Private Training For Firms & Legal Teams

Your Whole Team. One Room. A Former Judge At The Front Of It.

Private immigration court training, delivered live to your attorneys and paralegals only.

Built from our courses. Taught by former Immigration Judges and former ICE counsel. Shaped around the cases sitting on your desks right now.

Request Training For Your Firm See What We Teach
A legal team working through case files together around a conference table

Somebody At Your Firm Is In Court Tomorrow

Maybe they are ready. Maybe they are about to learn something the hard way, in front of a judge, with your client’s future on the line.

Newer attorneys are practicing on live files, in front of paying clients.

Paralegals are building filings to a standard nobody ever taught them.

Your best litigator has become the help desk for every procedural question in the building.

Every new hire repeats the same first year, and every repeat costs a client something.

You send one associate to a course and the knowledge leaves when they do. The rest of the team keeps learning immigration court the expensive way.

What If Your Whole Team Walked In Knowing Exactly What To Do?

Not one attorney who went to a course. All of them, working from the same frameworks, to the same standard.

One Associate Goes To A Course

The knowledge leaves when they do.

Your Whole Team Goes

All of them, working from the same frameworks, to the same standard.

No more second-guessing before a hearing.

No more discovering the gap in the middle of a case.

No more one person carrying the knowledge for everybody.

Introducing

Private Training For Firms

A closed session, delivered live and online, with only your people in the room.

A Public Course

Open seats, with other firms in the room.
A curriculum built for everybody who signed up.
Nobody can name a live case out loud.

Your Private Session

No public seats. No other firms listening.
No material your practice does not need.
Your attorneys put the actual case on the table and ask about it by name.

Because the room is yours, your attorneys can put the actual case on the table and ask about it by name. That is the part a public course can never give you, and it is usually why firms call.

What Your Team Will Master

Every subject below is a full course from our live curriculum, four to nine hours of instruction. Bond can be delivered inside a single week. The others need two weeks or more, depending on how your team’s calendar falls.

Removal Defense Fundamentals

Analyzing and strategizing the NTA, the flow of proceedings, and what judges actually require. Includes a mini mock master calendar and individual hearing.

Key Outcome: Your team stops feeling lost in court.

Mastering Immigration Bond Hearings

Which cases are subject to mandatory detention, the presentation framework, and practice in a mock bond hearing. Taught by the attorney who used to prosecute the other side of them.

Key Outcome: They know the game better than the government attorney across from them.

Court-Ready Immigration Filings

The statutory and procedural requirements for each form of relief, prima facie eligibility, evidence strategy, exhibit indexing and quality control. The strongest fit for training paralegals and attorneys together.

Key Outcome: Filings stop coming back for rework at eleven at night.

Trial Practice & Advocacy In Individual Hearings

A disciplined pretrial system, testimony and evidence organized strategically, and direct, cross, objections and oral advocacy handled with control.

Key Outcome: Your litigators perform instead of survive.

Federal Habeas For Immigration Detention

Filing and winning writ of habeas corpus petitions when bond fails, with ready-to-use templates. For experienced attorneys who need federal court to stop being unfamiliar ground.

Key Outcome: A detained client no longer means a dead end.

Federal Litigation: Mandamus For Unreasonable Delay

Preparing a federal lawsuit from start to finish, attacking agency delays head on and demanding the agency’s timely attention. A hands-on intensive that sparks government action immediately and gets a stalled case back on track.

Key Outcome: Your team gains the knowledge and the framework to litigate federal agency delay cases.

Need something that is not on this list? Tell us the gap on your team. If we are not the right people to close it, we will say so.

Five Ways Firms Use Us

Start with a single Lunch and Learn if you want to see how we teach before committing the whole team. Most firms do.

The Lunch And Learn

One sixty minute session on a single topic, over lunch, with the whole office. The easiest way to bring a former judge into your firm for the first time.

Start here

The Full Program

Several subjects, several faculty, delivered across several weeks. Brings a whole litigation team to one standard.

Scope a program

The Private Mock Hearing

Your attorney argues. A former Immigration Judge sits the bench, then tells them exactly what landed and what did not. The closest thing to a rehearsal your firm will ever get.

