Leon Wildes

Leon Wildes is the founder and senior partner of the New York based immigration law firm, Wildes & Weinberg P.C. which maintains offices in New York, New York; Englewood, New Jersey; and Miami, Florida. Distinguished in the field of U.S. Immigration Law, Wildes served as the National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in 1970.[1] Wildes' clientele includes many high-profile clients, notably John Lennon and Yoko Ono, whom he successfully represented in deportation proceedings from 1972–1976.[2][3][4]

Early life and academic pursuits

Born and raised in Pennsylvania where he was an honor graduate of Olyphant High School, Wildes received his bachelor's degree in New York Magna Cum Laude from Yeshiva College. His brother Jerry (Jerome) Wildes served in the United States Air Force and then went to medical school. Leon was awarded J.D. and Ll.M. degrees from the New York University School of Law. He currently serves on the Yeshiva College Board of Overseers and is Treasurer of the Yeshiva College Board.[5]

Wildes has published numerous articles in the immigration field from 1959 to date and has lectured broadly to lawyers for the Practising Law Institute, the New York State Bar Association, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He has testified before Congress on immigration legislation on numerous occasions since 1970, representing the Association of Immigration & Nationality Lawyers, the recognized national bar association of lawyers in the immigration and nationality field. He has contributed law review articles to the San Diego Law Review,[6] Cardozo School of Law Law Review [7] and the Brooklyn Law Review [8] on subjects relating to U.S. Immigration Law.

Law career

During 1959 he served as Migrations Specialist with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, where he concentrated his efforts on issues in U.S. immigration and refugee law. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of HIAS as an Honorary Director.[9]

In 1960 Wildes opened his law office, Wildes & Weinberg P.C., concentrating in the field of U.S. immigration and nationality law.[10]

Wildes was awarded the Edith Lowenstein Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Immigration Practice and the Elmer Fried Prize for Excellence in Teaching Immigration Law.[11][12] Wildes served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he originated the immigration law course and has guided Cardozo's active participation in the immigration law field since.[13] Wildes also founded an Immigration Law Externship Clinic through which students work on immigration cases for a variety of non-profit organizations under the supervision of immigration attorneys.[14]

Wildes garnered much acclaim for his successful representation of former Beatle John Lennon and his artist wife, Yoko Ono, in their deportation proceedings instituted by the Nixon administration.[2][15][16] Wildes contributed five full law review articles on the subject of developments in U.S. immigration law which resulted from his handling of the Lennon case. While working on the Lennon case, he discovered the government's unpublished practice of granting deportable aliens non-priority status to avoid their removal in sympathetic cases. He has guided the development of this remedy in the law, later referred to as Deferred Action or Prosecutorial discretion. This program allows law-abiding individuals to remain in the United States and avoid deportation if they are elderly, seriously ill, or undergoing severe hardship.[17][18][19]

Wildes co-produced Mark St. Germain's off-Broadway play "Ears on a Beatle" depicting the surveillance of John Lennon by the FBI at the time.[20] Wildes also appeared alongside his clients in many press conferences [21][22] and was interviewed with Lennon by Tom Snyder on The Tomorrow Show,[23][24] and he appears in the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which focuses on this period of Lennon's life.[25][26]

The Lennon Case: Law Review Journal Archive

  • Wildes, Leon. "United States Immigration Service v. John Lennon: The Cultural Lag." Brooklyn Law Review, Vol. XL NO. 2 Fall, 1973.
  • Wildes, Leon. "The Nonpriority Program of the Immigration and Nationalization Service Goes Public: The Litigative Use of the Freedom of Information Act." San Diego Law Review, Volume 14, Number 1, December 1976.
  • Wildes, Leon. "The Operations Instructions of the Immigration Service: Internal Guides or Binding Rules?" San Diego Law Review, Volume 17, Number 1, 1980.
  • Wildes, Leon. "The Need for a Specialized Immigration Court: A Practical Response." San Diego Law Review, Volume 18, Number 1, 1980.
  • Wildes, Leon. "The Deferred Action Program of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services: A Possible Remedy for Impossible Immigration Cases." San Diego Law Review, Volume 41 No. 2 Spring 2004.

References
  1. "Past Presidents". AILA. 2010-12-03. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  2. "Remembering John Lennon – All you need is love.. and a good Jewish lawyer – by Leon Wildes". Imaginepeace.com. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  3. "The ballad of John Lennon and Leon Wildes | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California". Jweekly.com. 2010-12-09. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  4. "John Lennon - Spring 1998 Cardozo Life". Cardozo.yu.edu. 1972-03-16. Archived from the original on 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  5. "Yeshiva University News » Yeshiva College Honors Michael and Barbara Gamson and Leon Wildes at Annual Dinner in New York". Blogs.yu.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  7. "Volume 18, Issue 6". Cardozo Law Review. 1997-07-18. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  8. "A17 595 321" (PDF). Uscis.gov. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  9. "Leon Wildes". HIAS. 1970-01-01. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  10. "Best Immigration Law Firm in New York City (NYC), New Jersey (NJ) - Wildes & Weinberg, P.C". Wildeslaw.com. 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  11. "Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award". AILA. 2005-09-12. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  12. "Elmer Fried Excellence in Teaching Award". AILA. 2005-09-12. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  13. "Directory | Cardozo Law". Cardozo.yu.edu. 2013-11-14. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  14. "Immigration Law Externship | Cardozo Law". Cardozo.yu.edu. 2013-11-14. Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  15. "Leon Wildes - New York Immigration Lawyers - Lennon Law". Superlawyers.com. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  16. "Mishpacha Jewish Family Weekly". Mishpacha.com. 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  17. "Heinonline : Citation: 9 Conn. Pub. Int. L.J. 243 2009-2010" (PDF). Utexas.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  18. "The Morton Memo and Prosecutorial Discretion: An Overview by Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia :: SSRN". Papers.ssrn.com. SSRN 1891883. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  19. "William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal: Volume 21 : Issue 2 : Article 6 : Dreams Deferred: Deferred Action Prosecutorial Discretion, and the Vexing Case(s) of DREAM Act Students". Scholarship.law.wm.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  20. Germain, Mark St (2004-01-01). Ears on a Beatle: A Play. ISBN 9780573603204.
  21. "Leon Wildes, John Lennon... Stock Footage & Video Clips". NBCUniversal Archives. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  22. "John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Leon Wildes... Stock Footage & Video Clips". NBCUniversal Archives. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  23. "The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: John, Paul, Tom & Ringo DVD Review - Yahoo Voices". voices.yahoo.com. 1980-12-09. Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  24. "RadioMaxMusic Internet Radio: Tomorrow Show with Beatles". Radiomaxmusic.com. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  25. "The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  26. "Leon Wildes". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
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