Brian Bates – Immigration Lawyer in Houston

Brian has been Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS) since 1984. For several years, he served on the Exams Committee of the TBLS, responsible for drafting the certification examination for the immigration specialization. He has served as a frequent speaker at continuing legal education conferences hosted by the State Bar of Texas, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Federal Bar Association. He is a past Chair of the AILA Texas Chapter, and a past Director on AILA’s Board of Governors. He has received two AILA Texas Chapter Litigation Awards (1988, 1996) and the 1998 Sam Williamson Mentor Award from AILA. He is listed in the publication Best Lawyers in America, and has been named a Texas Super Lawyer.

Brian is best known for his experience in removal defense, litigation and the interplay between criminal and immigration laws. He has extensive experience in litigation and immigration appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the federal courts of appeal. He has numerous reported decisions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals , including , Abdel-Masieh v. INS, 73 F3d 579 (5th Cir. 1996), James v. Gonzales, 464 F.3d 505 (5th Cir. 2006), Waggoner v. Gonzales, 488 F.3d 632 (5th Cir. 2007), Esquivel v. Lynch, 803 F.3d 699 (5th Cir. 2015), Zhu v. Ashcroft, 382 F.3d 521 (5th Cir. 2004), Zhu v. Gonzales, 493 F.3d 588 (5th Cir. 2007), and Saba Bakare v. Chertoff, 507 F.3d 337 (5th Cir. 2007).