria, which have authorities have attributed to armed bandits seeking ransom payments.

[reviewinglocalbusinesses]

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[duaneodavila]

Biglaw Firm Kindly Asks You To Stop Pointing Out That Their Client Cages Children

While lawyers, from the ranks of Biglaw to solo practitioners, line up to protect the rights of families separated at the border by the opportunistic gang of hooligans who’ve ensconced themselves in the White House, one Biglaw firm is out there making the world safe for the profiteers making a fortune off institutionalized racial animus. And if you’re wondering which firm’s staked its good name on aiding America’s private prison companies as they come under increasing scrutiny for their history of abuses, that would be our friends over at Holland & Knight.

Yes, apparently on the eve of on-campus interviewing, Holland & Knight decided the right move for their business was carving out the Make Biglaw Great Again slice of the market by backing up private prison company GEO Group, which just happens to be ICE’s biggest contractor.

On the one hand, everyone deserves counsel willing to zealously defend their interests. On the other hand, part of zealousness is protecting your client from making a complete ass of themselves on a national stage. The sort of assification that follows sending laughable cease and desist letters to activist groups for reporting on the company’s unpleasant track record.

In a letter sent last week to Miami’s Dream Defenders, Holland & Knight partner Carolyn Short demanded the group stop inciting protests of GEO Group facilities and remove a number of “false and defamatory” statements from their website and social media. Specifically:

The false and defamatory statements in Dream Defenders’ publications include:

* Blatantly false allegations that GEO “separates” families; * Blatantly false allegations that GEO “cages” children; * Blatantly false allegations that GEO “puts Black, Latino and poor White people into jail;” and * Blatantly false accusations that GEO asserts improper influence over the United States political system and an incorrect publication of a list of individuals to whom GEO supposedly made political contributions.

Except… GEO Group does every one of these things. Now, to be fair, the company can certainly make a semantic case that they don’t, but defamation claims don’t tend to favor hypertechnicalities.

Of course, GEO Group only detains people at the behest of the government. No one reads the Dream Defenders and thinks GEO Group is unilaterally kidnapping people across the country. But the problem with acting as an agent is, you know, becoming an agent. You can’t really say you’re not a participant in the scheme anymore and at the point that GEO is the one that physically puts kids in cages this becomes entirely fair criticism.

As for GEO Group’s lobbying efforts, which are substantial, the company maintains that it doesn’t advocate for specific policies that increase needless incarceration, it only pushes the “benefits” of a public-private partnership. Unfortunately, this requires an astonishing level of naivete to swallow. That the lobbyists never tell a legislator “increase penalties” has little impact on the level of influence the company has in increasing incarceration by poisoning its “private-public partnership” agreements with provisions requiring governments to increase enrollment lest they face financial penalties.

Everything about this letter is ill-advised. It’s not just the flimsy outline of a defamation claim, but the fact that this is just an engraved invitation for activists to tee-off on GEO Group’s tortured reasoning to create a public relations nightmare. I mean, the client runs private prisons, not ice cream stores! Most Americans are unaware that private prisons even exist, let alone the names of these companies. They don’t bank on a glowing public profile, they just need to keep their head down and hope no one catches on.

But now Holland & Knight’s made this a story and Dream Defenders got the opportunity to mock GEO Group with a widespread audience:

It isn’t only immigrant children and their families who are at risk. You’ve profited off of the incarceration of Black, Latino, and poor white youth in the criminal justice system for years. A federal court found that your operation of a youth prison in Mississippi “allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate” and placed youth at “substantial ongoing risk.”

We guess you would prefer us to call your operations “academies,” “treatment centers,” “leadership development programs,” “residential facilities”, “family detention centers” or one of the many other euphemisms you list on your website? We’ll stick with the truth. You are caging children.

The whole letter, and the linked evidence it provides (links don’t appear to be working in the version on the next page, sorry), is damning. And it would have never cropped up to news outlets but for this boneheaded strategy of threatening protestors who are always struggling just to be heard above the noise of complacency.

Great job, Holland & Knight.

(Check out both letters on the next page.)

