Practice Area Information

• Immigration and Naturalization
• Bankruptcy
• Credit Repair
• Entertainment Law

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION

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Immigrating to the United States is a complicated process. We specialize in immigration law and can help to simplify the process and help you move easily through the complex and convoluted immigration system. The Law Offices of Patricia S. Depew, which is located in Los Angeles, is a full-service law firm dedicated to delivering the highest legal services to our clients. The objectives of our clients guide us in our representation and counsel. The Law Offices of Patricia S. Depew has been serving clients for over sixteen years. We represent clients from around the world. Our clients include professionals, skilled workers, unskilled workers, corporations, small business, celebrities, investors, religious workers and families. We have extensive experience in deportation defense, cancellation of removal, work visas, immigration for same-sex partners, family visas, K-1 fiancée visas, V visas, adjustment of status, investor visas, asylum and VAWA.

"Immigration is a mystery and a mastery of obfuscation, and the lawyers who can figure it out are worth their weight in gold."

- USCIS spokeswoman Karen Kraushaar

Find your best route through the maze of immigration law

Patricia Depew personally guides her clients through the complex-and always changing-laws and regulations that govern aliens wanting to work in the United States or aliens wanting to immigrate to the United States. She has helped entrepreneurs, software engineers, specialty cooks, film producers, directors, actors, political activists and others obtain visas, permanent residency, political asylum, journalist threatened with death by the Taliban, Iranian homosexual man, Guatemalan student activist threatened with death by political death squad, and citizenship for themselves and family members.

Fight to the finish line

Immigration status is often an urgent issue, one that affects family ties and quality of life. Sometimes it's even a matter of life or death. Yet the United States Customs and Immigration Service is a huge bureaucracy with an enormous backlog. Ms. Depew knows how to deal with the system to resolve cases in the fastest possible way.

See the big picture

Ms. Depew fights for each individual she represents. She advises the client of the legal situation and possible courses of action, and keeps the client informed and involved throughout the process. In addition to her expertise in immigration law, Ms. Depew draws on her problem-solving skills and rich background to help clients achieve their life and career goals. For example, her experience in the entertainment industry has helped her qualify specialists such as directors of cinematography for work visas.

Because immigration law is so complex, even a simple immigration case can suddenly become a disaster. Before deciding to hire an immigration attorney, many of Attorney Depew’s immigration clients often embark on the difficult task of addressing their immigration needs without the assistance of a competent immigration attorney. Regrettably, many of these clients end up in a tangle because the work was not done properly, resulting in delays, and in some instances, the denial of their immigration rights.

Attorney Depew presents her clients before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration Court. Her immigration practice includes:

• Deportation – assisting clients currently before the Immigration Court
• Naturalization – becoming a U.S. citizen
• Working with immigration officials and resolving delays and denials
• Obtaining a green card through family members
• Obtaining a visa to marry a U.S. citizen fiancé
• Obtaining a green card through employment
• Obtaining a green card through the diversity visa lottery
• Obtaining a green card as an investor
• Obtaining a green card as a special immigrant
• Humanitarian rights/protection: asylum, TPS
• Obtaining nonimmigrant visas
• Obtaining a business or tourist visa
• Obtaining a temporary specialty worker visa
• Obtaining an intracompany transferee visa
• Obtaining a treaty trader visa
• Obtaining a treaty investor visa
• Obtaining a student visa
• Obtaining an exchange visitor visa

To read more about how Attorney Depew can assist you, click here.

 

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CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY

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Our offices provide the highest quality representation to clients in Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. Patricia Depew dedicates much energy to keeping abreast of the latest developments in this complex area of law. She knows the stress and pressure that clients feel when they are being hounded by bill collectors. Patricia Depew also knows the reward of seeing good, honest people get the chance to start over and build a financially secure future. Ms. Depew has extensive experience helping home owners save their homes from foreclosure.

Can a bankruptcy proceeding enable a person to get a fresh start? Patricia Depew's confident response is, "Absolutely!"

Properly used, bankruptcy law can help people move forward with their lives – free of the burden of excessive debt and with new access to credit. Patricia Depew offers bankruptcy counseling because she wants to help people who feel trapped by laws and institutions. Individuals faced with sudden changes in their lives – an adverse court decision, a medical emergency, job loss, or death in the family – can find themselves unable to pay mounting bills. Ms. Depew provides analysis, advice, and representation to free people from crippling financial obligations.

Ms. Depew specializes in assisting individuals faced with insurmountable debt. This primarily means proceedings handled under Chapter 7 (liquidation) or Chapter 13 (adjustment of debts of individuals with regular income) of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. The system is complex. An individual can suffer immensely if wrong decisions are made on which bills to pay first and which assets to try to protect.

Analysis, preparation, and sound advice make the law work for you. Ms. Depew first presents clients with the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of filing for bankruptcy. Then, based on an analysis of the economic facts, she works with them to develop the best legal strategy If asset liquidation under Chapter 7 will produce the best possible result, Ms. Depew identifies those assets that can be protected. For example, California has a homestead exemption that, depending on the family situation, allows a debtor to retain from $75,000 to $175,000 of the proceeds of the sale of a primary dwelling. Because this amount is deducted from the debt, Ms. Depew can often use this exemption to enable clients to keep their homes.

If a Chapter 13 adjustment of debt is the best alternative, thorough financial statements are prepared to form the basis of a payment plan that the court will accept. Generally, secured debts such as mortgages have to be paid, and depending on the circumstances, unsecured creditors get a percentage (for example, 20 cents on the dollar) of the original debt. Loan modification can be incorporated into Chapter 13 plans.

The Law Offices of Patricia Depew, whose creative and talented staff includes members fluent in Italian, German and Spanish, is ready to help you get the fresh start you deserve.

Example:

Mistakes Corrected to Prevent Financial Disaster

A woman, pursued by creditors after a painful divorce, incorrectly concluded that money in a children's trust fund had to be moved to protect it from creditors. Before entering bankruptcy, she also paid a debt to her ex-spouse to spare her children from further family conflict. The Chapter 7 Trustee determined that these actions constituted fraudulent transfers. This led to the court imposing significant administration fees payable to the Chapter 7 Trustee. By converting the bankruptcy to a Chapter 13, Ms. Depew saved her client's home from liquidation. She also was able to obtain a $12,000 reduction of the Trustee legal fees. Ms. Depew's consultation turned a desperate situation around and helped her client break free from the chains of debt.

Click here to learn more about Credit Repair.

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ENTERTAINMENT LAW

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Patricia Depew understands the entertainment industry. As a film producer and director, she produced and directed PBS and network programs, received an NEA grant, and won numerous awards for her films. In her law practice, Patricia Depew works with producers, writers, directors and actors, helping them with contracts and intellectual property concerns. She is a skilled negotiator and works closely with clients so that they are well-informed and able to make decisions that are in their best interest in the long run.

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