3rd December 2025
Date
Interviewee
Ash Chang
It was a routine trip to the grocery store that changed everything. Ash was sitting in the passenger seat, not thinking about much, when she noticed a thick book on the back seat of her friend's car.
"What is that book?" she asked.
Her friend explained she was preparing for the LSAT. Ash picked it up and started flipping through the pages. The logical reasoning questions, the analytical puzzles, the reading comprehension challenges. Something clicked. That same day, she walked into a bookstore and bought herself a copy.
"I started doing that for fun in the beginning," she recalls. "But then, in the next few weeks, it just naturally occurred to me. Law school seemed like the right thing to do."
It was an unlikely pivot for someone who had spent her life at the piano. Ash had been playing since age four. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with dreams of becoming a songwriter. Those dreams evolved into a degree in music business and management, followed by an internship at Sony BMG on Madison Avenue and a job at a Korean TV station. Music had been her identity, her trajectory, her plan. But that LSAT book on the back seat opened a door she didn't know existed.
Ash at Wildes & Weinberg: An Immigrant Attorney Who Understands the Journey
What drew Ash specifically to immigration law was deeply personal. By the time she enrolled in law school, she had already navigated the American immigration system herself. She had been through F-1 student status, transitioned to OPT, secured an H-1B, and then cycled back to F-1. She knew the anxiety intimately.
What she also knew was the frustration of being left in the dark by her own immigration attorneys.
"No one ever told me what was going on," she says. "They told me to bring my passport, this and that. And then after several weeks, it was like, 'This is done. You're good.' I didn't understand. This was so important to me, yet no one took the time to really explain what was happening."
That experience of opacity, of being treated as a case file rather than a person whose entire future hung in the balance, became the foundation of her legal philosophy. When she started seeking law school internships, she narrowed her search exclusively to immigration firms. As an international student, she believed government work was off the table. But there was something else driving her focus: she wanted to be the kind of attorney she wished she had encountered during her own immigration journey.
Learning from a Legend: David K.S. Kim's Influence on Ash's Career
Her first mentor set the bar extraordinarily high. David K.S. Kim, who is now a managing partner at Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt, was already one of the most prominent Korean American immigration attorneys in the country when Ash began working at his office. In 2022, he became the first Korean American immigration judge in U.S. history.
"David was just an outstanding mentor and so exceptional, so extraordinary of an attorney," Ash says. "To this day, I am very grateful that I began my career under his supervision."
Under Kim's guidance, Ash started her immigration law career in litigation. But after interning at Wildes & Weinberg and joining the firm officially in 2014, an internal need for a business immigration associate shifted her trajectory. Within about a year, her practice had become entirely focused on business immigration law.
She left in 2021, spent time at Fragomen and BAL, two of the largest names in the immigration law world, and then made a decision to return to Wildes & Weinberg in August 2025.
Back Home at Wildes & Weinberg: Why Boutique Practice Feels Right
Founded by Leon Wildes, who famously represented John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their deportation defense case in the 1970s, Wildes & Weinberg has grown to include six offices across the United States and Israel.
Ash acknowledges that the firm's notable client list, which includes First Lady Melania Trump, sometimes creates misconceptions.
"Many people mistakenly assume we only do VIP cases," she explains. "It's not the case at all. We attract clients from many nations, across geographies, industries, and from all walks of life."
This diversity is precisely what made Ash decide to come back.
"The depth and breadth of the people that I get to meet and help is far more interesting and rewarding for me than handling a single type of case from a select number of corporate clients with a very large employee population," she says. "This is much more individualized, tailored. Clients return to work with us through generations, sharing their life stories and allowing us to be a part of their journey. And some of these stories stay with you forever; they remind us every day why we do what we do."
AI in Immigration Law: Why Human Connection Still Matters Most
Having observed how large corporate law offices actively use AI, Ash has a nuanced perspective on technology in immigration practice. At Wildes & Weinberg, the approach is more measured.
"We do use AI, but not on a substantial scale," she explains. "Some of us use it primarily for research, especially for topics of first impression or recent practice trends we're not familiar with.”
She has noticed a shift in client consultations. About half of her new clients now arrive with pages of AI-generated research.
"So far, without exception, there's always either a flaw or something very important that is missing," she says. "Their cases always end up being a lot more complex and nuanced than what their research initially revealed to them."
Her analogy is instructive: AI in legal practice is like an automated phone system when you call customer service. You can navigate through the menus and get some answers. But the vast majority of people still prefer to speak with a live agent.
"Even if the result is exactly the same, even if the live agent couldn't help you, even if you have a problem that can't be helped, I think the vast majority of us still strongly prefer to speak to a live person," she says.
She believes that for high-volume practices processing similar case types repeatedly, AI can deliver enormous efficiency gains. But for boutique firms handling many one-off unique, complex matters, the technology may be slower to transform operations.
