Minsky, McCormick & Hallagan, P.C.

A single field, held for decades

Minsky, McCormick & Hallagan, P.C. practices only U.S. immigration and nationality law. The Chicago firm has run since 1975, when founding partner Joseph Minsky started it. That span of years, tied to one area of law, tells you where the firm has put its attention.

The client base is mixed. The firm represents individuals, families, and business clients, and those business clients range from small local employers to large corporations. It works with people in Chicago, across the United States, and abroad.

Focus and practice areas

The work sits inside immigration law, and the firm covers a wide slice of it. On the family side, it handles family-based immigration and consular processing and adjustment of status. For employers and workers, it takes on employment-based immigration, H-1B and other temporary work visas, and PERM labor certification.

The list runs further. It includes extraordinary ability and national interest waiver petitions, investor and entrepreneur matters, citizenship and naturalization, asylum and humanitarian relief, and waivers of inadmissibility. The firm also handles deferred action, employer and I-9 compliance, federal litigation over immigration delays, and removal and deportation defense.

In my opinion, the useful signal here is depth in one subject. A firm that touches both the employer petition and the courtroom side of immigration has to keep current across a lot of moving rules.

How the team is built

The site names a group of attorneys with clear titles, from principals through associates. Beata Leja is a partner, and her practice includes employment-based and family-based immigration law. She is a 2007 graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, holds a Master of Education from National-Louis University, and earned two bachelor's degrees, in Spanish and International Relations.

James E. Hallagan is a principal. He earned a B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1976 and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1980, and his work focuses on immigration matters. Margaret H. McCormick, listed as a principal and now retired, earned her law degree from DePaul in 1977 and assists clients with business and consumer immigration matters. From 1999 until 2003 she was national President of the American Immigration Law Foundation.

Other principals and partners fill out the senior ranks. Tahreem Kalam earned a J.D. from DePaul in 2013 and practices immigration law. Aaron Lawee, a partner, earned his J.D. from Georgetown University in 2010, with a practice in immigration law.

Senior attorneys and associates

The senior attorney group includes Ana Valenzuela, who earned a juris doctor from DePaul College of Law in 2015 and represents clients in immigration matters. Anna Buskila earned her juris doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2017 and works on business and consumer immigration matters. Amanda Robbin Rizzo also practices in immigration law.

Among the associates, Grace Hannah Parsons attended the University of Arizona and focuses on immigration matters. Chandni Shah and Tyler Koteskey are listed as associate attorneys. The Honorable Robert Vinikoor, retired, serves in an of counsel role.

Language range and client access

Immigration work leans on communication, and the firm lists a broad set of languages spoken by its staff. Those include English, Spanish, Polish, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Russian, Ukrainian, French, and Italian. Ana Valenzuela speaks English and Spanish, Anna Buskila speaks English and Russian, and Grace Parsons speaks Spanish.

For a client who is more comfortable in a language other than English, that spread matters at the start of a case. It shortens the distance between the person and the attorney handling the file.

The firm states two practical points about how it works. It uses a flat fee structure, and it runs an online client portal. Flat fees give a client a fixed number to plan around before the work begins, and a portal gives a place to track a matter that can take months or longer.

What the length of the record suggests

A firm that opened in 1975 and still names its founder, its long-serving principals, and a newer group of associates shows continuity across generations of lawyers. McCormick's national role at the American Immigration Law Foundation adds a line of service outside the day-to-day caseload.

As a reviewer, I read the mix of titles as a working structure. Principals and partners carry the more involved matters, senior attorneys and associates handle a share of the load, and an of counsel with judicial background sits alongside them. The firm keeps all of this pointed at one area of law.

For a person weighing where to bring an immigration question, the plain facts here are a long operating history, a single practice focus, a named and credentialed team, a flat fee approach, and staff who speak ten listed languages. Those are the things the firm sets out about itself, and they give a reader a clear starting point.