CURRENT

Founder, The Mother Cabrini Mercy Prize

Legal Consulting (J-1 Waivers and Legal Ethics)

LEGAL EXPERIENCE

Private law practice since January 1993.
Bruce A. Hake, P.C. and Hake Law, P.C.
Immigration law and legal ethics counseling. Most of my cases have been waiver matters for J-1 medical doctors. Since 1993 I have done more J-1 hardship and persecution waiver cases than any other lawyer. I have a strong interest in science, especially physics, astronomy and the information sciences. I am knowledgeable about science and most of my clients are scientists and physicians. I also have a limited general immigration practice.

Expert witness. In July 1995 I was qualified by the D.C. Superior Court as an expert witness on immigration law and legal ethics, testifying for the plaintiff in a legal malpractice case. The jury returned a $40,000 verdict for the plaintiff. In December 1997 I was qualified by the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia as an expert witness on immigration law, testifying for the plaintiff in a breach of contract case. The court found for the plaintiff on all counts. In 2004 I appeared as an expert witness on legal ethics in immigration practice in a case against a large Texas law firm. The case was settled before trial in six figures. In January 2010 I was qualified as an expert witness on immigration law in a civil trial in Pennsylvania.

Chairman, Ethics Committee, and Chairman, Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, Washington, D.C. Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. August 1994 to January 1996, and August 1999 to August 2001. Adviser on ethics matters for the immigration bar.

Pederson & Freedman, L.L.P., Washington, D.C. 1993 to 2005. Of Counsel to this prestigious immigration law firm.

Federal Publications, Inc., Washington, D.C. May 1988 to January 1993. Editor, Immigration Briefings; and Consulting Editor, Interpreter Releases

Immigration Briefings is a monthly law review. Most issues contain one article combining practical guidelines, legal analysis, and extensive references. I did much of the writing and research.

Interpreter Releases, a weekly reporter, is a very highly respected publication in immigration law, publishing over 1800 pages a year on legislative, administrative, judicial and scholarly developments. My work for IR included writing and editing, reporting (as a member of the Congressional Press Corps and attending hearings and Supreme Court arguments), and telephone advice on immigration law to lawyers around the world. From 1988-1995 I prepared the Interpreter Releases General Index, an encyclopedic guide to immigration law.

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Washington, D.C. June 1987 to May 1988. Associate attorney in the labor law section of this large law firm.

Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, Washington, D.C. June 1983 to January 1987. Support work for the special litigation section of this large law firm.

EDUCATION

Columbus School of Law, Catholic University, Washington, D.C., J.D., February 1987. Honors in several subjects, including administrative law and international law. Immigrant and Refugee Clinic volunteer for two semesters with the Asylum Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.

University of Maryland, Ph.D. program in information science, 1982-1983. Wide studies in telecommunications and social sciences.

University of Virginia School of Law, 1979-1980 (three semesters). A’s in several subjects, including constitutional law and legal writing.

University of Virginia, B.A. with High Distinction, 1976. Echols Scholar (top 2% of the class). Honors in Russian. Second major in religion.

ADMISSIONS

• Maryland Court of Appeals (and all lower courts in the state), 1987
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1990
• U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, 1996
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1996

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS (past and present)

• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Bar Association
• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Immigration Lawyers Association
• American Trial Lawyers Association
• Amnesty International
• Federal Bar Association
• Human Rights Watch
• Maryland State Bar Association
• Montgomery County, Maryland Bar Association
• National Association of Foreign Student Advisers
• National Lawyers Guild
• Society for Science & the Public

LEGAL PUBLICATIONS

Full List

PERSONAL

Married. Roman Catholic. Born 1954 in Washington, D.C.