ICE’s Biggest Private-Prison Contractor Threatens to Sue Florida Civil-Rights Activists [Miami New Times]

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

[bulbwalrus6-blog]

The Long View On Chicago’s Artistic History, A Book Review of “Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now”

“Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now,” edited by Maggie Taft and Robert Cozzolino, with chapters by Wendy Greenhouse, Jennifer Jane Marshall, Maggie Taft, Robert Cozzolino, Rebecca Zorach and Jenni Sorkin. University of Chicago Press

As a cultural hub, Chicago always has contained a multitude of art communities, organization and scenes. “Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now,” edited by Maggie Taft and Robert Cozzolino, addresses Chicago’s art world in historical precedents and in its contemporary trajectory. The first five chapters address the many art-world eras of the city, from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, and ends with conversations by contemporary artists and scholars. The inception of Chicago’s art world, according to this book, begins with Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian-born, Afro-Caribbean fur trader who settled at the then-trading post and housed an impressive art collection which included “mirrors, French walnut cabinets with glass doors, a feather bed and two paintings.” The city—acknowledged in the introduction as having been named after the Miami-Illinois indigenous word for wild onion plants, Shikaakwa—has a strong history with civic engagement. It is a city that has, according to Taft and Cozzolino, the “strength of art education, the prominence of women in the arts and the flourishing of African-American cultural institutions, the constancy of activism and social practice” and these assets continue to attract people from all over the world to the city. Chicago’s art worlds began with the now heavyweight art organizations. This includes the Art Institute of Chicago, World’s Columbian Exposition, Fine Arts Building, Municipal Art League and women’s empowerment organizations such as at Hull House (started by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr).

The book points out that none of these organizations are absolved of critique and that as a city, Chicago must look to its past to improve in the future. Early art organizations were invested in a top-down model of thinking Chicago was a place “with none or lacking history” and thought to educate the masses through European models. For example, Taft states that at the beginnings of the Hull House, while the organization sought to empower immigrants and poor people with creative endeavors and culturally specific craft traditions, “most [efforts] had tinges of cultural appropriation” or “rich white lady knows best.” Art in Chicago also documents the simultaneous romanticization and erasure of the indigenous communities of the region. “The evocation of Native American heritage was a means of celebrating Chicago as an authentically American place and also of feeding the anti-modern nostalgia that was one response to urbanism, but it did not acknowledge Native Americans as actual citizens of modern Chicago.” Linking this history to a more recent time, the book recalls the 1992 Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s “Couple in the Cage” performance at the Field Museum of Natural History. In the performance, they inhabited a cage wearing “newly discovered” Amerindian clothing and “dramatized the Western cultural practice of dehumanized spectacle: displaying subjugated peoples of color as primitives, exotics, even zoo animals.” This act is a critique of museums and their relationships to colonialism, as the institutional collection of indigenous people’s remains and their ritual objects are usually tied to the nation’s appropriation of their land. Chicago as a city provides a way of challenging sedimented ideologies through bold participation in the arts.

OBAC Visual Artists Workshop, “Wall of Respect,” 1967 (now destroyed) /Photo: Robert Sengstacke

After the founding of the South Side Community Art Center in 1941 as part of the New Deal, the Black Arts movement rose to prominence parallel with the Black Power Movement in the sixties and seventies. At the SSCA, black artists such as Charles White and Gordon Parks, and Morris Topchevsky, a Russian-Jewish immigrant, taught and exhibited their work. In Chicago, black artists have always had to make their own cultural spaces. The founding of organizations like OBAC (Organization of Black American Culture) in 1967, inspired the ascendance of many others, including AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), Kuumba Theater and the OBAC Writers Workshop. Organizations such as these continue to challenge the city’s legacy of excluding African Americans from cultural institutions. For example, the iconic “Wall of Respect” mural, designed by Sylvia Abernathy in 1967, featured “black heroes in the realms of politics, music, athletics, drama, literary pursuits and religion.” It adorned the Grand Boulevard neighborhood in a time where Federal Housing Administration’s policies, in essence, affirmed the legal redlining of Chicago’s neighborhoods, a history with repercussions that continue to the present day through gentrification. The “Wall of Respect” was also a counterpoint to the unveiling of Chicago’s Picasso in 1967, during this time the city’s officials celebrated Picasso’s work and ignored the “Wall of Respect,” a cultural pulpit for the South Side black community where meetings, protests and rallies were held.

Arts and activism have always intertwined in Chicago. In October 1989, responding to the AIDS epidemic, ACT UP Chicago created a “freedom bed,” a large, street-bound theatrical installation featuring an oversized bed. It was a protest “in response to Illinois state legislation that mandated HIV testing for certain government workers.” It became a site where people held performances regarding sexual health and reproduction.

