Meet Robert Berke of Berke Law Offices

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Berke.

Robert, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was raised in the Town of Niskayuna, NY (pop. 28843) and moved to Los Angeles on the pretext of becoming a lawyer, but with secret dreams of being a rock star. I never made it as a rock star, but luckily I received a generous scholarship to attend Southwestern University School of Law. While a student there, I began working for an immigration lawyer to earn some extra money. When I graduated, I had planned on returning to New York, and I received an employment offer from a very prestigious law firm in Albany, NY, It took me less than 10 weeks to realize that, not only had Los Angeles gotten into my blood, but that the large-law-firm environment was not something I liked. I came back to Los Angeles in 1990 and started Berke Law Offices, in the garage of a little house in North Hollywood.

I have always been an advocate for the least favored in our society. As Gandhi said, “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” I believe there is no greater use of a law license than to defend those whom no one else will. These values led me back into the field of immigration law with a focus on aliens convicted or accused of crimes. Over the years, I have practiced in almost every area of law, but the representation of criminal aliens is the one and only area that has kept me fascinated since the beginning and I am blessed that I have been able to grow my offices around that practice.

I have always believed that when you are doing what you love, and what you feel passionate about, you are already successful. I built on our early successes to add appellate, business and family immigration as well as federal litigation practices to the firm and added attorneys and staff to ensure that our clients received the absolute best representation available. I also perpetually invest in new technologies and systems to improve and refine our customer service and add value to their experience.

Berke Law Offices, Inc. presently has four full-time attorneys, an expert administrative staff, world-class research capabilities, an international reputation, and a huge office in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. The success we have achieved has been something of a surprise as I did not enter into this area of law with a delusion that it would bring the kind of success we have been experiencing. I believe that I am living proof that you can do well in life by doing good.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Immigration law is incredibly complex and never boring. The law derives from numerous sources: statutes, cases, regulations, operational memoranda, and Attorney General Opinions, among others. Berke Law Offices, Inc. invests heavily in continuing legal education for all of our attorneys, research, news, and professional organization to ensure that we are always practicing on the cutting edge. We have been blessed to have been able to attract top talent from some of the best law schools in Los Angeles.

Because of this, we have been able to take the inherent challenges in practicing immigration law and turn them into the assets that distinguish our law firm from others and make it possible to provide the most up-to-date strategies for solving the most complex immigration problems.

Please tell us about Berke Law Offices, Inc..
Berke Law Offices, Inc. is known nationally as a premier immigration and criminal law firm. We are most recognized for our successes in representing criminal aliens before the Immigration and Appellate Courts. We have attorneys admitted and experienced in practice in circuits across the United States. What many people are not aware of is that we have also been very successful in solving difficult business immigration problems. We pride ourselves on winning cases that other lawyers have called impossible.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
The most important lesson that I learned years ago is simply stated as: keep your infrastructure ahead of your volume. I started my practice with very little money (in fact, my former employer lent me the money to buy my first computer!).

When you are struggling to make rent and pay for parking downtown and you genuinely have no idea if or when your next case is coming in, it is difficult to prioritize investments in infrastructure. However, office infrastructure is the skeleton of a successful practice. Just like you wouldn’t build a house without a foundation, it is foolish to build a practice without a structure for the case and client management. It is similarly difficult to add a foundation under a house after the house has already been built!

At Berke Law Offices, Inc. we are in a constant practice of assessing our case volume and monitoring our clients’ experiences with our firm to ensure that every client is confident their matter is being handled professionally. We continue to make annual investments in our systems and procedures to ensure that we provide the best customer experience of any firm of our size.

Pricing:

• Our services are fairly priced. Most of the services we provide are provided at flat rates. We charge $100 for an initial case evaluation during which we do address specific issues and strategies.

Contact Info:

• Address: 21911 Sherman Way Canoga Park, CA 91303
• Website: www.berkelawoffices.com
• Phone: (818)804-5729
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berkelawoffices/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berkelegal/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/berkelawoffices

Image Credit:
Arlene DiJulio Photography

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