Our Attorneys

Meg Hobbins

Meg is a partner at Grossman Young & Hammond with over 16 years of experience handling complex U.S. immigration and international human rights matters. She focuses her practice on challenging persecutory INTERPOL Red Notices and restoring U.S. travel privileges for individuals whose visas have been delayed, revoked, or denied.

Meg is an adept legal strategist with a keen understanding of how to approach U.S. agencies, INTERPOL, and international judicial institutions with high profile, politically sensitive cases. Her clients include entrepreneurs, current and former government officials, international organization employees, academics, and activists. Meg is known for successfully removing Red Notices, securing the full spectrum of U.S. immigration benefits, and seeking justice before the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Meg has successfully represented clients before numerous U.S. immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals, preventing removal and obtaining lasting status. She has assisted clients with complicated backgrounds obtain all types of inadmissibility waivers, paving the way for visa and green card issuance. Meg advises permanent residents on avoiding green card abandonment and has restored residency for many accused of it. She is well-versed in the intricacies of U.S. citizenship law, including acquisition abroad, derivation through parents, and naturalization. Meg has also represented numerous diplomats whose children’s citizenship is in question.

Meg has been recognized for her exceptional work by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers, Washingtonian Magazine, and Bethesda Magazine. She regularly presents and publishes on U.S. immigration and international law topics for professional organizations and bar associations.

Prior to private practice, Meg was a judicial law clerk and attorney advisor at the Houston, Baltimore, and York Immigration Courts, through the Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program. Meg also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and worked with the Refugee Advice and Casework Service in Sydney, Australia.

 

Representative Matters

  • Meg represented the former finance minister of Suriname who became the victim of an illegitimate, politically motivated prosecution after his party lost national elections. Meg successfully challenged the INTERPOL Red Notice that sought her client’s detention and extradition and submitted parallel filings before the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
  • Meg represented a Venezuelan entrepreneur and his family who were deported at the airport and banned for five years after arriving on tourist visas while their immigrant visa applications were pending. Meg took on the matter and secured expedited waivers of inadmissibility, allowing the family to resume their visa process.  When the Embassy later wrongfully rescinded the entrepreneur’s employment-based petition, Meg presented compelling new evidence and had the petition reinstated. The family of four went from a traumatic deportation and entry ban to full U.S. permanent residency.
  • Meg represented a Nigerian engineer wrongly accused of fraud by the U.S. government, in a matter that spanned eight years, multiple agencies, and numerous interviews and hearings. Meg successfully prevailed in immigration court, overcoming the fraud allegations and securing lawful permanent residence for her client.
  • Meg has twice volunteered a week of her time at the US-Mexico border, helping detained mothers and children navigate the U.S. asylum process. At the detention center in Dilley, Texas, Meg connected with a young mother who fled horrific sexual abuse in Honduras. Meg took her case pro bono and won asylum before the Philadelphia Immigration Court for mother and daughter on a novel theory of religious persecution.

Education

  • JD, American University Washington College of Law, Magna Cum Laude
  • Diploma, European and International Law Studies, University of Paris X, Nanterre
  • Bachelor’s, Anthropology & Political Science, Rice University, Cum Laude

Admissions/Memberships

  • Maryland Court of Appeals, December 2007 – present
  • District of Columbia Court of Appeals, February 2011- present
  • Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, May 2013 – present
  • S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2018
  • American Society of International Law, 2020 – present
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association, December 2008 – present
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association, Consumer Protection Committee, 2013-2015.
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association, Family Committee, 2011-2012.
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter, Raids Committee, 2010-2011.

Accolades

  • Washington DC’s Best LawyersWashingtonian Magazine, 2020 – present.
  • Recognized by Best Lawyers, Immigration Law, U.S. News and World Report, 2024.
  • Listed in Chambers & Partners USA Up & Coming, District of Columbia: Immigration, 2023.
  • Featured in “Ones to Watch,” Bethesda Magazine, March/April 2019.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Project of the Year, “Family-Based Immigration Law: A Lawyer’s Guide” Book Project, June 2014.
  • Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, Outstanding Volunteer, June 2009.
  • Washington Dean’s Award for Professional Responsibility, Outstanding Student Clinical Program, May 2007.
  • American University Order of the Coif Honor Society, May 2007.

Selected Publications

Selected Presentations

  • “Navigating the Murky Waters of Complex Waivers,” AILA Washington, DC Chapter Fall Conference, November 9, 2022, Panelist.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2022, January 12, 2022, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
  • AILA RDC-EMEA Fall Virtual Conference, “Strategies for Returning Residents,” November 17, 2021,
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2021, February 3, 2021, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association Online Course, Consular Processing and the Role of Consular Officers, September 2020, Faculty and Speaker.
  • “INTERPOL, Red Notices, and the Immigrant: Opportunities for Creative Legal Advocacy,” in cooperation with Clark Hill, July, 1 2020, Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2020, February 25, 2020, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2019, February 20, 2019, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual National Conference, Practice Management, June 22, 2019,
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2018, January 23, 2018.
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter Fall Conference, Recent Trends in USCIS, November 7, 2018, Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Update on Family-Based Immigration Law, September 28, 2017, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • Federal Bar Association, MyLaw CLE Program, Family-Based Immigration, August 24, 2017,
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual National Conference, Humanitarian Options of Last Resort, June 24, 2017,
  • Maryland State Bar Association Immigration Law Section, New Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers Regulations and Policies, May 17, 2017,
  • Washington College of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic, Immigration Law Career Panel, March 9, 2017,
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter Fall Conference, Introduction to Hardship Waivers, November 16, 2016, Discussion Leader and Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalization, November 3, 2016, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Practice Clinic: Family-Based Immigration, August 13, 2015, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Fundamentals of Immigration Law Series: Family-Based Immigration, April 28, 2015, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalization, November 19, 2014, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law for the Family Law Practitioner, January 15, 2014, Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalization, November 5, 2013, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter Fall Conference, Child Status Protection Act, November 13, 2013,
  • S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman’s Conference, Immigrant Waivers: Provisional I-601A Waivers and I-601s, October 24, 2013, Speaker.
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Advising Clients Facing Immigration Hurdles: Introduction to Waivers of Inadmissibility, January 30, 2013, Course Chair and Speaker.
  • Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Coalition Forum, Motions to Suppress and Terminate, April 27, 2011,
  • District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Court Practice, Beyond the Basics: Preparing a Case for Immigration Court, November 4, 2010, Speaker.

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