Mintz has been selected by Law360 as the 2020 “Practice Group of the Year” for Immigration. The awards honor the leading law firms and practice groups at the forefront of the legal industry in the past year. Notably, Mintz was the only law firm recognized in the Immigration category for 2020. The more than 185 winners spanning 40 practice groups were announced on November 29 and will be featured for their distinct achievements in the weeks to come.

Led by Member and Founding Chair Susan J. Cohen and Member and Chair John F. Quill, Mintz’s Immigration Practice consists of a specialized group of around 40 attorneys and professional staff servicing the unique immigration needs of corporate and individual clients, from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 corporations, across industries. The Mintz immigration team is a go-to source for corporate clients, structuring innovative and effective solutions to their unique immigration challenges.

In the past year, Mintz assisted a wide variety of high profile corporate clients with all of their immigration law needs, such as securing visas and employment authorizations, mitigating employee port of entry issues, and avoiding immigration-related employment disruptions as a result of mergers and acquisitions. On a pro bono basis, Mintz filed an amicus brief that successfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, safeguarding LGBTQ Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander DACA beneficiaries, and separately, achieved a groundbreaking victory for immigrants’ rights as it pertains to fair bond hearings in Massachusetts.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mintz’s Immigration Practice has worked tirelessly to keep clients informed about the status and implications of policy changes, providing considerations for alleviating adverse effects on business immigration strategies. They have been successful with procuring travel ban waivers for clients whose operations would have stalled without essential travel.

Renowned for finding creative solutions to complex cases, the Mintz immigration team has obtained H-1B visas for clients even when the quota has been reached. The team boasts extremely high visa approval rates over the last two years, which is all the more noteworthy in light of the significant increase in visa application denials by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over the corresponding period. 

“We are humbled to be selected as Law360’s 2020 Immigration Practice Group of the Year,” said Member and Founding Chair of Mintz’s Immigration Practice Susan J. Cohen. “U.S. employers, foreign workers, students, and immigrants continue to face a myriad of immigration legal challenges in the United States. We are committed to helping our clients retain their foreign talent, and we will continue to use all the legal means at our disposal to secure our clients’ rights and to zealously advocate for a fair and equal justice system for immigrants.”

“It is an honor to receive this prestigious ranking from Law360,” said Mintz Member and Chair of the firm’s Immigration Practice John F. Quill. “We look forward to continuing to provide creative solutions for our clients to help them navigate an ever-changing immigration environment.”

Additionally, earlier this month, Ms. Cohen and Mr. Quill were both recognized as 2020 Immigration Law Trailblazers by The National Law Journal. The special supplement, published on November 1, highlighted their respective career accomplishments and included commentary on future explorations for immigration law.