Members of our staff belong to a variety of organizations and associations, which are described below.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is the national association of nearly 8,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach the highly specialized field of immigration law. AILAs mission is to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members. AILA Member attorneys represent tens of thousands of U.S. families who have applied for permanent residence for their spouses, children, and other close relatives to lawfully enter and reside in the United States. AILA Members also represent thousands of U.S. businesses and industries who sponsor foreign workers seeking to enter the United States on a temporary or permanent basis. AILA Members also represent foreign students, professionals, entertainers, athletes, and asylum seekers, often on a pro bono basis. AILA is an Affiliated Organization of the American Bar Association and is represented in the ABA House of Delegates. Member of AILA: James P. Gagel.
The Inter-American Bar Association (IBA), Was founded in l940 by a group of distinguished lawyers and jurists representing forty-four professional organizations and seventeen nations of the Western Hemisphere, in order to provide a permanent forum to promote the Rule of Law and protect the democratic institutions in the Americas. The IBAs mission is to establish and maintain relations among organizations of lawyers in the Americas, to advance the science of jurisprudence; to disseminate knowledge of the laws of the Americas, to promote the Rule of Law and the administration of justice, to encourage the establishment and maintenance of independent judicial systems in all countries of the Americas, to preserve and defend human rights and liberties, and to guarantee to the peoples of the hemisphere the free exercise of their civil and political rights under democratic principles. Member of the IBA: James P. Gagel, as a Senior Member.
The New York Bar is one of the oldest organizations for attorneys the United States. The New York Bar is comprised principally of practicing lawyers, judges, court administrators, law teachers, public service attorneys and many non-practicing lawyers who are business executives, government officials, etc. with ties to the countrys most important financial and business community. Member of the New York Bar: James P. Gagel, (Admitted upon examination in 1983.)
The Florida Bar, which began as a voluntary organization 1889, is now the third largest mandatory state bar in the United States, with over 70,000 members. The Florida Bar reflects an honorable and noble tradition of service for the public’s good. Its headquarters is in the State Capitol of Tallahassee, Florida, with branch offices in Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Lauder dale and Miami. The Bar offers continuing legal education, as well concentrated information, seminars, newsletters and publications in specific areas of law to its members. Membership also provides attorneys with access to other lawyers who share similar interests in a specific legal field. Member of the Florida Bar: Georgia Gillett. (Admitted upon examination in 1996).
The District of Columbia Bar is the second largest unified bar in the United States. The D.C. Bar was created in response to the legal community’s desire to have a single organization that could uphold the professions ethical standards and rules of conduct. The Bar’s mission is to provide service to the profession, the courts, and the community, and to aid the court in carrying on and improving the administration of justice; to foster and maintain high ideals of integrity, learning, competence in public service, high standards of conduct; to carry on a continuing program of legal research and education, and to make recommendations regarding legal practice and procedure, so that the public responsibility of the legal professional is more effectively carried out. Member of the D.C. Bar: James P. Gagel, (Admitted upon examination in 1983.)
The New Jersey Bar is the state organization to which James P. Gagel was admitted upon examination in 1982, and sworn into by the Honorable Herbert Susser, the Superior Court Judge whom he served as a judicial clerk that year. The New Jersey Bar is comprised principally of practicing lawyers, judges, court administrators, law teachers, and public service attorneys, and is active in promoting the same ideals and principles as those of the of the New York Bar, the Florida Bar and the District of Colombia Bar. (Admitted upon examination in 1982).