Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(F)  Liabilities under federal law or regulations, including:

(1)           Ineligibility for military service (including                                       National Guard service, which, in turn, is the                                          precondition for certain employments).

(2)                 Ineligibility for public office or employment.

(3)       Liability to deportation and other immigration consequences if the defendant is an alien.

(G)         Privately imposed sanctions:

                (1)           Higher insurance rates (particularly in traffic                                                cases).

                (2)           Restrictions on employment, residence,                                                          admission to professions, admission to                                                         educational institutions, and so forth.

Of course, in addition to knowing each of the consequences that may follow conviction, counsel must undertake to calculate the likelihood of actual occurrence of each.[5]

                Sometimes, as with loss of employment or sex offender registration requirements (especially in this era of public posting of the information on the internet), some of these other collateral consequences can be extremely important to the client.  Some people also take very seriously any restriction on the right to own or possess firearms, that can be forfeited on account of certain criminal convictions.

[5] I A. Amsterdam, Trial Manual for the Defense of Criminal Cases § 206, pp. 345-346 (1988) (emphasis in original).