Joseph & Hall: Providing Hope, Creating Opportunities

Joseph & Hall, P.C. attorneys (l-r) Luke Niermann, JD'20, Aaron Hall, Kirby Joseph, JD'98, and Zachary New.

When approached about featuring Joseph & Hall, P.C. in an employer spotlight, co-founder Kirby Joseph, JD’98, asked to involve all of the partners at her firm. 

It was her first instinct for the article, and it’s her first instinct in business: “Elevate those who work for you and put them in the spotlight.” It’s also one of the many reasons all three of the firm’s other partners—Aaron Hall, Zachary New, and Luke Niermann, JD’20—have been with Joseph & Hall since they were law clerks.

As Hall describes it: “From the beginning, the firm always fostered an environment where we’re empowered. That includes giving a lot of responsibility and mentorship and encouraging us to take leadership roles and be involved. Professional growth can be accelerated when you have that environment and encouragement.”

That environment also lends itself to Joseph & Hall’s reputation as one of the few immigration firms with a national reach—and a successful one at that. Says Joseph: “We want to provide hope to people. We can’t guarantee success, although we are quite successful. But we can provide hope and opportunities. And we can provide people with advice and excellent legal services.”

Developing Impact

Although the path to immigration law was different for all four partners at Joseph & Hall, there is a common theme: protecting and defending the rights of others.

Hall and Joseph both had an early interest in being public defenders. Niermann, in contrast, began his career at a refugee resettlement agency, where he was inspired to become an attorney. And for New, it was the appeal of helping others in an interdisciplinary area that made immigration law a perfect fit.

Before Joseph & Hall became the 19-person, three-office firm that it is today, it was a two-person operation housed in an executive suite. At that time, in the late 1990s, no one knew what to do at the intersection of criminal law and immigration law. And so the Joseph Law Firm, as it was known then, became the go-to experts.

“We developed a reputation for handling criminal immigration issues,” says Joseph, whose background as a public defender brought a unique lens to immigration law. Then, “as we started growing, it became important to be a full-service immigration law firm that could handle any case that came through the door. That’s when we brought in the business immigration side of the practice.”

Since then, Joseph & Hall has expanded to become one of few immigration firms with a stronghold in federal litigation, going so far as to co-found IMMpact Litigation, a group of prominent immigration attorneys throughout the nation who have joined together to take on mass, high-impact federal litigation.

“This goes to the question of what makes Joseph & Hall unique,” says New. “There’s a lot of autonomy and a lot of room for building your individual practice within the practice.” For him, this meant leaning into federal litigation, including IMMpact Litigation, for which the firm has become well known.

A Focus on Values

With Joseph being a nationally recognized expert in law practice management, the firm’s work is very much grounded in its mission and values. “We spent a lot of time thinking about why we do what we do,” says Joseph.

“One of our core values at the firm is trying to be really good communicators with our clients,” says Niermann. It’s an aspect of client-centered lawyering that Niermann’s Immigration Law and Policy Clinic professor, Christopher Lasch, instilled in him. “I think about that every time I go into the courtroom—what are the ways you can reassure the client that you’re working with them as a team.”

The firm’s client-centered approach also requires having the expertise to handle difficult cases, which, as Hall notes, is their specialty. “Even if we’re against the odds, we’re going to put everything we have into it and give them exceptional service,” he says. 

Community partnerships and pro bono work also speak to Joseph & Hall’s core values.

“Unlike other immigration firms that have a nonprofit mentality, we’re definitely a for-profit,” says Joseph. “But we still have the same heart that everyone else in this space has.” She notes: “Every single year we’ve been recognized by the Colorado Supreme Court for the pro bono work that we do.”

As Niermann says, “there’s so much misunderstanding and fear in the community, and our role is being a trusted resource.” Joseph adds: “I can’t think of a time when we’ve declined a speaking engagement request. We really try to be a resource by getting out there and helping to educate people about what’s going on.”

“It’s really a team effort,” says New of the firm’s work, both within and beyond the courtroom. “We’re having a tangible impact on the community, the country, and the state.” Or, as Hall would put it: “We get to be in the trenches and do good work.”

This team mentality not only informs the firm’s legal work; it also permeates Joseph & Hall’s office culture.  As New explains, “We don’t have that same hierarchical top-down-type culture of other firms. It’s really freeing.” For Niermann, “it’s just a really enjoyable work environment. Everyone gets along really well.” He adds: “You have a lot of independence and autonomy coupled with a lot of support.” 

As Joseph notes, everything at the firm goes back to culture and that all-important question: Why do we do what we do?

For Joseph & Hall, the answer to that question is simple: hope and opportunities.