Dawoud Bey, “Lauren,” 2008. From the series ”Young Chicagoans,“ commissioned as part of Character Project /Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Daiter Gallery

The book closes with conversations by contemporary practitioners including Michelle Grabner, Hamza Walker and Tempestt Hazel, Gregg Bordowitz and a comic strip by Kerry James Marshall. This last section features a snapshot of the contemporary cultural moments in Chicago, involving both Chicago as “a site of destination and departure.” A conversation between Stanislav Grezdo, curator of the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art and Cesáreo Moreno, curator of the National Museum of Mexican Art, reflects on the necessity of establishing cultural spaces to address the needs of specific communities. Moreno shared the reason for creating the National Museum of Mexican Art in 1987 by a group of teachers, saying “[They] did not really know anything about art or museums. What they did know was that although twenty-five percent of the students they were teaching were of Mexican ancestry, there was nothing in the curriculum that touched on their history or their culture.” The nature of Chicago as a city that contains multitude is reflected in many organizations that continue to shape the legacy of the city throughout time. Studs Terkel reportedly once remarked that “All roads lead to Chicago.” All roads lead to community and Chicago is a place where anyone can build them. The nature of the city is like a magnet, attracting, repelling, shaping, building and rebuilding hybridity as it spans time and space. (Hiba Ali)

“Art in Chicago: A History from the Fire to Now,” edited by Maggie Taft and Robert Cozzolino University of Chicago Press, 2018

Source: https://art.newcity.com/2018/10/16/the-long-view-on-chicagos-artistic-history-a-book-review-of-art-in-chicago-a-history-from-the-fire-to-now/

[artistdan]

Jiu Jitsu Videos

Jiu-Jitsu has almost one hundred many years of history behind it, all of these can't be precisely traced. However, it is said by some historians that this "gentle art" originates somewhere back again to India, in which the Buddhist Monks used to practice it. Worried about their safety and their self-defense, techniques focusing on the principles of leverage and balance were developed by these monks. This is one way this martial art has been around since, as a method in which the body in manipulated you might say where relying on weapons or strength could be avoided. As Buddhism expanded, from Southeast Asia it began spreading to China, until it finally arrived in Japan, developing and gaining further popularity there. Several Japanese Jiu-Jitsu masters immigrated to other continents because of the end associated with the 19th century, where they took part in competitions and fights, while teaching this martial art as well. One such master was Esai Maeda Koma, who was simply referred to as "Conde Koma." Koma traveled with a troupe that fought in a variety of countries in America and Europe, until in 1915, he found its way to Brazil. Ab muscles next year he settled in Belem do Para, and there he met a guy by the name of Gastao Gracie. Gastao, that has eight children, three girls and five boys, quickly became thinking about it and brought, Carlos, his eldest son to master it from master Koma. Carlos Gracie was a mixed martial arts miami frail 15-year old and aside from learning just how to fight, Jiu-Jitsu also became an approach for personal improvement for him. Carlos moved with his family to Rio de Janeiro when he had been 19, and there he began fighting and teaching. Not only did Carlos teach the martial art during his travels, but he also fought and defeated physically stronger opponents in order to show how efficient it absolutely was. He opened his or her own school after returning to Rio in 1925 and named it "Academia Gracie de Jiu-Jitsu." Carlos began teaching his brothers from the time then as well, whilst in the meantime he adapted and refined the techniques of Jiu-Jitsu. Carlos even taught them his concepts of natural nutrition and his philosophies of life. Carlos eventually became famous for the development of "the Gracie diet," a unique diet for athletes. This resulted in the transformation of the extremely concept of the martial art, and it also became synonymous with health. Following the creation of this efficient self-defense system, Carlos gained the traits of respectfulness, self-confidence and tolerance. Looking to prove how superior Jiu-Jitsu was over other different martial arts, Carlos started challenging well-known fighters of this time. He also became the manager of his brothers through their fighting careers. The Gracies gained quick prestige and recognition as a result of having fought and defeated opponents, who have been 50 to 60 pounds heavier than they were. Since this martial art became more and more popular, it attracted many practitioners in Japan, who migrated to Rio and established their own schools, yet not achieve similar success because the Gracies. The explanation for this really is that the styles that the Japanese practitioners used mostly revolved around throws and takedowns. On the other hand, the Jiu-Jitsu which was practiced by the Gracies included more sophisticated submission techniques and ground fighting.

The techniques that have been changed and adapted by Carlos, and his brothers lead to the complete alteration of this complexion for the principles of international Jiu-Jitsu. Eventually, the sports gained a national identity because of the distinct techniques employed by the Gracies. Ever since, then this martial art became popular as "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" and martial artists all across the globe, including Japan, began practicing it.

