Passed the Bar but Can’t Pass Go: Can an Undocumented Immigrant Practice Law?
By: Maria Hibbard
Two men who recently passed the bar in their respective states–Florida and California–have completed all of the on-paper requirements to become an attorney–college, law school, character examination, and bar passage–but Supreme Courts in both states are considering whether Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio and Sergio C. Garcia can be admitted to the bar and actually practice law. Both Godinez-Samperio and Garcia are undocumented immigrants, and U.S. law generally forbids these individuals from receiving professional licenses. Due to a gray area in federal law, however, they may work as independent contractors. According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:
…federal law doesn’t require those who hire independent contractors to ask for proof of immigration status. Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor at Cornell Law School, told the Associated Press that a client who pays for services isn’t breaking the law even if the contractor isn’t authorized to work in the U.S.
While the cases play out in California and Florida, Cesar Vargas, a CUNY School of Law graduate who entered the country illegally when he was 5 years old, has opened a legislative lobbying firm, DRM Capitol Group LLC — a nod to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the Dream Act, which would provide illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before age 16 with a path to citizenship.
The Dream Act remains in political gridlock, but these cases raise important issues about access to justice: the LA Times reports that hundreds of individuals from Garcia’s community showed up to see him be sworn in as a lawyer last year. Law graduates who have achieved law school graduation and bar passage–even without citizenship–may be able to provide access to attorneys to hundreds of communities who previously saw legal counsel as far out of reach. Even if these individuals do not practice in their home communities, should these law graduates be limited to work as independent contractors, or can they be licensed to practice like any other graduate with good qualifications? The cases in California and Florida will surely set a precedent.