Our Practice

Morrison Urena, L.C. is an immigration law firm that offers representation in federal (group and individual mandamus) litigation, as well as services related to traditional immigration benefits in the family, business, employment, and Diversity Visa categories.

We represent thousands of family visa applicants from multiple categories, and tens of thousands of Diversity Visa lottery selectees from the 2020, 2021 and 2022 fiscal years.

We have sued the U.S. government in many group lawsuits on behalf of many visa applicants.

Because of past litigation efforts, many families are reunited after the success of some of our family visa lawsuits, and we are continuing to fight for the families who are still not reunited. Further, hundreds of Diversity Visa applicants were able to secure their visas before the firm deadlines for the program and start their new life in the United States. Many of our clients are still waiting on the reserved visas that we hope will be issued eventually – an outcome that would not have been possible if not for litigation. We also have had much success with individual mandamus lawsuits, helping to accelerate the immigration benefits for many families by representing them in lawsuits tailored just to their needs.

We also believe in disseminating good information to help hopeful immigrants to be informed, make the best decisions possible. That’s why we are active on social media, sharing all the latest updates regarding litigation and helping visa applicants navigate through the complicated and ever-changing rules and policy changes, and developing country conditions.

Our help doesn’t stop with getting the visa. We help new immigrants to start their new lives in the US by providing information, tips, and valuable resources, and we are always here for all of the questions that might arise, even after our clients obtain the immigration benefits they seek.

Our work has been featured in some of the most prominent media outlets and praised by immigrants and immigration professionals.

Our attorneys have adopted dynamic approaches and pursue innovative litigation strategies that have proven highly successful.

Many of our attorneys, law clerks and paralegals are immigrants themselves and know first-hand how difficult immigration can be. Most importantly, whether you hire us for a traditional immigration benefit, a mandamus lawsuit for unreasonable delays, or to be part of a group lawsuit, we are with you for the whole journey.

Practice Areas

Multiparticipant Immigration Litigation
DV Lottery Mandamus Actions
Deportation and Removal
Family Immigration
Naturalization and Citizenship
Appeals and Federal Litigation

Our Approach

Practice Areas

At Morrison Urena, we are dedicated to understanding what you want to achieve, and helping you understand what actions we can take on your behalf to help achieve those goals. We will work with you every step of the way to make sure that you understand the process and that you can maximize your potential for the outcome you want.

Our Team

Curtis Morrison

Partner & Attorney

A graduate from Whittier Law School, Curtis Morrison is an expert in the nexus of immigration law and federal litigation. He is licensed to practice law by the State Bar of California, and the District of Columbia Bar. He is also admitted to practice before the Central District of California, Northern District of California, Eastern District of California; District Court for the District of Columbia , US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

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Rafael Urena

Partner & Attorney

Rafael Urena is a partner in the New York office of Morrison Urena, LC. Mr. Urena has a long history of vigorously advocating for his clients on important matters.

Mr. Urena has represented clients in federal and state courts in a wide spectrum of cases. He has argued on a multitude of complex civil, constitutional, cri

Partner & Attorney

Rafael Urena is a partner in the New York office of Morrison Urena, LC. Mr. Urena has a long history of vigorously advocating for his clients on important matters.

Mr. Urena has represented clients in federal and state courts in a wide spectrum of cases. He has argued on a multitude of complex civil, constitutional, criminal, and immigration matters. He has persuaded courts to award some of the largest preservation of visas in history and successfully upended hundreds of the government’s attempts to deport noncitizens. In 2020 and 2021, Mr. Urena successfully secured a preservation of visas for over 15,000 diversity visa applicants.

Mr. Urena is a frequent commentator on legal issues. He has been featured in Once-In-A-Lifetime U.S. Visas to Be Lost Unless Court Intervenes, Forbes Magazine, Afghan visa lottery winners ‘hopeless’ to leave Afghanistan, Los Angeles Times, US State Dept. Ordered to Issue 9K More Diversity Visas, Law360, and Fifteen People Successfully Beat Trump's Travel Ban In Court - Gothamist, Gothamis

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Banan Al-Akhras

Nicole McAllister

Law Clerk

Prior to joining the firm, Banan worked at a private immigration firm handling an array of cases ranging from family-based immigration, employment immigration, immigration delays, and removals. With a special focus on PP9645 cases, she has helped to reunite dozens of families- including children separated from their parents, fam

Law Clerk

Banan received her BA from the University of Cincinnati in 2012 triple majoring in Sociology, Criminology, and Arabic Language and Literature. After graduation, she obtained her TEFL certificate to teach English in Peru until 2013.

In 2016, she earned her JD from Ohio Northern University Law School. She continued at Ohio Northern University where she received her LLM in International Law in May 2017, through the Democratic Governance and Rule of Law Program.

Banan previously worked as a Law Clerk for CAIR-Columbus assisting the legal department with civil rights cases, employment discrimination, and immigration delay litigation. Banan is fluent in Arabic.

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Nicole McAllister

Assistant to Rafael Urena

Nicole has a master’s degree in curriculum design and instruction with a background in educational and corporate settings. Her passions are gardening and synthesizing massive amounts of information into logical structures and solutions.

Omar Saleh

Nicole McAllister

Omar Saleh

Paralegal