Sue Kwon writes [1]at CBS:
A video posted on YouTube is stirring anger and debate in Silicon Valley. It shows attorneys with Cohen & Grigsby telling their corporate clients how to get around Federal rules around hiring foreign workers.
(We wrote about this video on June 17 [2]--CBS is just catching up.)Another damning quote from the folks at Cohen and Grigsby:
"If necessary, you (companies) have to schedule an interview to find a legal basis to disqualify them (US applicants) for this position. In most cases this doesn't seem to be a problem."
Basically this is part of why companies develop the reputations that they are highly biased against US workers and US workers are reluctant to work with them except at fairly high contractor rates.
Cohen & Grigsby would not allow CBS5 to view the session in its entirety and issued a statement.
"We regret the choice of words that was used during a small segment of the seminar," the statement said. "It is unfortunate that these statements have been commandeered and misused, which runs contrary to our intent."
I wonder if a class action lawsuit would be warranted here? I know I found it rather annoying having my time as a job hunter wasted by folks that didn't even have the courtesy of a "No Americans Need Apply" sign-just lots of ads posted with the real goal of paying a foreign worker with a green card.
Folks might also write the members of the Pennsylvania State legislature [3] on the Judiciary and Law and Justice Committees asking them why there is such a low level of legal ethics in Pennsylvania(where Cohen & Grisby are based).
It isn't like there is any shortage of lawyers. Even if these folks at Cohen and Grisby are disbarred, there will be plenty of others willing to take their place.
Events like this make it pretty clear the legal profession is incapable of self-regulation--particularly in the area of ethics. We need increased legislative and citizen oversight of the legal profession-particularly in the area of immigration law.
This story is being discussed [4]on Slashdot. Computerworld has also picked [5]up the story.
Links:
[1] http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_173211114.html
[2] http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2007/06/17/lawrence-m-lebowitz-esq-our-objective-is-to-get-this-person-a-green-card/
[3] http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senators_sc.cfm#19
[4] http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/23/175246
[5] http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9025268