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Immigration Law

‘It’s Time for You to Leave’: More immigration lawyers get notices to self-deport

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 25, 2025, 9:32 am CDT

Immigration lawyers outside Massachusetts are also receiving notices to self-deport, despite their U.S. citizenship.

Among the lawyers receiving notices are Austin, Texas, lawyer Hubert Montoya and Salt Lake City lawyer Carlos Trujillo, according to Fortune, KTVX and the Utah News Dispatch.

“It’s time for you to leave,” the notices said.

Immigration lawyers in Ohio, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania have also reported receiving the notices, according to the Utah News Dispatch.

Montoya told Fortune that he laughed when he received the notice.

“I just thought it was absurd,” he said.

Trujillo told the Utah News Dispatch that he has advocated for the immigrant community, but he refuses to think that it is the reason for the notice.

“It probably was a mistake, and I love this country so much that I think my first inclination is just to believe that and leave it at that,” he said.

The notices are part of a what appears to be a mass email campaign telling immigrants that the immigration parole allowing them to temporarily live in the United States has been revoked, according to the Utah News Dispatch.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is canceling paroles that allowed people who entered the United States using an online appointment app to remain in the country for two years, according to previous reporting by the Associated Press. The Trump administration has suspended use of the app.

The Department of Homeland Security sent notices to email addresses provided by the immigrants, including, in some cases, email addresses of U.S. citizens they listed as contacts, according to a statement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some of the notices may have been sent to lawyers and other unintended recipients, the agency told Fortune.

The notices being sent are not limited to people who used the appointment app, according to a Customs and Border Protection statement cited by the Utah News Dispatch.

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A Utah jury determined a 28-year-old man acted with “depraved indifference” when he drove 120 mph while high on methamphetamine and plowed through horse stables where he hit and killed two toddlers who were playing with toy trucks.

Kent Cody Barlow was convicted Friday of depraved indifference homicide in the deaths of 3-year-olds Odin Ratliff and Hunter Jackson. Barlow on May 2, 2022, was driving recklessly and ignoring his passengers’ repeated pleas for him to slow down as he was sped along Tiffany Lane in Eagle Mountain, which is about 30 miles northwest of Provo. He lost control and crashed into the Cedar Valley Stables, the Utah County Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

More from Law&Crime: ‘I am going to watch you die’: Woman who fatally ran over the father of her 3 children on an interstate highway learns her fate

Michael Starrs, deputy Utah County attorney, told jurors in his closing argument the boys were having a great time playing with each other, picking up chicken eggs and chasing cats, according to a courtroom report from local NBC affiliate KSL. But that fun turned into tragedy when Barlow floored the accelerator, traveling 120 mph in a 45 mph zone and headed toward the stables despite seeing all the activity there.

“The signs of life were there,” Starrs said. “The signs of life were ignored. The signs of life were obvious. They weren’t hidden, they weren’t concealed. We know that Kent Barlow would have seen all those cars.”

Prosecutors also pointed out he had previously been convicted of driving over 100 mph some three years before the fatal crash and ignored a judge’s warning that his speeding could prove deadly.

A mother found stabbed to death at a Utah vacation home last month was killed by her own teenage daughter and her friend, police said.

In a press release from the Washington County Attorney’s Office, the Washington City Police Department provided the names of two suspects identified as the alleged killers of 47-year-old Andreea Mottram. Mihaela Gabriela Sorescu, 16, who also uses the name Bella, is Mottram’s daughter. The other suspect, Abigael Paige Flanagan, 17, who also uses the name Jay, was also staying at the home at the time. Police said in probable cause affidavits for both girls that they are “unaccounted for at this time.”

A Utah man who admitted during a jailhouse phone call that he made up a story about his girlfriend’s killer was found guilty of her murder.

In a press release on March 21, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced that Terence Trent Vos, 35, was convicted of the May 2021 murder of his girlfriend, Shandon Scott, 32. Gill wrote that the trial lasted six days, including a cross examination of Vos by the prosecution that was captured by KUTV, a local CBS affiliate. Vos was asked by prosecutors about a phone call he had with a friend while he was incarcerated during which he admitted that he and Scott had a fight that night and he shot her.