Set one up

The Case Strategy Session

One difficult fact pattern, worked through with your team by someone who has ruled on a few thousand of them.

Bring us a case

The Custom-Built Workshop

Everything above is built already. This one is not. When the subject your team needs is not one we teach, our faculty build the session for you, from scratch, around the work actually sitting on your desks.

Tell us the subject, who it is for and when you need it. We come back with a proposal covering the build and the delivery, and travel if you want us in the room. You see the whole cost before any of it starts.

Tell us what you need built

Who This Training Is For

Growing Immigration Firms

You are hiring faster than you can train, and the founder is the bottleneck.

Firms Adding Removal Defense

You handle the filings already. Court is the part nobody on staff has done enough of.

Nonprofit Legal Services

You are training staff attorneys and pro bono volunteers on a budget that has to stretch.

In-House Legal Teams

Your people need to understand what happens in court, even when outside counsel is arguing it.

Paralegal & Support Teams

The filing and evidence work is theirs. The training almost never is.

Expanding To Federal Litigation

You are comfortable with the underlying immigration matter and ready to learn the federal litigation tactics that release a detained client, or turn a stalled case into a moving one.

Who Teaches It

This Isn’t Theory From An Ivory Tower

Our faculty are former United States Immigration Judges and former Assistant United States Attorneys. The judges among them have decided the motions your attorneys are about to file, and they will tell your team what the bench is really weighing.

Alongside the judicial perspective, our former federal prosecutors give your team the government’s side of the file: how opposing counsel thinks, how they weigh risk, and what actually moves them.

Tamaira Rivera, Esq., founder of Immigration Court Mentor

Tamaira Rivera, Esq.

Founder

Three decades of litigation experience. Former Unit Chief Immigration Judge at the Richmond Immigration Adjudication Center and former Assistant Chief Counsel for ICE in San Antonio and Orlando. She has sat on both sides of the bench, and has trained hundreds of attorneys.

Full bio

Shelly W. Schools, J.D., former Immigration Judge

Shelly W. Schools, J.D.

Faculty

Immigration Judge in Fort Worth for six years, presiding over more than 4,000 hearings. Retired Air Force Colonel and judge advocate who served as Chief Trial Judge of the Air Force. Adjunct professor of law at Purdue Global Law School.

Full bio

Monique Carreras-Amadeo, J.D., former Immigration Judge

Monique Carreras-Amadeo, J.D.

Faculty

United States Immigration Judge in Texas from 2022 to 2025, presiding over thousands of cases. Built her practice in removal defense, humanitarian relief, waivers and federal litigation, so she has argued from both sides of the bench.

Full bio

Lacy Brinson McAndrew, Esq., former Assistant United States Attorney

Lacy Brinson McAndrew, Esq.

Faculty

Former Assistant United States Attorney and former DHS Assistant Chief Counsel, with more than twenty years in habeas, mandamus and APA practice. She has argued the government’s side of these cases, so she knows how it decides which ones to fight.

Full bio

What Your Firm Receives

Live instruction from a former Immigration Judge or a former Assistant United States Attorney, delivered to your team only
Live question and answer, on your firm’s real cases
Sample documents, templates, strategic frameworks and checklists
Training delivered on your firm’s schedule, worked around your hearing calendar
Session recordings and materials, so a new hire next quarter gets the same training
Sessions that may be eligible for CLE credit with your state Bar Association

How It Works

Tell Us About Your Team

Who needs training, how many of them, what they keep getting wrong, and when you need it done. The form below takes a few minutes.

We Propose A Program

The subjects, the faculty, the session count and the investment, in writing. If we are not the right fit for what you need, we will tell you that instead.

We Deliver It Live

Online, on your calendar, to your people only. Your team keeps the frameworks, checklists and templates that go with every subject.

What Firms Say About Us

Firms, solo practices and nonprofit legal services who have worked with us.

Maclao and Associates, Attorneys at Law, P.A.

Maclao & Associates, Attorneys at Law, P.A.

