A message from Mr. H. Raymond Fasano:
On the eve of the ILS Annual CLE held in Memphis, TN I want to take this opportunity to thank the Section for asking me to serve one more year as Section Chair. When I was honored with the position as Section Chair, following the footsteps of Judge Larry Burman, I committed to one year of service. My first year as Chair was a labor of love committing myself to expanding on Judge Burman’s leadership and the vision that Barry Frager had for our Section. My goals were to bring national attention to the ILS and having an active Board whose objective would be to put forward the purpose of the FBA.
As I reflect on the time that I held the position as Chair and pass my responsibilities to Judge Robin Feder, I believe I have accomplished what I have set out to do and have furthered the legacies of Barry Frager and Judge Burman.
Some of the highlights of my tenure include a fulfillment of my goal that the ILS expand its CLE focus. We have done that by making the Memphis CLE a success and expanding the quality of speakers that we present. We ushered in the Barry Frager Service Award to practitioners and members of the ILS that have demonstrated outstanding service to the FBA and the ILS. The Barry Frager Award is a permanent fixture at all Annual ILS Seminars. Through the hard work of Mark Schmueli and the committee that volunteered to work with him on the Asylum Symposium held at American University, the ILS presented a successful day-long seminar on asylum in February. The Seminar was presented by leading practitioners, government lawyers and judges from across the nation. I hope that the Seminar can be repeated in 2015. The ILS gave support both financially and with manpower to the Section’s Rome CLE held in September 2013. Through the hard work of Peggy McCormick the seminar was a success and presented and attended by a broad spectrum of international lawyers, judges, government personnel and students. I look forward to attending and presenting at this year’s Rome Conference that will be held in September.
I also wanted to get more publications accomplished by the ILS and we succeeded in this respect. Under Judge Burman’s guidance, The Green Card has been an award winning publication that draws contributions from leading government policy makers, Judges and lawyers as well as from leading private lawyers. We have succeeded in having our contributions accepted on a regular basis by The Federal Lawyer through the hard work and efforts of Board member Alicia Triche.
Our Board has been active locally in D.C. with the leadership of Board member Prakash Khatri and the Leadership Luncheons he has hosted that feature the leading policy makers in government. These intimate settings offer ILS and FBA members and opportunity to speak one-on-one with policy makers such as Juan Osuna and Peter Vincent. I am humbled by Prakash’s ability to secure these high profile speakers on a regular basis.
Our Board member Christine Poarch was successful in organizing our social media efforts and launched our ILS Facebook page.
One of the biggest successes of the ILS since I have been Chair would be the FBA’s adoption of our Section Article I proposal for Immigration Courts. The proposal was accepted as a legislative lobby bill by the FBA that would create an independent judiciary instead of leaving EOIR as an agency under the control of the Department of Justice. The success of the Article I proposal being an agenda issue could not be possible without the leadership and vision of Judge Burman and the assistance of the Board members who served on Judge Burman’s committee.
I want to thank our Board members who unselfishly devoted their time, energy and ideas to the ILS Board on a monthly basis. On a moment’s notice our dedicated Board members made themselves available when the need was there. It was a privilege to have worked with such an esteemed Board.
It has been an honor serving the Section and the FBA. I wish Judge Feder all the success in the world and look forward to her leaderships.
All the Best.
H. Raymond Fasano
