Feature Spotlight: The Lexis® Immigration Practice Center

How Does It Compare to Immigration Law Resources from the American Immigration Lawyers Association?

Membership in the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA^®) provides a wealth of legal content to attorneys researching and preparing immigration cases—but there are several key areas in which the Lexis Advance service outshines those AILA resources.*

In fact, there’s an entire Immigration Practice Center within Lexis dedicated to helping attorneys and legal professionals learn more about immigration law.

Within this Practice Center you can pore over a vast trove of up-to-date immigration law resources, all in a single place— which means you don’t have to jump around to multiple sites to find what you need.

But that’s just the beginning of the benefits Lexis offers to immigration attorneys.

Immigration Cases, Codes, Treatises and Other Legal Content

You’ll note on AILA’s website that AILA and its legal research partner Fastcase® provide many legal resources, notably Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook. That treatise is just an outline however and is only updated every other year. The courts don’t cite it either.*

With Lexis, you get access to the flagship immigration treatise, Immigration Law and Procedure, which is updated four times a year and has been cited in over 480 federal decisions, including several times by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In fact, Lexis offers extensive primary and secondary sources right at your fingertips, including powerful titles like Immigration Law and Procedure and Immigration Law Practice Expediter.

Plus, you’ll get the AI-enhanced search tools to help you comb through it all quickly.

Stay Current with Changes in Immigration Law

Nowadays, immigration law seems to change faster than ever—and having out-of-date material in your legal strategy can roil a judge. That’s why it’s crucially important to stay on top of things.

LexisNexis® immigration materials are updated several times a year, and you’re able to keep abreast of breaking news and regulatory developments with access to the Law360® service and Bender’s Immigration Bulletin.

Citations and Cite Checking Your Immigration Material

Lexis has the Shepard’s® Citations Service built right in, giving you comprehensive editorial analysis of case law, statutes, regulations, administrative decisions and more. This helps you quickly surface good law and build a strong legal strategy.

Fastcase has a tool called Authority Check. While it can be handy to generate lists of later citing cases and identify the most frequently cited cases within your search results, it is not a citator and doesn’t include editorial information.*

Searching and Finding the Right Legal Immigration Resources

Content and citations are only part of the story. After all, what good is powerful immigration content if you can’t find it?

While you can certainly search the AILA database, the Lexis Advance service uses data-fueled search technology to help you quickly pinpoint the documents most relevant to your research. You’re even able to leverage AI-powered capabilities to dig deeper into your results and potentially uncover things you may have missed with a conventional search.

When you’re reviewing documents with Lexis, you’ll find hyperlinks to other related documents to help expand the scope of your research.

Price v. Value in Your Immigration Law Tools

The reality is that AILA’s immigration resources have a very attractive price tag. But you’d be surprised about how affordable the Lexis service is too.

It’s also worth noting that the basic AILA membership only gets you access to a relatively limited number of documents on Fastcase. If you want access to things like the U.S. Code, the CFR, OCAHO, and AAO and BIA nonprecedent decisions through AILA, you may have to pay extra.*

There’s more to a Lexis subscription than legal documents too. You can tap into complimentary training and personalized support sessions. And, when you weigh the content and time saving benefits you get from Lexis, it can easily offset what your initial savings would be from another research provider.

Make sure you take a holistic view of your practice’s needs before deciding which research provider to rely on.

What’s the Best Immigration Law Resource for Your Practice?

You’re the only one who can answer that question. Learn about membership to the American Immigration Lawyers Association at AILA.org.

Click here to experience the Lexis service firsthand*

There’s a four-minute walkthrough video that’ll show you exactly how easy it is to explore the immigration content on Lexis. Watch it below.

*By submitting, you agree to the LexisNexis Terms of Use.