Changing Lawyers During Your Deportation Case: What Must Transfer Before the Next Hearing

Most people who switch lawyers mid-case do it for a practical reason. The lawyer stopped returning calls, the firm closed, the family moved across the country, or a hearing is weeks away and nobody has said what to bring. The decision to change is usually the easy part. The hard part is that an immigration court case already has a date set, a record built, and deadlines that were counting down before the new lawyer ever heard your name.

This guide explains what has to transfer from one attorney to the next so that nothing falls between them: the filings that make the change official, the pieces of the file the new lawyer cannot work without, and the deadlines that do not wait for a substitution to be granted. It is written for the person in proceedings and for the family member helping them.

Who the court recognizes as your lawyer, and when that changes

In immigration court, representation is not a question of who you paid. It is a question of who is on the record. An attorney becomes your practitioner of record by filing a Form EOIR-28, the Notice of Entry of Appearance, with the court and serving it on the Department of Homeland Security. From that moment the attorney is required to appear at your hearings, file everything on your behalf, and accept service of every document in the case.

Ending that relationship takes more than a phone call. Under 8 CFR 1003.17(a)(3), the attorney who entered an appearance remains the practitioner of record until an immigration judge permits withdrawal or substitution on an oral or written motion. The EOIR Policy Manual spells out the procedure: the new attorney files a motion for substitution of counsel together with a new EOIR-28, states the reason for the change, shows that the prior attorney was notified, and attaches proof that you consent. Until the judge grants that motion, the old attorney is still your lawyer in the eyes of the court and must still appear at every scheduled hearing.

That timing gap is where cases get hurt. Under 8 CFR 1292.5(a), when you are represented, the court and DHS serve notices on your attorney of record, not on you. A hearing notice, a scheduling order, or a decision mailed to a lawyer you have already dismissed is still valid service. If that lawyer does not forward it and the new lawyer is not yet on the record, nobody who is working on your case has seen it.

Substitution is not a continuance

The Policy Manual is blunt on this point: granting a motion for substitution of counsel does not continue a scheduled hearing, and the parties must be ready to proceed on the date already set. Requests for more time based on a change of lawyers are, in the manual's words, not favored. A judge deciding whether to allow the substitution looks at how much time remains before the next hearing and at the reasons given for the change.

A continuance is a separate motion with a separate standard. Under 8 CFR 1003.29, the judge may grant one for good cause shown, and the Attorney General's decision in Matter of L-A-B-R-, 27 I&N Dec. 405 (A.G. 2018), directs judges to weigh whether the delay is likely to change the outcome and how diligently the respondent has acted. A respondent who changed lawyers two weeks before an individual hearing after a year of inaction will have a hard time showing good cause. A respondent whose prior lawyer abandoned the case the month before the hearing has a far better argument, but only if the new lawyer documents it. Our guide to getting a continuance in immigration court covers what judges want to see.

The practical rule: the new lawyer should assume the hearing will go forward as scheduled and prepare for it, and should ask for a continuance only on facts that justify one. Hoping the judge will reset the date because a new attorney appeared is not a plan.

What must transfer: the file

A new lawyer cannot defend a case built by someone else without the record of what was built. The complete file includes far more than the retainer agreement and a few receipts.

• The charging document and the pleadings. The Notice to Appear, any amended charges, and the written pleadings the prior lawyer filed admitting or denying the allegations. The new attorney needs to know what has already been conceded, because a concession on the record is hard to take back.
• Every hearing notice and scheduling order. These set the date of the next hearing and the deadlines for applications, evidence, and witness lists. The hearing date in the court's automated system is a starting point, but the scheduling order is what controls the deadlines.
• Applications already filed. The Form I-589 asylum application, the cancellation of removal application, the adjustment package, or whatever relief was requested, exactly as filed and with the court's receipt stamp. The new lawyer must work from the version the judge has, not from a draft.
• Evidence and exhibits. Country condition reports, declarations, medical and police records, and the exhibit list, with notes on what the court has already admitted. Documents submitted once do not need to be submitted again, and documents that were never submitted must be filed by the deadline.
• Transcripts, recordings, and the judge's prior rulings. Any oral rulings on the record, any written decisions, and every prior motion, granted or denied.
• The DHS side of the case. Any Form G-28 filed with USCIS or ICE for a related matter, such as a pending I-130 that supports adjustment in court, along with the receipts for those filings.

Under the rules of professional conduct that govern lawyers in every state, a lawyer whose representation ends must turn over the client's file and property. If the prior lawyer is slow, the new lawyer can obtain the court's own copy. Filing the EOIR-28 gives counsel access to the record of proceedings, and a Freedom of Information Act request to EOIR, with a separate one to DHS, fills in what the file does not contain. Those requests take time, which is one more reason the handoff should start the day the decision to switch is made.

What must transfer: the dates

Immigration court deadlines are calculated from the hearing, not from the date a new lawyer appears. Under the Immigration Court Practice Manual, filings for an individual calendar hearing must generally be submitted at least 30 days before the hearing, and filings for a master calendar hearing at least 15 days before, unless the judge has set different deadlines in a scheduling order. For detained respondents, the judge sets the deadlines directly, and they are often shorter.

