Ethics Concepts for T and U visa Certifications

Speakers: Rosetta Royster

Speaker Qualifications:

Rosetta Royster is a native of Charlotte, NC. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Rosetta went on to earn a law degree from the North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. While in law school, Rosetta served as a legal intern for Civil Rights Attorney Julius Chambers at Ferguson, Chambers, & Sumter, P.A., and she later went on to work as a contract attorney with the firm.

Since 2018, Rosetta has served as an Assistant District Attorney in North Carolina’s 6th Prosecutorial District (New Hanover and Pender Counties). She currently serves as a superior court prosecutor as well as the Pender County juvenile court prosecutor. Rosetta facilitates monthly meetings of the New Hanover County Judicial Attendance Council. Rosetta has spearheaded mass relief efforts in the DA’s office, including expunction and driver’s license restoration clinics. Subsequently, Rosetta served as a staff attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina in Pittsboro, NC, focusing her work on poverty law.

When not working, Rosetta volunteers in the community, serving as a member of the Pender County and New Hanover County Resiliency Taskforces, NC Second Chance Alliance, and the LINC Local Reentry Advisory Council. Rosetta is the proud mother of two, school-aged children and a member of the Wilmington, NC Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. In her spare time, Rosetta enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, comedy, and catching up on reality television.

Speakers: Helen Tarokic, Attorney, Wilmington, NC

Speaker Qualifications:

Helen Tarokic is the owner of Helen Tarokic Law PLLC. She is the author of Ignite your Practice with the T Visa. She is a NC Board Certified Immigration Law Specialist who handles anti-trafficking casework, including T and U visas for victims of crime. Attorney Tarokic graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in August of 2006. She is a licensed attorney in Wilmington, NC. She is an active AILA Member. She speaks English, Spanish, and Croatian. Her law firm handles many different types of immigration & naturalization matters, including business immigration, family-based cases, humanitarian applications, non-detained removal defense, and U.S. citizenship applications. She has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences and has co-counseled on litigation related to immigration categories including T, U, H-1B and permanent residency.

During this time:

Obtaining a T or U visa certification can be important for an immigration case. Come learn about avoiding pitfalls in making your requests and in dealing with these sensitive documents. Ethics credit will be requested for NC.

• Making a T or U certification request – what NOT to do
• Ethical hypo: what happens if the form is missing info or a date after it’s signed?
• Ethical hypo: what is the certifier actually certifying, in a case where a crime was reported but no further action was taking, or the statute of limitations has passed, or there is not enough evidence to move forward with prosecution? Can a certification still be signed ethically?
• Review of basic ethical principles of T/U certification requests:

o Don’t guess – do your research

o Maintain clear records of requests and responses

o Consider that certain correspondence will be subject to discovery rules

o Never lie

o Remember your obligation to your clients as well as principles of candor

• Q&A

• This will not be recorded so please join us for the live virtual

• All participants must honor these rules as the discussion topics are sensitive and involve law enforcement issues.

• Third-party recordings or participant recordings are strictly forbidden.

• NC CLE credit will be requested since the organizer is based in North Carolina

• Attorneys licensed outside of NC can attend. A certificate of attendance will be provided upon request for those who need proof of attendance.

• Attorney-supervised paralegals may attend for educational purposes.

• Attorney-supervised means the paralegal must be employed by a licensed attorney and under regular supervision to prevent the unauthorized practice of law.

• Attorneys signing up paralegals take responsibility for their employee’s registration fees and participation in the program and agree to pay full and fair wages for time the paralegal trains in the seminar as part of work hours/on-the-job training.

This is an interdisciplinary seminar, so please be mindful that we will have individuals of various levels of knowledge attending and have law enforcement, therapists, and other anti-trafficking professionals in attendance. It will be an excellent opportunity for all.

Event Venue

Online