My expertise is computers and networks, not law. But I had been asked to service a network at a local immigration attorney’s office, and I found a busy office right in the middle of a recession of historic proportion. I’m grateful they are busy; otherwise they might not have had this work for me.

It’s just a regular Monday morning at the office of an immigration attorney in San Jose, CA. The telephone rings, and I overhear the secretary say that the next available appointment isn’t for nearly a month. She basically has to say the same thing again and again in different ways, likely because that isn’t the answer the concerned person on the phone desired to hear. Sadly, people don’t usually get around to calling an attorney until they are running out of options. They want help right away.

San Jose, California is at the center of the “immigration law” market, not only because it is near the agricultural areas of Salinas and Gilroy, but because it is the “capital” of Silicon Valley. During Silicon Valley’s good years, high tech companies brought in engineers from other countires. These workers, here on work visas, are now finding themselves unemployed and subject to deportation. I did find it a bit peculiar that one of these out of work immigrants could still afford to send both his children to a Bay Area private school. I wonder what happens to them now.

Immigration lawyers are now in demand to help these immigrants remain in the United States.

That’s the business cycle for you. Whenever one industry is doing poorly, another may be doing very well. One just has to be in the right place at the right time. Go figure!