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Access to Justice

Nearly 30 legal entities may leave Utah’s regulatory sandbox program after state tightens rules

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 4, 2025, 1:45 pm CST

At least 27 law firms and businesses may be leaving a Utah program that permits nontraditional legal services providers to operate in the state, including firms operated by nonlawyers, according to a published report.

The exodus follows a tightening of regulations governing the program, Reuters reports.

Under the new rules, program participants must show that they will reach Utah consumers currently underserved by the legal market, and that the impact is substantial compared to an entity’s overall reach. National and international companies serving only a small number of Utah residents don’t qualify.

Utah appellate court administrator Nick Stiles told Reuters that at least 27 participants in the program have left or may be leaving because they are withdrawing or being terminated because of the changes.

Only about a dozen participants remain in the program, according to Reuters. Records indicate that those companies use technology to lower legal costs or use nonlawyers to provide legal services in areas such as medical debt and domestic violence, the article reports.

Rocket Lawyer is among the companies withdrawing from the program, Reuters reports. The online legal services company is shifting efforts to Arizona after it won approval in the state’s program, said Jack Rives, president of Rocket Lawyer subsidiary Rocket Legal Professional Services, in a statement to Reuters. Rives is the former executive director of the ABA.

Rocket Lawyer was one of the first entities approved to participate in the Utah program.

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A Utah teen is dead after two men allegedly chased her down in her truck and opened fire on her and her friend, ultimately shooting at her 12 times.

Aldric Felipe, 21; Ethan Galloway, 23; Michael Hess-Witucki, 23; and Matthew Sorber-Petrie, 22, all appeared in court on Tuesday, days after they allegedly took part in the Jan. 17 murder of KayLee Dutton, 17. Two of them — Hess-Witucki and Galloway — have been charged with murder and 12 counts of felony discharge of a firearm. All four suspects were charged with obstruction of justice in connection to the alleged murder as well as possession of a controlled substance.

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Access to Justice

Pilot project allowing nonlawyer legal providers gets OK in Washington

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 9, 2024, 11:13 am CST

The Washington Supreme Court has authorized a pilot project that will allow nonlawyer entities to provide legal and law-related services in Washington.

The pilot project will help determine whether regulated nonlegal entities will increase access to justice while protecting the public or whether their operation will create risks of consumer harm, the state supreme court said in its Dec. 5 order.

Reuters and Law360 have coverage; a Dec. 6 press release is here.

The Washington State Bar Association and the Washington Supreme Court’s Practice of Law Board will oversee the pilot program.

Applicants wanting to participate will have to identify a lawyer “or other suitable person” to act as a compliance officer who will ensure that ethics rules are followed and that data is reported to the Washington State Bar Association, the order says. The Washington State Bar Association is required to develop complaint procedures.

“The pilot test is the beginning of a process, not the end; the goal is to learn more and make transparent, data-driven decisions before any permanent regulatory reform is put in place,” according to a webpage on the program.

Indiana is also considering “legal regulatory innovation” that includes legal services providers with nonlawyer owners.

In an Oct. 3 order, the Indiana Supreme Court directed an innovation committee to develop guidelines for such a program that would be approved by the state supreme court, Reuters previously reported.

Utah and Arizona have already implemented similar programs.

See also:

Nonlawyer entities could provide legal services in Washington in proposed pilot program

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Bar Exam

Utah considers allowing law grads to choose apprenticeship rather than bar exam

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 7, 2024, 1:21 pm CST

The Utah Supreme Court is seeking comment on a proposal to allow law grads to become lawyers without taking the bar exam.

The plan released Monday gives law graduates two options to obtain a law license: They can pass the bar exam, or they can complete “alternate path” requirements. Both options also require a passing score on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam.

Those who choose the alternate path must have graduated from an ABA-accredited law school within the last five years, must have successfully completed several listed law school courses, and must complete 240 “supervised practice hours” under a supervising attorney.

The Utah Supreme Court is inviting comments through Dec. 19, Reuters reports. The state supreme court acted in response to a 2023 proposal of its Bar Admissions Working Group.

One of the working group members is Catherine Bramble, a professor at Brigham Young University’s law school. She told Reuters that she hopes that the alternate path program “could be implemented as soon as next summer.”

Other states with apprenticeship pathways are Oregon, Washington and Arizona, according to Reuters.

