Leon Wildes

In 1960, Leon Wildes opened a small New York practice and, over the next sixty-four years, built it into one of the most respected immigration boutiques in the United States. He served as National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, testified before the United States Congress as an expert in his field, and taught immigration law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law for more than thirty-three years.

He is best known for successfully fighting the Nixon administration's effort to deport John Lennon — a case that not only kept one of the world's most beloved artists in America, but helped lay the groundwork for prosecutorial discretion and, decades later, the DACA program. He told that story himself in his book, “John Lennon vs. The U.S.A.”

Above every accolade, Leon was a teacher and a mensch. He believed the law, practiced with conscience, could open any door — and he passed that belief to a generation of lawyers, and to the firm that still carries his name and his standard.