Other clocks run independently of any hearing. An asylum application must be filed within one year of arrival under INA § 208(a)(2)(B) unless an exception applies. When a judge finds removability and orders applications for relief filed by a set date, generally 60 days later, missing that date can result in a finding that the applications were abandoned. After a judge's decision, the appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals must be received within 30 calendar days under the Board's practice manual; a 2026 rule that tried to cut that window to 10 days was blocked in federal court before it took effect, and that litigation is not over. A motion to reopen must be filed within 90 days of a final order under 8 CFR 1003.23(b)(1), and a motion to reconsider within 30 days.

The new lawyer's first task is to build a calendar from the scheduling orders in the file, confirm the hearing date through the court's automated case information system, and compare the two. If the file is incomplete, the calendar is built from the court's record. A handoff that transfers the file but not the dates has transferred nothing.

What we see when the handoff goes wrong

A pattern from our practice: a respondent with an individual hearing set for the spring hires new counsel in late winter after the prior firm stopped answering. The new attorney files the EOIR-28 and a substitution motion and asks the prior firm for the file. The file arrives three weeks later and is missing the scheduling order. The attorney works from the hearing date alone and assumes the standard 30-day filing window. The scheduling order, when it finally surfaces, had set a 45-day deadline for supplemental evidence, and that deadline has passed. The judge has discretion to accept the late filing, and may, but the new lawyer is now arguing about timeliness instead of the merits.

The fix was not complicated. The attorney filed a motion to accept the late evidence, explained the handoff with dates and correspondence attached, and the judge allowed it. The point is that a documented, prompt handoff would have avoided the motion entirely. A judge's patience with a change of counsel is proportional to how early and how cleanly it was done.

How to switch lawyers without losing ground

Done in order, the change takes a few days of effort and protects the case. Done out of order, it creates the gap described above.

• Get the hearing date and your A-number before anything else. Confirm the next hearing through the court's automated case information system using the A-number. Write down the date, the time, the courtroom, and the judge.
• Retain the new lawyer in writing and sign the consent. The substitution motion needs evidence that you agree to the change. A signed statement prepared by the new attorney is enough.
• Have the new lawyer file the EOIR-28 and the substitution motion immediately, through ECAS. Under 8 CFR 1003.31(a), attorneys must file electronically in every case eligible for it. The motion should state the scope of the appearance, the reason for the change, and that the prior attorney was served.
• Notify the prior lawyer in writing and request the complete file. Ask specifically for the scheduling orders, the filed applications with receipt stamps, the exhibit list, and any DHS filings. Keep the request and the response.
• Do not assume the old lawyer forwarded anything. Until the substitution is granted, notices go to the old lawyer. The new lawyer should check the court's record directly rather than wait.
• Update your address if it changed. A move during the handoff requires a Form EOIR-33 within five working days under 8 CFR 1003.15(d). See our checklist on changing your address during an immigration court case.
• Prepare for the hearing as scheduled. If a continuance is genuinely needed, file the motion with the facts that support it, as early as possible, and keep preparing in case it is denied.

If the prior lawyer refuses to cooperate or cannot be reached, the substitution motion can still be granted. Proof that the motion was served on the prior attorney is enough to show notice. The judge does not need the old lawyer's agreement, only evidence that the old lawyer was told.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change lawyers right before my hearing?

Yes, but the hearing will not move because of it. The new attorney must file a Form EOIR-28 and a motion for substitution of counsel, and the judge decides the motion with the time remaining before the hearing in mind. Granting the substitution is not a continuance, so the new lawyer must be ready to proceed on the scheduled date unless a separate continuance motion is granted for good cause.

Does my old lawyer have to agree to the substitution?

No. The motion must show that the prior attorney was notified, and proof that the motion and the new EOIR-28 were served on that attorney is enough. The judge does not need the prior lawyer's consent, only your consent and evidence of notice. Until the judge grants the motion, however, the prior attorney remains the practitioner of record.

Will the court send me the hearing notice if my old lawyer is still on the record?

Not reliably. Under 8 CFR 1292.5(a), notices in a represented case go to the attorney of record. If that is still the old lawyer, the notice is served on them, and the service counts even if it never reaches you. The new lawyer should confirm the hearing date through the court's automated case information system and the record itself rather than wait for a forwarded copy.

Can my new lawyer get a continuance just because they took the case?

Not automatically. The EOIR Policy Manual states that extension requests based on a substitution of counsel are not favored. A continuance requires good cause under 8 CFR 1003.29, and under Matter of L-A-B-R- the judge weighs whether the delay would change the outcome and whether you acted diligently. A late change made after a long period of inaction is the weakest case; a change forced by the prior lawyer's failure, documented with dates, is a much stronger one.

What if my old lawyer will not give me my file?

State ethics rules require a lawyer to return the client's file when the representation ends. While that request is pending, the new lawyer has other routes. Filing the EOIR-28 provides access to the record of proceedings, and Freedom of Information Act requests to EOIR and to DHS produce the government's copies of the filings. Start both immediately, because the hearing date does not wait for the file to arrive.

Do I need a new form if my case is already on appeal at the Board?

Yes. Before the Board of Immigration Appeals, the new attorney files a Form EOIR-27 instead of an EOIR-28 and serves it on the prior attorney and DHS. The Board recognizes the new practitioner of record on receipt of the EOIR-27, and the prior attorney does not need to file a motion to withdraw. Briefing deadlines at the Board continue to run during the change.

Does changing lawyers affect the applications my old lawyer already filed?

No. The Form I-589, cancellation application, or other request for relief that was filed with the court stays in the record exactly as filed. The new lawyer works from that version and may file amendments by the usual deadlines, but a change of counsel does not withdraw, restart, or re-date anything that was already submitted.