Professional Details

Professional Details

Kalman D. Resnick

Kalman Resnick is a shareholder with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym., Ltd.  Mr. Resnick's almost 40 years of experience as an immigration law practitioner and his vast knowledge of a multiplicity of immigration practice areas contributes to his ability to advocate for and counsel his clients in the field of immigration law.  In addition to immigration law, Mr. Resnick practices in the areas of labor and employment law, civil rights and constitutional law. 

Mr. Resnick has practiced immigration law since 1973. He has extensive experience in virtually every area of immigration practice, including business immigration, family unification, asylum and refugee matters, nationality and citizenship issues, employer sanctions and other employment related immigration matters, the defense of foreign nationals under removal proceedings, and federal immigration matters.

He has litigated immigration cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the U.S. District Court, and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

His clients include multinational corporations, medium and small-sized businesses, universities, medical centers, and individual foreign nationals and their families. He counsels corporations, unions, universities, and other non-profit organizations concerning institutional immigration policies and practices, including employment-related immigration issues.

Mr. Resnick has decades of experience representing clients in the fields of labor and employment law. He has extensive experience in collective bargaining negotiations, labor arbitration, wage and hour matter, and the litigation of labor and employment matters.

Upon graduation from law school in 1973, Mr. Resnick received a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship to work at the 18th Street Neighborhood Legal Services Office of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago. In 1976, he obtained private foundation funding to open the Legal Services Center for Immigrants, one of the nation's first legal services advocacy centers for immigrant rights, which continues in operation today.

Representative Matters

Served as co-lead counsel in the landmark federal class-action case in immigration law that successfully challenged the U.S. State Department’s Western Hemisphere immigrant visa allocation practices between 1968 and 1976, resulting in injunctive orders preventing the deportation of hundreds of thousands of people, authorizing their lawful employment in the United States, and recapturing and re-issuing 144,996 immigrant visas for natives of Western Hemisphere Countries.

Represented the plaintiffs in the litigation which resulted in the United States Supreme Court’s decision establishing the right of state and local governmental workers to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Represented the plaintiffs in the litigation that established the right of lawful permanent residents to employment with the United States Postal Service.

Represented the plaintiffs in the litigation that established the right of refugees and asylees to receive Illinois States Scholarships.

Represented the plaintiffs in the litigation that established the rights of unemployment insurance claimants to due process of law in the adjudication of their claims, including their rights to adequate notice and fair hearings.

Professional Recognition

  • Recipient of the Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Award from the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (2012)
  • AV rated™ by Martindale-Hubbell®
  • Illinois Leading Lawyers
  • Included on the Illinois Super Lawyers® list (2005-2012)
  • Recipient of awards for advocacy on behalf of immigrants and immigrant communities

Memberships / Associations

Legal
  • Member, Illinois State Bar Association
  • Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association
  • Member, National Lawyers Guild Immigration Project
  • Member, Chicago Council of Lawyers
Civic / Community
  • Mr. Resnick is an advisor to many community-based organizations serving immigrant communities.
  • Mr. Resnick is a member of the Immigrant Justice Strategy Team of the Jewish Council for Urban Affairs.

Publications

  • Mr. Resnick's articles on immigration and nationality matters are published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and in various professional journals.

Speeches & Presentations

  • Mr. Resnick is a frequent speaker at professional and community conferences on various immigration and employment law topics.  

Related News

  • The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, an organization dedicated to combatting poverty, racism and anti-Semitism, will present HSPRD partner Kalman Resnick with the Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Award on June 20, 2012. Read more.
  • HSPRD partners Mark Dym, Terry Yale Feiertag, John Hughes, Matthew Piers, Kalman Resnick, Mary Rowland, and Eric Vander Arend are included in the Illinois Super Lawyers® 2012 list. Read more.
  • HSPRD successfully convinces Immigration and Customs officials to delay the removal of undocumented college student, Rigoberto Padilla, for at least one year, and obtained an employment authorization for Mr. Padilla, allowing him to benefit from future immigration reform, such as the DREAM Act. Read more.