#489 30 Years of Referrals: Building a Law Firm with Jeff Goldman, Esq.

On this episode of the Immigration Lawyer's Toolbox Podcast, host John Khosravi sits down with Jeff Goldman, Esq., founder of Goldman & Partners Immigration and co-founder of Build Talent Labs, for a candid look at how a "serendipitous" career turn into immigration law became a 30+ year, 32-person firm built almost entirely on referrals from the client who talked him into immigration law after a real estate closing, to the EB-1A case for an MIT researcher that opened the door to a decade of extraordinary-ability petitions, to how he set (and steadily raised) his fees at Testa, Hurwitz & Israel and beyond. Jeff also breaks down his current work at Build Talent Labs, the cap-exempt H-1B, J-1, and O-1 agent sponsorship model he co-founded with his daughter Danielle, his eight years as immigration advisor to the Governor of Massachusetts, and what it's really like working with CBP at Logan Airport, including a firsthand story of getting a client released after 48 hours in secondary inspection.

Connect with Jeff Goldman, Esq.:
🔗 Goldman & Partners Immigration
🔗 Build Talent Labs
🔗 LinkedIn: Jeff Goldman

Sponsor: Get a free website (first 10 sign-ups) and special pricing on marketing for your firm from Constellation at http://immigrationlawyerstoolbox.com/Constellation.

Spotify | iTunes | YouTube Music | YouTube

Timestamps

 

00:00 – Opening

00:33 – Intro

03:42 – Welcome, Jeff Goldman

03:45 – Jeff's background: growing up near Boston

04:06 – Deciding to go to law school (the LSAT "dare")

05:20 – The client who talked Jeff into immigration law

06:04 – Jeff's first immigration CLE course (1993, right before IRIRA)

07:02 – The neighbor who became his first referral source

08:22 – Filing his first H-1B petitions

09:04 – Hanging a shingle as a solo immigration attorney

09:53 – The Russian EB-1A client who changed everything

11:39 – Landing MIT and Chinese postdoc EB-1A clients

12:47 – Building a 32-person immigration firm

13:17 – Office hours at Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan

13:47 – How do you price a case like an EB-1A?

14:06 – Joining Testa, Hurwitz & Israel's immigration group

15:51 – The urgent phone call that led to a job offer

16:20 – When the firm imploded (and Jeff kept the $2.5M immigration book)

17:29 – Setting fees at a big law firm

18:38 – Going solo again — and raising his fees

19:15 – Toolbox community: our private Circle page

20:08 – Sponsor: Constellation (legal marketing & web design)

21:42 – Back to the interview

22:11 – Why clients pay for reliability, not just price

22:40 – Career advice: build referral relationships with corporate lawyers

24:02 – Lesson from the Global BIO Conference

25:26 – A day in Jeff's life today

25:56 – Build Talent Labs: the cap-exempt H-1B model, explained

27:30 – Eight years as immigration advisor to the Governor of Massachusetts

27:52 – Jeff's relationship with CBP at Logan Airport

30:35 – When a client was detained 48 hours — and what Jeff did next

31:59 – Proactively coordinating with CBP before a client travels

33:11 – How to reach Jeff Goldman

33:30 – AILA mentorship and LinkedIn presence

35:42 – Build Talent Labs: J-1 programs and O-1 agent sponsorship

36:30 – The O-1 agent documentation risk lawyers overlook

36:52 – Closing & outro

Follow eimmigration by Cerenade: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Start your Business Immigration Practice! (US LAWYERS ONLY - SCREENING REQUIRED):

• E-2 Course

• EB-1A Course

• Get the Toolbox Magazine! 

• <a h