[bpho]

Karate For Kids

Jiu-Jitsu has almost a hundred years of history behind it, all of which can not be precisely traced. However, it is stated by some historians that this "gentle art" originates somewhere back once again to India, where the Buddhist Monks used to apply it. Worried about their safety and their self-defense, techniques concentrating on the principles of leverage and balance were created by these monks. This is one way this martial art came into existence, as a method in which the body in manipulated you might say where counting on weapons or strength may be avoided. As Buddhism expanded, from Southeast Asia it began spreading to China, until it finally arrived in Japan, developing and gaining further popularity there.

Several Japanese Jiu-Jitsu masters immigrated to other continents because of the end regarding the 19th century, where they took part in competitions and fights, while teaching this martial art as well. One such master was Esai Maeda Koma, who had been known as "Conde Koma." Koma traveled with a troupe that fought in many different countries in America and Europe, until in 1915, he found its way to Brazil. The very next year he settled in Belem do Para, and there he met a person because of the miami jiu jitsu schools name of Gastao Gracie. Gastao, who had eight children, three girls and five boys, quickly became thinking about it and brought, Carlos, his eldest son to master it from master Koma. Carlos Gracie was a frail 15-year old and aside from learning how exactly to fight, Jiu-Jitsu also became a way for personal improvement for him. Carlos moved along with his family to Rio de Janeiro when he was 19, and there he began fighting and teaching. Not merely did Carlos teach the martial art during his travels, but he also fought and defeated physically stronger opponents in order to show how efficient it had been. He opened his own school after going back to Rio in 1925 and named it "Academia Gracie de Jiu-Jitsu." Carlos began teaching his brothers ever since then as well, within the meantime he adapted and refined the techniques of Jiu-Jitsu. Carlos even taught them his concepts of natural nutrition along with his philosophies of life. Carlos eventually became famous for the creation of "the Gracie diet," a special diet for athletes. This lead to the transformation of the very meaning of the martial art, and it became synonymous with health. After the creation of this efficient self-defense system, Carlos gained the traits of respectfulness, self-confidence and tolerance. Aiming to prove how superior Jiu-Jitsu was over other different fighting techinques, Carlos started challenging well-known fighters of this time. He also became the manager of his brothers through their fighting careers. The Gracies gained quick prestige and recognition as a result of having fought and defeated opponents, have been 50 to 60 pounds heavier than they were. Since this martial art became ever more popular, it attracted many practitioners in Japan, who migrated to Rio and established their very own schools, but not achieve similar success while the Gracies. The real reason for this really is that the styles that the Japanese practitioners used mostly revolved around throws and takedowns. On the other hand, the Jiu-Jitsu that was practiced because of the Gracies included more sophisticated submission techniques and ground fighting. The techniques which were changed and adapted by Carlos, along with his brothers resulted in the whole alteration associated with the complexion of this principles of international Jiu-Jitsu. Eventually, the sports gained a national identity due to the distinct techniques utilized by the Gracies. Ever since, then this martial art shot to popularity as "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" and martial artists all over the globe, including Japan, began practicing it.

[localbizreview]

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[theeternalrealist]

Jujitsu Clubs

The Gracie's were not the sole ones doing Jiu-Jitsu on earth during the 1900's, and most certainly not the only person's doing Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil, they certainly were just the most popular. Early members of the Gracie family in Brazil were political figures and extremely active in the community where they lived. Among Helio's first students were Governor of Rio, Carlos Lacerda, and President, Joao Figueiredo. There were many Japanese immigrants practicing Judo and Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil and an innovative new as a type of "free fighting" was also developing in Brazil at this time. The Brazilians developed a system of fighting called Luta Livre (Free Fight), if you ask a Gracie, they might inform you that Luta Livre is from Jiu-Jitsu, if you ask a Luta Livre practitioner, he might tell you different things. There clearly was a large rivalry between your two styles, however the truth for the matter is the fact that the styles are particularly similar. I heard from a few sources that Luta Livre was created from Wrestling and Judo in Brazil. Luta Livre is practiced without having the gi or kimono. While I happened to be in Brazil, I handed down a street in Bahia (which will be where Capoeira also arises from) named after one of several great Vale Tudo (meaning "anything goes") fighters regarding the mid 1900's named Valdimar Santana, who was simply accountable for one of Helio Gracie's only defeats. I have heard some Brazilians call him a Luta Livre fighter, others say he was a Judoka, and also the Gracies say he was a Jiu-Jitsu player. During Valdimar's fight with Helio Gracie, after over an hour or so, Helio's corner was forced to give up. I have read that Valdimar Santana was certainly one of Helio's students, but have heard different as well. Carlson Gracie would later avenge Helio's defeat by defeating Valdimar Santana in a No Rules fight. One other famous victory throughout the Gracie family during the early the main art's development took place 1951. After defeating a famous Judo player named Kato, Helio issued a challenge to another Japanese fighter named Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was concerned with taking the fight because he felt Helio will be hard to submit. A friend of Yamaguchi named Masahiko Kimura (5'6" 185 Lbs.) stepped up to face Helio in the place. The fight between Helio and Kimura lead to a win for Kimura by TKO after Helio's side threw in the towel. Kimura applied udegarami (a shoulder lock now called the Kimura), an arm lock to Helio's left arm, breaking it. Helio was commended for not giving up, but still suffered a defeat, nonetheless.

