EB-1A lawyer recommendations for industry profile
Hi all, looking for input before I sign with a firm for my EB-1A.
Quick profile:
- Research scientist in AI at a big tech company, have a PhD
- ~370 citations, h-index 8, 16 peer-reviewed papers (CVPR, ICCV, NeurIPS, IEEE TPAMI, etc.)
- 50+ peer reviews for top venues; co-organized conference tutorials; gave some talks in some events about my work.
- 7 pending US patents
- Media coverage of my research (WSJ, CNBC, Fortune, The Verge, etc.)
Most firms tell me it's a strong/viable case, but the current climate (~40% approval) makes me want to choose carefully.
Firms I talked to: Ellis Porter, Manifest (Mary Russell), Tukki (Dobrina Ustun), Peak (Jason Crofts), Alma, Alagiri, Ashoori. Apparently Chen rejected me as I have an industry profile.
I've narrowed it down to Peak and Tukki. I preferred them because they feel more personalized/boutique and I'd work closely with the actual attorney(s), rather than the larger, more high-volume firms like Ellis Porter and Manifest.
Both are ~$9k–$10k flat, include RFE response + free refile on denial. Peak is essentially a solo senior attorney Jason Crofts who drafts everything himself (email-only, very candid). Tukki is a small dedicated team (2 attorneys (Lead attorney Dobrina Ustun)+ paralegals, platform-based).
Questions:
- Any direct experience (good or bad) with Peak Immigration (Jason Crofts) or Tukki (Dobrina Ustun) for EB-1A?
- Solo attorney vs. small team — does it matter for quality on a research case?
- Anything I should watch out for with either?
- any other recommendation for firms or lawyers I should look into?
Appreciate any honest experiences or red flags. Thanks!