Breaking the Ice: Immigration lawyer: ‘Stay in lane’ amid change

Bob Webber says the pace of policy change under the new administration has exceeded even his expectations as an experienced attorney who practices in the typically dynamic area of immigration.

Anticipating disruptions to his practice and others, Webber, principal attorney at Webber Arredondo Oja, which has offices in Plymouth and Rochester, shared some “self-care” tips on managing such change in an article he wrote for Hennepin Lawyer, the Hennepin County Bar Association’s publication.

He recommends that attorneys “stay in your lane,” or stay disciplined and avoid taking on newer issues. “Now is not a time necessarily to get to spread out, because there’s so many things going on,” he said.

To improve communication, Webber, who focuses on employment-based immigration, is addressing policy changes in a new podcast for clients. He’s reviewing retainer agreements in case policy changes make certain tasks take longer to complete.

Webber also recommends elevating one’s physical and mental health, writing, “Consider the value of a daily walk.”

With a mother who was an immigrant from Korea, Webber had a close connection to immigration but didn’t consider practicing immigration law until he worked at a small firm that specialized in it after his first year of law school.

Name: Robert Webber

Title: Principal attorney, Webber Arredondo Oja LLC

Education: B.A., political science, Wheaton College; J.D., Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Q: Best way to start a conversation with you?

A: Immigration law. Everyone has an opinion about immigration law.

Q: Why law school?

A: I graduated from college in 1995 as a political science major, and at that time that’s seemingly what everybody did. If they were a political science major, they ended up in law school. I was really happy with the night program at Mitchell. But I went right after undergrad. It was a four-year night program rather than the traditional three-year day program. But that allowed me to work during the daytime. Pretty early on, I found immigration law, and I liked it, and stuck with it.

Q: What are you reading?

A: “Atomic Habits.” It’s a self-improvement type book that I was looking at from a law firm perspective. The “Atomic Habits” concept is, you just make change in small way and then over time it becomes a big change.

Q: Pet peeve?

A: Constantly being on your phone.

Q: Best part of your work?

A: Helping people navigate the U.S. immigration system. It’s also the most challenging part of my work. A cool thing about being an immigration lawyer is that if you help someone to stay in the United States permanently and then maybe become a citizen, it’s a generational change that you’re making for the person.

Q: Most challenging?

A: A lot of changes, abrupt changes. And the realization that sometimes there aren’t not options for people. There’s nothing to be done.

Q: Favorite activity away from work?

A: One of my favorite things now in my early 50s, is taking a nap. An afternoon nap on Sunday, that’s just a really enjoyable thing at this point.

Q: Where would you take someone visiting your hometown?

A: I live in the west suburbs, so sometimes when people come into town, we go to Adele’s, a frozen custard place that’s sort of close to Lake Minnetonka.

Q: Legal figure you admire?

A: I admired from afar Joe Friedberg, the criminal defense lawyer who died last year. Those old-school criminal defense lawyers, larger-than-life personalities who seem to have been involved in so many big, high-profile cases, I admire that they take on these challenging situations.

Q: Misconception about your work?

A: Everybody thinks that you work on deportations, that that’s what immigration law is. But there’s a lot of different niches, and I basically never work on deportations.

Q: Favorite book, movie or TV show about lawyers?

A: “Dark Waters.” It’s a great movie about a guy who was at a corporate firm but ends up with an individual client and just sticks with it.