Do you need a lawyer for a DOHA hearing?
Do you need a lawyer for a DOHA hearing?
Basis: 26,428 decided hearing-level ISCR cases stating the applicant's representation, 1996 to October 2026. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.
The figures
Represented by a lawyer
51% granted
2,592 granted, 2,509 denied, 5,101 decided
Self-represented
30% granted
6,437 granted, 14,890 denied, 21,327 decided
Both figures count hearing-level, standard industrial (ISCR) decisions in which the decision states how the applicant appeared. Cases decided on the written record are included on both sides. The gap has been of the same order in every year with enough cases to measure; the year-by-year view is on the statistics page.
What the numbers cannot say
The record shows how decided cases ended, not what caused the ending. Three things keep the gap from being a recipe:
- Who hires a lawyer is not random. Applicants with more at stake, more resources, or more time before the hearing are more likely to be represented, and lawyers are more likely to take cases they expect to win.
- Representation travels with other choices. Represented applicants more often choose a live hearing over a decision on the written record, and hearing cases end favorably far more often than written-record cases. See hearing or written record.
- The decision does not say what the lawyer did. Preparation, documents gathered, witnesses called and the applicant’s own testimony all sit behind the single word the record gives us.
For those reasons CASE never ranks lawyers by outcome and never reads these figures as advice to any one person.
Representation at DOHA, as published
Under the Directive, an applicant may be represented by counsel or by a personal representative of their choosing, at their own expense; the government does not appoint one. The government is represented by Department Counsel. Whichever way the applicant appears, the burden of presenting evidence that mitigates the concerns stated in the SOR rests with the applicant.
The choice is made in the written answer to the Statement of Reasons, together with the choice between a hearing and a decision on the written record. The stages and deadlines are set out at how a DOHA case works.
Counsel in the record
The decisions name the counsel who appeared. The counsel directory lists every attorney who appears in the published record, with the decisions they appeared in, free to read; it is a record, not a ranking and not a referral. Attorneys who use the record in practice will find the research tools described at CASE for attorneys.
How the process worksA contested case follows a published sequence. Open this for the short version, or put a question to Ask Mode on the home page. Accounts are free and include up to 25 questions per day.
A contested case follows a published path: a Statement of Reasons, the government's written list of its concerns (an SOR), a written answer, a hearing or a decision on the written record, the judge's decision, and in some cases an appeal.
Read the stages of a DOHA case · Ask a question about the process
Where to go from here
Get help with my case
Send us your question, or the Statement of Reasons you received. No charge, and a CASE analyst reads it. Usually five to ten business days.
Ask a question →I do this for clients
Rank every decision by how closely it matches a matter, see how the assigned judge has ruled, and keep it together with cited exports.
For attorneys and firms →Descriptive statistics from decided public DOHA cases. An association in the record is not a cause, not advice, and not a prediction for any pending case.