An appealing event occurred later in the 1950's when Kimura finished up facing Valdimar Santana in a No Holds Barred Match. He describes the name associated with the fighter as Adema, but i suppose that this might be a spelling mistake produced in the translation due to the description being identical to Valdimar down to the spot he resided. Kimura describes the match in this excerpt obtained from his biography "My Judo". I debated for a little while about whether to include this, but it was so interesting, hard to find in print, and thus historically significant that I experienced to fairly share it with you. This excerpt really gives lots of insight as to what was happening in Brazil during this time period period, and provides an idea about how far ahead of the U.S. and Japan that Brazil was at Mixed Martial Arts fighting. The following two and three-quarter pages are taken directly from Kimura's book, My Judo. "My opponent Adema (Valdimar) Santana was a 25 year old black man, and was a boxing heavy weight champion. He had been 4th dan in judo, and a capoeira champion as well. He had been 183cm had a well proportioned impressive physique. His weight was close to 100kg. Bahia, where the match took place, is a port city where black slaves were unloaded. The slaves were forbidden to transport a weapon. Because of this, many fighting techinques were manufactured by them, I heard. Vale Tudo is regarded as such martial arts. Within the south of Sao Paulo, pro wrestling is popular. However the farther one would go to the north, the greater popular Vale Tudo becomes. Helio Gracie, whom I had previously fought, was the champion in Vale Tudo. But Adema Santana challenged him the earlier year (Note: 1957), and after 2 hours and ten minutes, Helio got kicked into the abdomen, could not wake up, and got knocked out. Thus, Adema had get to be the new champion. In Vale Tudo, no foul is allowed. 1 foul results in a sudden disqualification. No shoes are allowed. Once the fighters are separated, they are not allowed to strike with a fist, and they have to make use of open hand strikes. But once they get in touch with one another, all types of strike is allowed but groin strikes. All types of throws and joint locks are legal. The winner is set when one of several fighters is KO'd or surrenders. Biting and hair pulling were illegal. Since bare-knuckle punches are traded, taking direct two or three hits within the eye means the termination of the fight. I was told there have been many cases by which a fighter got hit within the eye with an elbow, while the eyeball popped out of the socket by half, and got carried to the hospital by an ambulance. Therefore, there have been always 2 ambulances during the entrance of the arena. "I have no choice. I will fight." I said. Then, the promoter grinned, took out a questionnaire and told us to sign it. Yano translated the content, which said, "Just because I die in this match, it is what I intended, and will not make anyone responsible for my death." I nodded, and signed the shape. On my method to the ring, someone raised his arm and waved at me. It had been Helio Gracie, whom I experienced not seen for quite a while. Helio was at the radio broadcast seat. He had been the commentator for the match. The gong rang. Adema and I also circled the ring first. I lightly extended my fingers in a half-body posture, and prepared for his kicks. Adema, also in a half-body posture, had tucked his chin, tightened his underarms, as he would do in a boxing match. Once in a while, he delivered high kicks to my face. "I blocked the kicks with my hands, and returned a kick with my right leg. Adema started initially to deliver right and left roundhouse kicks. I stepped back and dodged them, but suddenly, I received a fire-like effect on my face. It absolutely was an open hand strike. I had overlooked his hand motion, paying an excessive amount of awareness of his kicks. When I got hit into the temple, and the core of my head became a blur, left and right roundhouse kicks came. Once I blocked his right kick with my left hand, a huge pain ran through from the tip of this little finger into the back regarding the hand. I experienced jammed the finger. I traded kicks with him. The entire audiences were standing with excitement. Even in this situation, I happened to be able to think clearly. While I mixed martial arts miami was thinking 'Adema is one level more than I in both kicks and open hand strikes. To be able to win, i have to take the fight to the ground,' another fast kick flew within my abdomen.

