Mr. Wells specializes in U.S. immigration law. He has over 35 years of experience in representing individual clients, and business clients of small to large stature, in filing a variety of petitions and applications resulting in family reunification in the United States; owners and employees of businesses obtaining permanent residence and subsequently United States citizenship; representing clients in removal proceedings before the Immigration Judge, Board of Immigration Appeals, and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals; assisting clients from many countries of the world in obtaining asylum in the United States; and in counseling persons from widely disparate economic strata and diverse ethnic origin with respect to a myriad of immigration related concerns.

Immigration counseling applies equally to all legal industries. He has assisted foreign corporations and other business interests in transferring their corporate headquarters into the United States. He has also assisted many foreign business entities of substantial size in making major financial investments in the United States.

Bob finds a comforting sense of accomplishment in counseling clients in diverse economic strata and assisting those clients in obtaining benefits to which they are entitled. He also believes that the United States has been substantially strengthened financially, intellectually, and socially by business entities and private persons the firm has assisted in obtaining legal status in the United States. Many of our immigration clients, on related and unrelated to business endeavors, have become United States citizens who have contributed tremendously to the strength of this country.

Reported Cases:

Delmundo v. INS, 43 F.3d 436 (9th Cir. 1994)

Our client was granted permanent residence after an epic struggle approximating 10 years in duration.

Tse v. INS, 596 F.2d 831 (9th Cir., 1979)

The firm's client was the beneficiary of an approved labor clearance application based on cooking ability. His entitlement to permanent residence was challenged by the government because he had expressed intent to become a dentist in the future. The case holds that the beneficiary of a labor clearance application need not commit himself to perpetual labor in the occupation to which the labor clearance application pertains.

Reefer Queen Co. v. Marine Const. & Design Co., 73 Wn. 2d 783 (440 P.2d 453 Wash.) (1968)

Bob was co-lead counsel representing the plaintiff, who had contracted with defendants to refit his vessel to fish for tuna and to provide proper equipment to do so, including an operable seine winch. Every time our client's crew members were in position to purse the seine net around substantial numbers of tuna, the winch malfunctioned because one of its shafts had not been case hardened as required, and the fish escaped. Our client recovered both for its loss of profit but also as custodian for the crew with respect to its collective loss of income.

Background:

 

As a youngster, Bob had a deep abiding love and affection for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, both drafted by lawyers who were also learned in many other fields. His respect and admiration for the drafters of these documents have deepened throughout the years. As time has passed, many other publicly spirited lawyers, determined to protect the rights of citizens of the United States, have convinced him that being a lawyer is demanding but rewarding.

Bob graduated from George Washington University Law School (Washington, D.C.) in February 1958. Immediately after becoming a member of the Washington, D.C. Bar, Bob Wells, his wife Lissa, and their nine-month-old son Stewart moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Bob served as an Assistant Attorney General of the State of Washington from 1959 to 1963 representing the Department of Labor and Industries in hearings and many court trials. On September 1, 1963 Bob joined the law firm of Broz, Long, & Mikkelborg engaged in the general practice of law, with a strong emphasis upon litigation relating to a variety of subject matter including maritime issues.