★★★★★

Tamaira is the real deal! Her knowledge and experience as a former immigration judge has been an incredible asset for our firm. Our sessions are extremely beneficial. We spend a majority of our time strategizing and preparing arguments for difficult cases and even conduct mock hearings to be best prepared for the most difficult fact patterns. Through her guidance we’ve been best prepared and had successful outcomes in even the most difficult cases. The amount of resources for attorney mentorship is limited and Tamaira makes her time with you worth every second. Whether you are a new attorney wanting to learn immigration or a seasoned attorney wanting to discuss case strategy, Tamaira has you covered. I’m happy to have Tamaira as a resource and recommend her services. Will definitely use again!

Law Offices of Giselle M. Rodriguez

Law Offices of Giselle M. Rodriguez

★★★★★

From the moment we started our meeting, Tamaira made me feel comfortable and at ease. It’s not often you come across a fellow legal professional who can make complex topics accessible and unintimidating. Throughout our meeting, which was focused on a bond hearing, I never once felt hesitant to ask questions. She walked us through the process step by step, and gave us valuable insights and “gems” of knowledge that are hard to come by. Having met with Tamaira has even inspired me to consider adding bond hearings as a service at my firm.

BLG Legal Services

BLG Legal Services

★★★★★

Tamaira has been an invaluable assistance to my legal practice, providing exceptional mentorship and guidance in navigating complex immigration court proceedings. Tamaira’s deep understanding of immigration law, coupled with her extensive experience in the field, makes her an ideal mentor for anyone seeking to excel in the immigration court proceedings. Her insights, advice, and support have played a significant role in achieving successful outcomes for my clients. I highly recommend Tamaira to anyone wishing to master their immigration law practice skills.

Law Offices of Barbara Perez

Law Offices of Barbara Perez

★★★★★

Tamaira has been a mentor of mine since I first opened my law firm. She is not only experienced and is able to provide valuable advice but she is also caring and encouraging. If you are new to practicing removal proceedings, her mentorship program is the perfect solution. She will help with not only the procedural aspect of it but the sustantive part of it as well. Thanks to her invaluable assistance, our merits hearing unfolded seamlessly, leaving both my client and me immensely pleased and grateful.

Aridssa N. Martinez

Aridssa N. Martinez

★★★★★

I had several mentoring sessions with retired judge Barr in preparation of my first individual hearing and I have to say these sessions were extremely helpful. We did a simulation of what to expect at the merits hearing and by the time I had my first individual hearing, I was not as nervous. Judge Barr was also very flexible with his schedule and understanding when something came up last minute that made me have to reschedule our sessions. If you’re new to removal defense, I fully recommend Tamaira’s immigration court mentor program as part of your training/preparation.

Jimmy Lai

Jimmy Lai

★★★★★

Immigration Court Mentor were really helpful in providing the trainings to get us ready to represent clients diligently. Highly recommend.

Questions Firms Ask Us

How small can our team be?

Small. We have worked with solo attorneys and their paralegal, and we have worked with whole litigation departments. A private session is priced for the session, not per seat, so a small firm is not penalized for being small.

Can we talk about our actual cases?

Yes, and it is the main reason to do this privately rather than send someone to a public cohort. Nobody outside your firm is in the room.

Does this count for CLE credit?

Sessions may be eligible for CLE credit with your state Bar Association. Requirements differ by state, so tell us what is required where your attorneys are licensed and we will assist you with your self-petition.

Is it live, or is it recorded?

Live and online, scheduled around your calendar. Sessions are recorded so anyone who was in court that day can catch up, and so your next hire gets the same training without you buying it twice.

We are a nonprofit. Is there anything for us?

Tell us on the form. We work with nonprofit legal services organizations and we will tell you honestly what we can do.

What if we only want one session?

That is the Lunch and Learn, and it is how most firms start. One topic, sixty minutes, the whole office. If it lands, we will talk about the rest.

Don’t Let Another Hearing Go Badly Because Nobody Trained For It

Your next hearing is already on the calendar.

Train the whole team before it arrives, instead of one attorney at a time afterwards.

Tell us who needs training and what they are up against. We will come back to you with a proposed program, the faculty who would teach it, and the investment.