Since 1994, the chairman of the firm's Immigration Group, Robert C. Divine, has authored "Immigration Practice," a 1600 page, comprehensive practical treatise on all aspects of U.S. immigration law. This field of law changes so much that each year the publisher has republished the book in its entirety with a full update built in.
The book is a reflection on Divine's life-long passion for clarity in a field riddled with arcanery and complexity. He explains in detail, but in plain English, how immigration works and how practitioners can advise and represent their clients in each type of case. The book is riddled with footnotes to the wide array of sources that influence decision makers. Because immigration law is such an interconnected system, the book has cross references to other sections so that the reader can make the connections. The book connects with the public source materials that are increasingly available through the internet.
Divine also authors "Business Immigration Practice," which focuses on the immigration options and issues that businesses confront.
In 2004 Divine received an unexpected call from the White House to serve as the first Chief Counsel of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, the immigration adjudicative agency within the Department of Homeland Security. During his 2.5 years commuting to Washington, D.C., he served as Acting Director and then Acting Deputy Director for a year. Government ethics rules prohibited him from editing the book during that time (the concern is the appearance of using public office for private gain). Thus, the last two editions were updated by R. Blake Chisam, who previously worked in the firm but now serves as Senior Counsel in the House Immigration Subcommittee under chaired by Rep. Zoe Lofgren. Divine recently updated the book, and new version was published in June 2014.
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