Michael Levitis

Good day everybody. This is Mike Levitis from JurisQ.com. And I’m bringing you another participating attorney and immigration attorney, Yakov Specter. Yakov, thank you for being with us. And Yakov is a partner in Spektor, Spektor and Berman. And I understand all you do is immigration law. Is that correct?

Yakov Spektor

That’s absolutely correct, Michael. Yeah. The immigration is basically all we do. And people often ask us, if we could do something else for them and divorce, open up a business, anything like this. But we find that specializing in something that we like, brings better results.

Michael Levitis

Exactly. And I like dealing with attorneys that are don’t wear all hats in the world. They do one thing, one thing only, and they have experience and knowledge. So now let me ask you, usually attorneys have to be licensed in in states where they do business, some attorneys are licensed in New York, some in New Jersey, for immigration, where are you licensed? And do you have to be licensed in other states?

Yakov Spektor

Well, I mean, me in particular, I am licensed in New York. But immigration, is practicing federal law. So basically, what happens is that we are able to practice immigration in any immigration court in the country, which is what we do on a regular basis. We have clients from a number of states, and especially now with COVID, courts have finally gone into the 21st century, they’re allowing us to appear by video. So it’s easier than ever to represent clients from all over the country. And this is what we’re increasingly beginning to do.

Michael Levitis

Very good. So clients can call you from any state in the United States. And they can actually also reach you from outside the country if they’re trying to somehow enter the US on legal grounds. ,Can you tell us a little bit about your firm, how many years in business? What inspired you to become immigration attorney specifically?

Yakov Spektor

Nothing really inspired me to become an immigration lawyer. I kind of just happened into it. My friend from law school started an immigration practice and he kind of just asked me if I want to come on board. I didn’t know much about immigration at that point.I was just one of the young law school graduates, and I wanted to do something useful with my life. I didn’t really know what and immigration was the last thing on my mind. Again, it’s federal law, federal law is usually boring, and they never saw the real people and the real people’s stories behind it. So once he started practicing it, you know, I very quickly realized that what happens is that, we help people be together, get their relatives, and build their life here, despite, having to deal with a maze of Federal Regulations. Some people say that immigration law is one of the most difficult laws to practice. The best part is that I get to see people who, sometimes I’m able to keep from deportation jails, get reunited with their families, and then get their green cards and eventually become citizens.

Michael Levitis

So much joy. Because usually, if you’re an attorney dealing with, say, with contracts, more dry matters or with numbers, you’re helping businesses, yeah, that’s all great. But here, you have actual humans, that you actually bring joy to them by reuniting them with their family members, by letting them escape some kind of oppressive regime, and they can find the freedom and liberty in America. So I have to commend you for that.

Yakov Spektor

Well, yeah, I’d love to take all the credit. But as I said, this is something that just kind of happened to me, and I’m glad it did.

Michael Levitis

Can you share with us some recent interesting success stories that stood out who you were able to help?

Yakov Spektor

You know, there’s nothing really that I would be able to take full credit for. But recently, I got a call from one of my old clients, okay. And, this is a lady who has five children here. She is now in the process of applying for citizenship, and that’s why she got in touch with me. The first time that she called me, she and her husband were living in a homeless shelter. Now they have their own business, they have five children, and she’s becoming a US citizen. In the last few years, they have gone from living in a homeless shelter, to owning a business that is bringing in six figures annually.

Mike Levitis

Yeah, that’s great that not only were you able to help them. But also, you are helpig the US economy. Before these people were not able to contribute to the economy and now, they’re paying taxes, and they’re part of American society. This is what America needs more of this what America was built on.

Yakov Spektor

I absolutely agree. I think it’s in the best interest of the country to to get these people out of the shadow economy and to get these people equal status.