Monroe North business district gains new law firm with immigration law focus

Deborah Johnson Wood

Tim Emmerson is an attorney with a passion for helping people, so it's not surprising that his new law business aims to help immigrants navigate the confusing waters of immigration law.

Emmerson, 26, passed the bar in February and officially opened Emmerson Law, PLC at 820 Monroe North on May 12 – the same day he received his bar card.

"It's a full service law firm, but I do a lot of immigration law work," Emmerson says. "I've been helping out a lot with temporary visas for three clients who are Haitians and are here as refugees (following the January 12 earthquake). Without a work visa, they can't even work; they need it so they can get a green card so they can work."

Emmerson says that people often lose a lot of money trying to get visas because it can be a shady business. A visa is $500 and a green card costs more than $900.

"It's all time sensitive," he says. "Shady attorneys know the people only have two or three months left on their current green card and that it takes five to six months to get a new one. Their visa runs out, and they either have to stay here illegally and they can't work, or they have to go home. Either way, they lose their money."

The new office is about 1,000 square feet of converted warehouse space. Emmerson says that although the space used to be strictly for two nonprofit businesses he launched – Sixth Street Bridge Community Coalition and Hands On Hunger – now that he's established the law business, the firm donates space to the nonprofits.

Emmerson often uses translators who help him communicate with clients who speak Spanish or Creole French. He also teaches a class to help émigrés prepare for the U.S. Naturalization Test.

Source: Tim Emmerson, Emmerson Law, PLC

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].