Your Case Does Not Close When the Firm Does: Your Rights and Options When an Immigration Firm Goes Under

A firm closing is an administrative disruption, not a decision on your case. The case belongs to you, and so does the file.

This post is general information rather than legal advice.

A law firm can close for reasons that have nothing to do with the cases it was handling. A solo practitioner retires, dies, gets suspended, loses a malpractice carrier, merges into another office, or simply stops answering the phone. When it happens in the middle of an immigration case, it can feel like the case itself has been lost along with the firm.

It has not been. The case belongs to you, not to the firm. So does the file. The agency records that prove where your case stands are ones you can reach yourself, without the firm’s cooperation and without paying anyone. This is a walk through what you are entitled to and what your options are.

The file is yours

Every state’s rules of professional conduct require a lawyer who stops representing a client to protect that client’s interests on the way out. In Maryland, Rule 19-301.16(d) puts it directly: on termination of representation, the attorney must give reasonable notice, allow time to hire someone else, surrender the papers and property the client is entitled to, and refund any advance fee that was not earned. Most states have a near identical rule. That obligation does not disappear because the office closed.

Ask for the complete file in writing, by email if you have an address that still works, and keep a copy of what you sent. “Complete” means the forms that were actually filed, every receipt and approval notice, the evidence submitted, correspondence with USCIS or the court, hearing notices, your fee agreement, and any translations or expert reports you paid for.

If nobody answers at all, the next call is to the state bar rather than the firm. Many states can put another lawyer in charge of a closed practice’s files. In Maryland, Rule 19-734 lets Bar Counsel petition for a conservator of client matters when a lawyer dies, disappears, is disbarred or suspended, or abandons the practice and there is nobody else able to wind things down. The conservator inventories the files and then either helps clients find new counsel or gets the files released to them. Ask the bar whether a conservator has been appointed before you assume the file is gone.

You can confirm where your case stands on your own

For anything pending at USCIS, the receipt number on your notice checks status at egov.uscis.gov/casestatus, and a free USCIS online account will show notices and let you update your information. If you need to reach a human there, getting a packet actually read at USCIS is its own skill and we have written about it separately.

For a case in immigration court, the Automated Case Information System at acis.eoir.justice.gov and the hotline at 1-800-898-7180 both take your A-number and give you the next hearing date, the time, the court, and the judge. Two caveats worth knowing: not every case or every detail shows up there, bond information in particular often does not, and the paper hearing notice remains the official source. Use the portal to catch a date you did not know about, not to rule one out.

If the file is genuinely gone, a case can be rebuilt from the government’s own copies. A FOIA request to USCIS produces your A-file, and the immigration court can be asked for the record of proceedings. Neither is fast, but neither depends on a firm that no longer exists.

Make sure notices reach you and not an empty office

This is the one piece of housekeeping worth doing in the first week. Agencies send mail to the address of record and to the attorney of record. If the attorney of record is a firm that nobody is opening mail for, a request for evidence or a hearing notice can come and go without you ever learning about it.

Put your own current address on record. With USCIS, that is the change of address process in your online account or Form AR-11, due within ten days of a move, and a few case types need a separate update on top of it. With the immigration court, that is Form EOIR-33 filed with the court that has your case, with a copy to the ICE attorney. It is a short form. Missing a hearing because a notice went to a closed office can produce a removal order entered in your absence, which is a large consequence for a small piece of paper.

The deadlines keep running

The clock on your case is not tied to the firm’s existence. A response date on a request for evidence, a filing deadline, the thirty days to appeal an immigration judge’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, the one year deadline for filing asylum: all of these keep running while you are trying to reach a lawyer who has stopped answering.

If a lawyer’s failure actually did cause a missed deadline, there is a remedy. A motion to reopen based on ineffective assistance of counsel is available, and under Matter of Lozada it generally requires an affidavit setting out what you were told and what was agreed, notice to the former lawyer with a chance to respond, and a statement about whether you filed a bar complaint. It exists and it is sometimes granted. It is also narrow and hard, and it is a much worse position than catching the deadline. If you know a date is coming, treat it as yours to protect.

Money you paid for work that was not done

If you paid a flat fee up front and part of the work was never performed, the unearned portion is still your money. Ask in writing for an accounting and a refund.

When the firm cannot or will not pay, most states run a client protection or client security fund financed by lawyers’ own dues. Maryland’s Client Protection Fund reimburses losses from a Maryland lawyer’s theft of client money, and it specifically covers a lawyer’s failure to refund unearned fees where the services were never performed. There is no charge to file a claim. There are limits worth knowing up front: the fund does not cover malpractice, negligence, or incompetence, it does not pay what you spend on a replacement lawyer, and there is a cap on any one claim.

It also helps to know that three different tracks exist and they do different things:

• A bar complaint is about discipline. It will not by itself get your money back.
• A malpractice claim is a civil case about harm caused by bad work.
• A client protection fund claim is about money that was taken or never refunded.

Depending on what happened, you may have one of these, or more than one, or none.

Check whether it was a law firm at all

Not every office that fills out immigration forms is a law office. If the person you paid was a notario, an immigration consultant, or a document preparer, the rules above largely do not reach them, and your remedies run through your state attorney general’s consumer protection division, the unauthorized practice of law process at the state bar, and EOIR’s fraud reporting. We have written at length about how notario fraud actually happens.

You can check. State bar directories list licensed attorneys and their status. EOIR maintains a public roster of recognized organizations and accredited representatives, who are non attorneys authorized to appear in immigration matters. If the name is on neither list, that changes which door you knock on.

Bringing in new counsel, and the paperwork it takes

The mechanics differ by forum, which surprises people:

• At USCIS, the new attorney’s Form G-28 does the work. Recognition of the new representative accomplishes the withdrawal of the old one, and prior counsel does not have to file anything.
• In immigration court, the new attorney files a motion for substitution of counsel along with Form EOIR-28. If it is granted, prior counsel does not need to file a motion to withdraw.
• At the Board of Immigration Appeals, the new attorney files Form EOIR-27, and the Board recognizes them automatically on receipt.

Bring whatever you have to the first consultation: every receipt and approval notice, every hearing notice, copies of anything that was filed, your fee agreement, and proof of what you paid. A new lawyer can work from the government’s records, but starting from your notices is faster and cheaper. If you are interviewing firms, our post on red flags when hiring an immigration attorney is worth a read first.

You are allowed to ask the court for time, and you are allowed to appear alone

In removal proceedings, the law gives you the privilege of being represented by counsel of your choosing at no expense to the government. That distinction matters more than people expect, and we have written about what the right to counsel does and does not mean in immigration court. If your lawyer’s office has closed and you are not ready, say that on the record and ask for a continuance to find new counsel. A judge is not required to grant it and the time given varies a great deal, but making the request is ordinary practice and it belongs in the record.

What matters more than being ready is being there. Going to a hearing without a lawyer and asking for time is a far better position than not going. And representing yourself is a real option rather than a failure. People do it, courts expect it, and free written guidance exists for it.

Where to find help that does not cost much

EOIR publishes a List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers organized by immigration court. immigrationlawhelp.org lists nonprofit immigration providers by state along with what they handle and who they serve. Law school clinics and local nonprofits take cases that private firms often cannot.

The short version

A firm closing is an administrative disruption, not a decision on your case. Your eligibility for whatever you were seeking has not changed. The things most worth doing are small and you can do them yourself: confirm your next date through the agency directly, put your own address on record so notices reach you, and ask for the file in writing.

Slatton & Hass Immigration Advocates is a Maryland-based immigration firm serving clients nationwide. This post is general information rather than legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.