Whoever you hire — Dan or anyone else — insist on these qualifications. Your citizenship deserves nothing less.
A wave of denaturalization letters means a wave of lawyers suddenly advertising "denaturalization defense." Here is the uncomfortable truth: a civil denaturalization case is a federal lawsuit, litigated in U.S. District Court under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence, about alleged fraud in a complex immigration process. Most immigration attorneys have never litigated in federal district court. Most federal litigators do not know immigration law. An attorney who is excellent at one and absent in the other can lose a winnable case.
Dan built this practice because he believes people facing these letters deserve counsel who is actually competent to handle the case as solo or lead counsel — and he would rather you hire a qualified attorney who is not him than an unqualified one who is convenient. At a minimum, any attorney you hire should meet the first three qualifications below. The fourth is rare, but invaluable. Use this checklist when interviewing anyone, including Dan.
Many attorneys can say they have handled a federal court case or two. Very few have actually tried a case in federal court — and the difference matters, because your leverage at every stage depends on the government believing your lawyer can and will try the case. If a denaturalization case goes to trial, it will most likely be a bench trial before a federal judge, so what counts is real federal trial experience. Ask directly: "Have you served as solo or lead counsel in a trial in U.S. District Court?" Not second chair. Not state court. Solo or lead counsel, actual federal trial.
These cases can — and should — be resolved completely in the naturalized citizen's favor at the summary judgment stage, without ever reaching trial. But you only get that shot with an attorney who genuinely understands the rules and legal standards governing procedure in federal litigation: motions practice, discovery, expert designations, the Federal Rules of Evidence, and the summary judgment standard itself. Ask how many federal civil cases the attorney has litigated, in what roles, and how they ended.
The substance of these cases is materiality, willfulness, A-files, I-485s, N-400s, and decades of shifting immigration law. Your attorney should know what a complete agency file looks like, how these applications are actually adjudicated, and how courts analyze materiality and intent. Ask for specifics, not generalities.
Institutional knowledge cannot be researched. An attorney who has worked inside the agencies that investigate and prosecute these cases knows how the government builds its file, where the pressure points are, how the government's offices actually operate, and what its lawyers need to justify a resolution. This one is rare — which is precisely why it matters.
Ask any attorney you interview these same questions — and expect concrete answers.
A consultation is also your chance to evaluate the attorney. Bring hard questions.
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