Shabnam Lotfi

I graduated from law school at a time when the U.S. economy was still in a recession. It was difficult for graduates to obtain employment. Most law firm openings required that the candidate have at least two years of work experience. Left with the options of either leaving a career in law or opening up my own firm, I chose the latter. I didn’t know anyone who needed legal representation for a divorce, criminal matter, business merger, health care, or personal injury. But I had many international friends who needed assistance navigating the U.S. immigration system. Being an immigrant myself, it felt like the right arena for me. My family left Iran when I was two years old during the 1980s when Iran was at war with Iraq and simultaneously fighting a revolutionary war. We lived in Germany until our U.S. green cards were ready. I was ten years old when I took the Oath of Allegiance and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In June 2014, I registered a business and hung out my shingle. Business was slow. Very slow. Learning the dizzyingly complex immigration system felt terrifying. One mistake could mean deportation, permanently altering the lives of others for the worse. The weight of that responsibility was too heavy and it propelled me to double check and triple check my work. The fear of losing has always made me work harder. I find that the harder I work, the luckier I get. In 2017, the president banned Iranians from coming to the United States. I felt the need to immediately organize and help the community during a crisis situation. I created a group on Facebook called Immigrants United so that people could connect with each other and share their experiences. In 2018, soon after the U.S. Supreme Court permitted that travel ban to go into effect, I started seeing visa denials issued one after another. Our firm filed a class action lawsuit, Emami v. Nielsen, to call out the “sham” waiver process that the president had relied on to supposedly implement the ban legally. Other law firms and organizations who were interested in the same cause joined us, and together we were able to prevail against the president and the bureaucracy. Being a part of the Emami class action lawsuit has been an incredible experience for me. When people come forward and defend their rights, it can make a difference.