[darrylrocco]

Greenberg Traurig Attorneys, Practices Recommended in The Legal 500 United States 2017 Guide

More than 100 lawyers and 30 practice areas from Greenberg Traurig were recognized in the recently released guide.

NEW YORK – June 20, 2017 – More than 100 attorneys from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP have been recognized in The Legal 500 United States 2017 Guide to Outstanding Lawyers (“Guide”). In addition, the Guide recommends Greenberg Traurig as a “Top Tier” firm in “Real Estate.” This high recognition of the firm’s Real Estate Practice comes shortly after the team received the Chambers USA Award for Excellence in Real Estate. In addition, the Guide recognized 32 of the firm’s practice areas.

The Legal 500 recognized Robert J. Ivanhoe and Laura Reiff in its “Hall of Fame.” This recognition is awarded to individuals who receive constant praise from their clients for continued excellence.

Five Greenberg Traurig attorneys were recognized on the Guide’s elite “Leading Lawyers” list:

Lori G. Cohen: Dispute Resolution – Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action – Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices – Defense. Cohen is Chair of the firm’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Litigation and its Trial Practices; she is also Co-Chair of the firm’s Atlanta Litigation Practice.

Judith D. Fryer: Real Estate – Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Fryer is Co-Chair of the firm’s REIT Practice.

Robert J. Ivanhoe: Real Estate. Ivanhoe is Chair of the 300-plus-lawyer Global Real Estate Practice at Greenberg Traurig and Co-Chair of its REIT group.

Laura Reiff: Labor and Employment – Immigration. Reiff is Co-Chair of the firm’s Business Immigration & Compliance Practice and of its Global Human Capital Solutions Group. In addition, she serves as Co-Managing Shareholder of the firm’s Northern Virginia office.

Martha J. Schoonover: Labor and Employment – Immigration. Schoonover is Co-Chair of the firm’s Business Immigration & Compliance Practice.

According to the publisher, the rankings recognize practice area teams and practitioners who are “providing the most cutting edge and innovative advice to corporate counsel.” The rankings are based on feedback from 250,000 clients worldwide, law firm submissions, and interviews with private practice lawyers, in addition to Legal 500’s independent research in the legal market.

Some of the commentary published in The Legal 500 United States 2017 Guide regarding Greenberg Traurig and its attorneys include:

... “acts for a broad range of clients, both domestic and international, and is recognized for its ‘excellent service and global reach’.”

…“geographically broad and talented team”

…“highly experienced and capable”

… “delivers high-quality advice”

…“the best in New York at knowing the intricacies of state-managed healthcare organizations”

…“highly rate by clients for its regulatory expertise”

…“provides ‘expert knowledge on how to structure a benefits offering’…”

“’Knowledgeable, technical and great to deal with’…”

“…sets itself apart with ‘the quality and practicality of its advice’.”

“…‘deep and extremely positive experience’.”

“Clients also describe team members as ‘business partners’ and an ‘extension of their own internal capabilities’.”

The Greenberg Traurig lawyers listed below are recommended in The Legal 500 United States 2017 editorial based on the Guide’s industry or practice area designations as selected by researchers:

Attorney Recognized In Attorney Location Tricia A. Asaro Industry focus - Healthcare - health insurers Albany Douglas  C. Atnipp

Industry focus - Energy regulatory - oil and gas

Industry focus - Energy transactions - oil and gas

Houston Ryan D. Bailine Real estate Miami Ian C. Ballon

Intellectual property – Copyright

Intellectual property - Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)

Silicon Valley

Los Angeles

Kerri L. Barsh Industry focus - Environment - litigation Miami Hilarie Bass Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense Miami Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state) New York Robert H. Bernstein

Labor and employment - ERISA litigation

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) – defense

New Jersey Charles S. Birenbaum Labor and employment - Labor-management relations San Francisco Dennis J. Block M&A/corporate and commercial - M&A - large deals ($1bn+) New York Mark D. Bloom Finance - Restructuring (including bankruptcy) - corporate Miami James N. Boudreau Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) - defense Philadelphia Robert S. Brams Real estate - Construction (including construction litigation) Washington, D.C. William D. Briendel Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense

New York

Westchester County

Michael L. Burnett Real estate - Construction (including construction litigation) Houston Karl D. Burrer Finance - Restructuring (including bankruptcy) - corporate Houston Micala Campbell Robinson Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) - defense New Jersey Michael J. Cherniga

Industry focus - Healthcare - health insurers

Industry focus - Healthcare - service providers

Tallahassee Francis A. Citera

Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state)

Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - consumer products (including tobacco)

Industry focus - Environment – litigation

Chicago Joseph C. Coates III Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense West Palm Beach Lori G. Cohen Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - pharmaceuticals and medical devices - defense Atlanta Alice L. Connaughton Real estate - Real estate investment trusts (REITs) Washington, D.C. David A. Coulson Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense Miami Karl G. Dial Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense Dallas Liz Dudek Industry focus - Healthcare - service providers Tallahassee Sylvie A. Durham Finance - Structured finance New York Troy A. Eid Industry focus - Environment - litigation Denver Seth J. Entin

Tax - International tax

Tax - US taxes - non-contentious

Miami Robert C. Epstein Real estate - Construction (including construction litigation)

New Jersey

New York

Kristine J. Feher Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) - defense New Jersey Scott E. Fink Tax - US taxes - contentious New York Joseph Z. Fleming Labor and employment - Labor-management relations Miami Judith D. Fryer Real estate - Real estate investment trusts (REITs) New York William Garner Industry focus - Energy transactions - oil and gas Houston John F. Gibbons

Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state)

Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense

Chicago Jerrold F. Goldberg

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) – defense

Labor and employment - Labor-management relations

New York Matthew B. Gorson Real estate Miami Elaine C. Greenberg Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense Washington, D.C. Susan L. Heller Intellectual property - Trademarks - non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)

Orange County

Los Angeles

Ian A. Herbert Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans

Northern Virginia

Washington, D.C.

Robert J. Herrington Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - consumer products (including tobacco)

Los Angeles

Shari L. Heyen Dispute resolution - General commercial disputes Houston Nick Hockens Real estate - Land use/zoning New York Robert A. Horowitz Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense New York Harold N. Iselin Industry focus - Healthcare - health insurers Albany Robert J. Ivanhoe Real estate New York Christiana Callahan Jacxsens Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - pharmaceuticals and medical devices - defense Atlanta David C. Jensen Real estate - Construction (including construction litigation)

New Jersey

New York

Wendy Johnson Lario Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) - defense New Jersey Kate Kalmykov Labor and employment - Immigration

New Jersey

New York

Barbara T. Kaplan

Tax - US taxes - contentious New York Kurt A. Kappes Intellectual property - Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)

Sacramento

Bradford D. Kaufman Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense West Palm Beach Gregory W. Kehoe Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense

Tampa

New York

Washington, D.C.

Justin F. Keith

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) – defense

Labor and employment - Labor-management relations

Boston Mark D. Kemple Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) - defense Los Angeles Paul B. Kerlin Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - consumer products (including tobacco) Houston Leslie A. Klein Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans

Phoenix

Chicago

Nancy B. Lash Real estate Miami Michael S. Lazaroff Dispute resolution - International litigation New York Elli Leibenstein Dispute resolution - General commercial disputes Chicago Corey E. Light Real estate Chicago Victoria Davis Lockard Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - pharmaceuticals and medical devices – defense Atlanta David Long-Daniels

Intellectual property - Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) – defense

Atlanta Ian R. Macdonald Labor and employment - Immigration Atlanta Pamela J. Mak Labor and employment - Immigration Northern Virginia Jeffrey D. Mamorsky Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans New York David G. Mandelbaum

Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - toxic tort – defense

Industry focus - Environment – litigation

Philadelphia Alan Mansfield Dispute resolution - General commercial disputes New York Terence P. McCourt Labor and employment - Labor-management relations Boston Richard C. McCrea Jr. Intellectual property - Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)

Tampa

Sean McKenna Industry focus - Healthcare - service providers Dallas Patricia Menéndez-Cambó M&A/corporate and commercial - M&A - large deals ($1bn+)

Miami

New York

Mark I. Michigan Finance - Structured finance New York Nelson F. Migdal Real estate - Real estate investment trusts (REITs) Washington, D.C. Kenneth M. Minesinger

Industry focus - Energy regulatory - oil and gas

Industry focus - Energy transactions - oil and gas

Washington, D.C. Nancy A. Mitchell Finance - Restructuring (including bankruptcy) - corporate

New York

Chicago

Marc L. Mukasey

Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state)

Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense

New York Howard L. Nelson Industry focus - Energy regulatory - oil and gas Washington, D.C. Renée W. O’Rourke Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans Denver David A. Oliver Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - consumer products (including tobacco) Houston Gregory E. Ostfeld Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - pharmaceuticals and medical devices - defense Chicago A. John Pappalardo Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense Boston Lenard M. Parkins Finance - Restructuring (including bankruptcy) - corporate

Houston

New York

Patrick Pope Industry focus - Energy regulatory - oil and gas Washington, D.C. Stephen L. Rabinowitz

Real estate

Real estate - Real estate investment trusts (REITs)

New York Alfredo Ramos Industry focus - Energy transactions - oil and gas Houston Paul B. Ranis Intellectual property - Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters) Fort Lauderdale Bernadette M. Rappold Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - toxic tort - defense Washington, D.C. Magan Pritam Ray Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans Silicon Valley Laura Foote Reiff Labor and employment - Immigration

Northern Virginia

Washington, D.C.