Navigating Today's Immigration Policy Landscape
Ash speaks carefully but directly about the current immigration environment. The policies affecting her clients are making legal immigration significantly more difficult for highly qualified individuals who fully intend to comply with all regulations.
The H-1B proclamation requiring a $100,000 fee for H-1B applicants sent shockwaves through her practice. Individual clients and corporations with significant H-1B populations were immediately anxious, not just about the fee itself, but about the profound lack of clarity surrounding the policy. Did it apply to someone filing a change of status? What about someone outside the United States with an approval but no visa stamp yet? For weeks, these questions went unanswered.
"The excessive fee aside, it's the lack of notice and lack of clarity which I find to be punitive more than anything," Ash says.
Many employers have already drawn their lines. Some have declared outright that they will not pay the fee under any circumstances. Others have announced they will not register anyone in next year's H-1B lottery because of the uncertainty.
"You can only imagine how much more difficult this makes it for an F-1 student to find a U.S. employer willing to sponsor them," she observes.
Her strategic response has been consistent with her philosophy throughout her career: prepare for the worst.
"My policy has always been to think of all the possible worst-case scenarios that can happen in a case and prepare for every single one," she explains. "A lot of clients in consultations say, 'You're being so negative. Tell me my case is going to work.' I can't do that. Here are all the things that can go wrong, and here's what we're going to do to prepare for them."
The NTA Crisis: When Following the Rules Isn't Enough
Another example of such unsettling recent development was the issuance of Notices to Appear, which initiate removal proceedings, to H-1B workers whose employment had been terminated but who were still within their 60-day grace period.
"We always knew the 60-day grace period was discretionary, but it was never really taken as such before," Ash explains. "No immigration attorney would have advised a client, 'You're terminated, they may or may not give it to you, so leave now.' It was accepted in practice that you have 60 days."
The workers receiving these NTAs are exactly who you would expect to be welcomed in America: graduates of top U.S. universities, outstanding scholars and scientists, young professionals who have devoted so much resources to build their lives and careers in the United States. People who have complied with every immigration law since the day they first entered the country.
"This abrupt change in policy that no one knew about has placed people in proceedings who least deserve it," Ash says. "They had no reason to believe they would one day find themselves in this situation."
The downstream effects are severe. These individuals now face difficult decisions about disclosure to potential new employers. They must spend thousands on legal fees to resolve their cases. And they carry a flag on their immigration record that will affect future applications.
"I never thought I would tell these people, 'Don't go to public places if you can avoid it. Do you drive? Good that you don't. Don't drive until this is resolved,'" she says. "Some of these individuals are embarrassed. They ask, 'What have I done to cause this?' Our answer is: nothing. It has happened. Let us help you deal with it."
Advice for Fellow Immigration Attorneys in Uncertain Times
For practitioners navigating this environment, Ash offers hard-won counsel.
First, prepare meticulously for discretionary benefits like EB-2 National Interest Waiver (“NIW”) petitions and set realistic expectations for clients.
"Many clients have come to us for second opinions after speaking with another law office that specializes in NIWs," she says. "In some cases, the client had been advised that they have an 85 percent chance of approval, but based on our evaluation it was not a strong case at all. Why would any reasonable practitioner put a percentage on the chance of success? You could file two exact same cases with two different adjudicators. One could be approved, one could be denied. It's discretionary. Also, given the rate of denials, practitioners should approach with caution, be brutally honest with the client when the case is not strong, and discuss alternative strategies or case types if appropriate.”
Second, communicate worst-case scenarios clearly. Ash remembers her own experience as a visa applicant, when nothing was explained to her - including what she would need to do if the case was not approved. She refuses to perpetuate that approach.
"We do clients a disservice if we only present things in a positive light," she says.
Third, remember that empathy is not optional. Immigration attorneys who have never been nonimmigrants themselves may not fully grasp what their clients are experiencing.
"These are people under an extreme amount of stress," Ash says. "It's not just a case to them. You go home at the end of the day, but for these people, it's their lives at stake. Being empathetic to your clients goes a long way."
The Enduring Power of Human Connection
Despite the fear pervading immigrant communities, Ash has noticed something remarkable: her clients' enthusiasm to live and work in the United States has not diminished.
"That was pretty surprising to me," she admits.
It is this resilience that reminds her why she chose this path all those years ago, why she picked up that LSAT book and never looked back.
"We do what we do because we want to help people navigate U.S. immigration law, which is directly related to their lives, their families, their career, the most important things in their life," she says. "These are real people with real plans and real dreams."
No matter what technological advances reshape the legal profession, Ash believes one thing will remain constant.
"The human element of what we do is something that I believe will never really be eliminated, regardless of what advancements and technology may come our way in the future," she says. "What we do is just so closely associated with the most important aspects of someone's life."
It is a conviction born from experience, from being both the anxious immigrant waiting for news and the attorney delivering it. From finding her calling in the back seat of a car on the way to the grocery store. From learning that the most powerful thing a lawyer can offer is not just expertise, but understanding.
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