United States Ninth Circuit

Armenian citizen's petition for review of a denial of her motion to reopen removal proceedings on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel is granted where: 1) the record showed that former counsel filed a boilerplate brief to the BIA that resulted in petitioner not receiving meaningful review; 2) the BIA abused its discretion in failing to presume prejudice from those actions and instead requiring petitioner to demonstrate that she suffered prejudice; and 3) she established plausible grounds for relief, and thus her presumption of prejudice was not rebutted. (Amended opinion)

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/05/2008
• Published 02/05/2008

Judges

• Before:  HARRY PREGERSON, STEPHEN REINHARDT, and A. WALLACE TASHIMA, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Artem M. Sarian, Esq., Glendale, CA, for the petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Peter D. Keisler, Esq., Linda S. Wernery, Esq., Daniel G. Lonegran, Esq., Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for the respondent.