Barry Richard

Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state)

Tallahassee

New York

Washington, D.C.

Erik S. Rodriguez Labor and employment - Labor-management relations Atlanta Bobby Rosenbloum Intellectual property - Copyright Atlanta Elliot H. Scherker Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state) Miami Ozzie A. Schindler

Tax - International tax

Tax - US taxes - non-contentious

Miami Daniel I. Schloss Intellectual property - Trademarks - litigation New York Mark P. Schnapp Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense Miami Martha J. Schoonover Labor and employment - Immigration Northern Virginia Jay A. Segal Real estate - Land use/zoning New York David E. Sellinger Dispute resolution - General commercial disputes New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger Dispute resolution - General commercial disputes New Jersey Hal S.Shaftel

Dispute resolution - International litigation

Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense

New York Keith J. Shapiro Finance - Restructuring (including bankruptcy) - corporate Chicago Charles A. Simmons Tax - US taxes - contentious

Tampa

New York

Robert D. Simon

Tax - International tax

Tax - US taxes - non-contentious

Northern Virginia

Denver

Louis M. Solomon

Dispute resolution - International litigation

Dispute resolution - Securities litigation – defense

New York Mark E. Solomons Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state) Washington, D.C. Jonathan L. Sulds

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) – defense

Labor and employment - Labor-management relations

New York Nancy E. Taylor

Industry focus - Healthcare - health insurers

Industry focus - Healthcare - service providers

Washington, D.C. Christopher Torres Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - toxic tort - defense Tampa Daniel J. Tyukody Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense Los Angeles Colin Underwood

Dispute resolution - International litigation

Dispute resolution - Securities litigation – defense

New York Mary F. Voce

Tax - International tax

Tax - US taxes - non-contentious

New York Steven J. Wadyka Jr.

Intellectual property - Trademarks – litigation

Intellectual property - Trademarks - non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)

Washington, D.C. David B. Weinstein

Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense

Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action - toxic tort – defense

Industry focus - Environment - litigation

Tampa

Washington, D.C.

New York Terry R. Weiss Dispute resolution - Securities litigation - defense Atlanta Todd D. Wozniak

Labor and employment - ERISA litigation

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) - defense

Atlanta Peter W. Zinober

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions) – defense

Tampa

Orlando

Kenneth Zuckerbrot

Tax - International tax

Tax - US taxes - non-contentious

New York

Overall, Greenberg Traurig is recommended in the Guide in the following practice and industry areas:

Dispute resolution - Appellate - Supreme Court (federal and state) - Appellate - courts of appeals

Dispute resolution - Appellate: Supreme Court (federal and state)

Dispute resolution - Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense

Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action: consumer products (including tobacco)

Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action: pharmaceuticals and medical devices - defense

Dispute resolution - Product liability, mass tort and class action: toxic tort - defense

Finance - Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate

Industry focus - Energy regulatory: oil and gas

Industry focus - Energy transactions: oil and gas

Industry focus - Environment: litigation

Industry focus - Healthcare: health insurers

Industry focus - Healthcare: service providers

Intellectual property - Copyright

Intellectual property - Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)

Intellectual property - Trademarks: litigation

Intellectual property - Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)

Labor and employment - Immigration

Labor and employment - Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions): defense

Labor and employment - Labor-management relations

M&A/corporate and commercial - M&A: large deals ($1bn+)

Real estate - Construction (including construction litigation)

Dispute resolution - General commercial disputes

Dispute resolution - International litigation

Dispute resolution - Securities litigation: defense

Finance - Structured finance

Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans

Labor and employment - ERISA litigation

Real estate - Land use/zoning

Real estate - Real estate investment trusts (REITs)

Tax - International tax

Tax - US taxes: contentious

Tax - US taxes: non-contentious

from Restructuring & Bankruptcy http://www.gtlaw.com/News-Events/Newsroom/Press-Releases/204829/Greenberg-Traurig-Attorneys-Practices-Recommended-in-The-Legal-500-United-States-2017-Guide

[wildeslaw]