See also:

Examining the Bar: Should law grads need to pass the bar to practice? Some say there is a better way

Bar exam does little to ensure attorney competence, say lawyers in diploma privilege state

Judicial task force will take deep look at legal ed, bar admissions

A bill to restrict the use of polygraph tests on sexual assault victims in the state of Utah could become law in January.

Democratic Rep. Angela Romero, the sponsor of the bill HB 327, said the tests are unreliable.

Polygraph exams or “lie detector tests,” which measure heart rate, blood volume, and breathing rates, are not generally admissible in the court system due to the unreliability of the body’s responses, particularly when used on a victim.

“Polygraph tests can sometimes be misunderstood and be considered like a lie-detector test, and victims feel like they’re not believed,” Romero told The Salt Lake Tribune, which investigated along with ProPublica the case of a sex assault victim who failed a lie-detector test which prompted the legislation. “Around the country, people are starting to see that this is probably not the best way in which to interview the victim of sexual assault.”

The victim, who reported his therapist had abused him during sessions, said his failed polygraph sent him spiraling, the Tribune reported. The therapist was ultimately arrested and charged in the case, ProPublica reported.

“I had so much trauma,” he told the newspaper. “And so, certainly, when they asked me questions about the particular things that happened in therapy, it’s going to elicit a very strong emotional response.”

The proposed bill includes language that law enforcement may not “request or compel a victim of a sexual offense to submit to a polygraph examination during the course of a criminal investigation or prosecution of a sexual offense,” cannot “use a polygraph examination as a condition of proceeding with a criminal investigation or prosecution of a sexual offense,” and that “refusal of a victim of a sexual offense to submit to a polygraph examination may not prevent the investigation, charging, or prosecution of a sexual offense.”

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Access to Justice

Nonlawyer entities could provide legal services in Washington in proposed pilot program

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 11, 2024, 2:36 pm CDT

Nonlawyer-owned entities would be allowed to deliver legal services in Washington under a pilot program proposed by the Washington State Bar Association and a board created by the Washington Supreme Court.

If the Washington Supreme Court gives its approval, nonlawyer entities with innovative business models could apply to offer legal services temporarily under an exemption to rules banning the unlicensed practice of law, according to a summary on the Washington State Bar Association’s website.

Law360 has a story on the program.

“Our data tells us that our current business models aren’t meeting the needs of all of the people in our community,” Terra Nevitt, executive director of the Washington State Bar Association, told Law360. “That tells me we need to innovate the models, and if our regulations are getting in the way, I think it’s worth testing them.”

The participating entities would have to follow ethical rules and provide information about their delivery of legal services to the public. At the end of the pilot test, the Washington Supreme Court could assess the results and decide whether to make regulatory reform more permanent.

The Washington State Bar Association and the Washington Supreme Court’s Practice of Law Board would oversee the pilot program.

“The proposed pilot test is the beginning of a process, not the end,” according to the State Bar of Washington’s website. “The goal is to learn more and make transparent, data-driven decisions before any permanent regulatory reform is put in place.”

The proposal follows adoption of programs to allow nonlawyer-owned legal businesses in Utah and Arizona.

The Utah Supreme Court approved a pilot program in August 2020 that allows temporary nonlawyer ownership or investment in law firms by entities operating in a “regulatory sandbox.” That same month and year, the Arizona Supreme Court eliminated an ethics rule barring nonlawyers from having an economic interest in firms and preventing lawyers from sharing fees with nonlawyers.

Law360 listed some of the programs implemented in Utah and Arizona. They include “one-stop-shops” that hire lawyers and other professionals, such as professional advisers.

Hello Divorce, an online platform, uses attorneys to help explain divorce steps. ZAF Legal, a legal tech company, has launched a chatbot that helps people who have been injured in accidents determine whether they have a case. Rasa Legal, an app that helps eligible people with criminal records and the expungement process, has software that helps those who want to know whether their criminal records can be expunged.

Nevitt told Law360 that Washington benefits from not being the first state to allow nonlawyer-owned legal entities.

“We’re just so grateful that they’ve laid the groundwork, so that we can learn from their experiences, and that’s what we’ve tried to do,” Nevitt said.

See also:

When it comes to deregulation of the legal industry, divisions run deep

Following decades of discourse on nonlawyer legal services, questions of motives continue

Washington Supreme Court sunsets limited license program for nonlawyers

How the Washington Supreme Court’s LLLT program met its demise