Law Beyond Forms: Mohammad Mohammad on Empathy, AI, and What Clients Really Need
19th September 2025
Date
Interviewee
Mohammad Mohammad
Law Beyond Forms: Mohammad Mohammad on Empathy, AI, and What Clients Really Need
The client’s application was ready. Every form filled, every box checked, every document neatly stacked. Yet he still insisted on visiting the office. What he needed wasn’t an extra signature or a correction — it was reassurance. “He already had the citizenship application completed,” recalls Tampa-based immigration attorney Mohammad Mohammad. “But he came in for me to look it over, to sit with him, to give him confidence. That’s what he needed. Sometimes it’s not about the mechanics. It’s about being human in the process.”
For Mohammad, this story illustrates a truth that cuts across every case, from employment petitions to asylum hearings: immigration law is as much about empathy as it is about statutes and forms. “I always say there are two things clients need — understanding and empathy,” he explains. “And of the two, empathy is the most important. Because when someone is making life decisions about where to live and raise their family, they don’t just want to know the process. They want to know someone cares.”
Mohammad’s relationship with immigration law is personal. Born in the United States to immigrant parents, he grew up hearing the difficulties they faced navigating the system. His parents, like many, encountered individuals posing as attorneys but without the training or licensure to handle their cases. That vulnerability left a lasting impression. “I realized early on that immigrants are in a very weak position,” he says. “It’s a sensitive process, and when you don’t know your rights or the law, you can be taken advantage of.”
Though his undergraduate studies were in religious studies and philosophy, Mohammad was always drawn to law. Immigration became a natural fit, combining his personal connection with opportunities that opened during law school. “It was interest plus opportunity,” he reflects. He went on to build a practice that spans both litigation and business immigration, while also pursuing an LLM in labor and employment law and writing a thesis that pushes him to think not only as a practitioner but as a thought leader.
Clients often come to him with one burning question: should I file now, or should I wait and strengthen my profile? Mohammad explains that the answer is never simple. He walks each client through what he calls the “four lanes” of U.S. immigration: family, employment, investment, and humanitarian. Within those categories lie countless variations, from nonimmigrant visas like H-1Bs and L-1s to self-sponsored EB-1As and national interest waivers.
“What matters is their current status, their history, and their goals,” he says. “Have they started building the kind of profile needed for a self-sponsored petition? Are they publishing, judging, building visibility in their field? If they’re from a country with long wait times, do they need to think about upgrading from EB-2 to EB-1? These are not things you find just by filling out a form. That’s why consultations matter. It takes a conversation, sometimes several, to really chart the best path forward.”
He is candid about cost concerns. Many immigrants, he notes, are tempted by cheaper alternatives that promise to simplify the process. “The mistake is thinking immigration is mechanical,” Mohammad explains. “Yes, forms can be filled by anyone. But the law is not mechanical. It’s nuanced. There are exceptions, circumstances, legal standards that decide whether a petition succeeds. That’s what people pay for: not just the paperwork, but the understanding.”
The cases that matter most
Ask him about memorable cases and he doesn’t reach for the success stories of tech workers or entrepreneurs, though he has those too. Instead, he points to asylum clients, often women fleeing practices like female genital mutilation, or families who have lived in the United States for 15 years only to face deportation to unstable countries.
“These are the cases I lose sleep over,” he says. “Because it’s not just helping someone get a job at Google or file for a promotion-based petition. It’s literally life and death. When I win those cases, when someone gets protection in the United States, that’s when I say, yes, this is why I do it.”
The weight is heavy. “It’s scary, honestly,” he admits. “Because you’re not just helping one person. You’re impacting their children, their grandchildren. You’re changing generations. And that is both the most beautiful and the heaviest part of this work.”
Rethinking the system: Family vs. labor
Where he sees the U.S. system faltering is not in individual stories but in policy structure. Since reforms in the 1990s, the immigration framework has prioritized family-based visas over employment-based categories. To Mohammad, that no longer fits today’s globalized, mobile world.
“We live in a time where family reunification is easier than ever,” he argues. “If you want to see your mom, she can get a visitor visa, you can travel back home. That doesn’t require permanent residency. The immigration system should focus more on labor and economic contributions. That’s what sustains a country long term.”
His vision is practical, not elitist. He values investor visas like the E-2 for the capital they attract, and he champions categories like the TN, which allow professionals from Mexico and Canada to work in the United States. “Imagine if we expanded TN visas to Central and South America,” he suggests. “It would create economic opportunity and also give the U.S. leverage in regional negotiations. It’s a win-win.”
He is realistic, though, about political appetite. “I think a shift toward employment focus is inevitable,” he says. “But not soon. Maybe by 2050. Right now, neither party has the political capital to make it happen.”
Like many attorneys today, Mohammad is watching artificial intelligence reshape his field. In government, he predicts AI will soon handle routine adjudications — he has already seen citizenship interviews moved to virtual rooms, and he imagines an algorithm could replace the officer on the other side of the screen within a decade.
In law firms, he sees AI as a helpful tool rather than a threat. “At the individual level, I can customize it, I can use it to lower barriers to access,” he explains. “It’s like any technology. The short-term benefits are real.”
But his deeper worry lies in government power. “Federal institutions like to centralize power. AI is the perfect tool for that,” he says, citing companies like Palantir as examples of how technology could become a “third layer” of authority above federal and state systems.
For his own practice, he circles back to empathy. “Clients don’t just want efficiency,” he insists. “They want someone who understands their fears, who can look them in the eye and reassure them. AI can’t replace that.”
What troubles him most today is not policy complexity but politicization. Immigration has become a bargaining chip in trade disputes and election campaigns, leaving clients anxious and confused. “I get calls all the time: ‘I saw a TikTok saying H-1Bs will be canceled. Should I be worried?’” he says. “I try to calm them down. No, that’s not what’s happening. But the fact that immigrants feel they’re pawns in negotiations — that’s damaging.”
He sees it as part of a larger historical pattern of scapegoating outsiders. “It’s one of the worst things you can do, to use people’s lives as political leverage,” he says. “And it’s happening too often.”
The advice he gives
For those beginning the immigration journey, Mohammad’s advice is both practical and philosophical. First, control what you can. “You’re already making a huge choice — deciding where you want to live. That’s power. Focus on the things you can control, not what’s outside your hands.”
Second, seek advice. “Don’t make big life decisions alone,” he says. “Talk to attorneys. Talk to more than one. Even a $100 consultation can save you thousands in mistakes.”
And finally, trust the human element. “Technology is here, AI is here, but empathy is not going anywhere,” he reminds. “In immigration, that’s what carries people through.”
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