Government Relations

We recognize that some of our clients’ most pressing immigration problems can be solved only at the policy level. Our Government Relations Group helps to shape immigration policy, regulations, and legislation, and offers a key strategic option to help our clients achieve the results they need.

Congressional Representation: We analyze proposed and pending legislation for employers, advise on the legislation’s potential effect on their business, and help devise changes to better serve employers’ talent acquisition needs.

Federal Agency Representation: We evaluate proposed polices and regulations, draft responses, identify needed changes to existing policies, and work directly with agencies and through congressional oversight to facilitate essential administrative reforms.

Strategy Development: We work with employers to affect legislation and administrative policies by building coalitions, working with key offices in Congress and in the agencies, and developing effective strategies and tactics for each phase of the policy campaign.

Troubleshooting: We help to correct problems when crucial cases go “off the rails.”

Our lawyers have the stature, experience, and credibility to drive policy results. BAL attorneys have extensive experience in the policy process, and they have active, productive relationships with key congressional committees and with decision-makers in the Department of Labor, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security. Our leaders have been involved in the drafting and passage of every piece of business immigration legislation since the 1980s.

Partners Steven Ladik, Warren Leiden and Lynden Melmed have testified before Congress. Lynden Melmed was Chief Counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Our firm is associated with several coalitions that play a critical role in working with immigration policy. Our attorneys are involved with Compete America, a business coalition of corporations, universities, research institutions, and trade associations. Our involvement in such associations allows us to help employers devise crucial policy goals and to achieve those goals through successful strategies that have an impact on corporate immigration policy-making in Congress and in the agencies.