Northern Michigan has long been a seasonal home for migrant workers who shore up the agriculture and tourism work forces. Sterling Law assists many non-citizens in their quest for permanent residency and citizenship. An overview of the situation with immigrants who arrive in the area without visas and lacking legal status was given to the Glen Arbor Sun by Lea Ann Sterling. This story covers many immigration law issues that are so much in the news of late and are of such importance to us all. It may be viewed at www.glenarborsun.com/archives, for the 2006 year. In a related vein, read about how Lea Ann defended the cause of an immigrant to Traverse City who was facing deportation and the loss of his marriage, two young children, and job, a case which Lea Ann won for her client before the Immigration Court in Detroit, at www.record-eagle.com/2002/dec/21deport.htm
Lea Ann’s interest in immigrants and the hope for a better life extends to those first Europeans who settled in this land. Her scholarship in this area led to the historical consultation she gave for a wonderful PBS documentary about the first legal settlement of the Northwest Territory. See this piece of our national immigrant past at www.openingthedoorwest.com.
Yet further journalistic documentation of how Sterling Law champions the cause of its clients, in this case a personal injury auto accident case, will be found at
www.record-eagle.com/2005/aug/18derror.htm
This was a truly horrific auto accident in which an SUV pulling a trailer on snowy roads ran into our client’s spouse’s car and badly injured the client’s four young children. Securing justice in this personal injury case to ensure medical care and to help protect the future for these children was a source of very great satisfaction to Sterling Law.
The Glen Arbor Sun, also featured a very nice story about us when Lea Ann first opened her practice in Empire. That article links Lea Ann’s law practice and her historical research. It appears in the 2002 archives of the www.glenarborsun.com website.
Lea Ann pursued truth and justice, which is after all the genuine, constitutional American way, in a successful Freedom of Information Act suit against the Traverse City Police department. This case, filed on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, brought information and monetary compensation for our clients and is summarized in the news story at www.record-eagle.com/2004/nov/17aclu.htm
For a critique and profile of Lea Ann Sterling’s book, Historic Cottages of Mackinac Island, visit the big city downstate via www.detroit.about.com and their Michigan books section. They were kind enough to call Lea Ann’s full-color photography tome “an excellent book which historians and tourists alike will love and enjoy.” The book also has the honor of appearing as a recommended title on the official State of Michigan website at www.mich.gov in the History, Arts and Libraries section called Read Michigan. You might also like to see photos of the book and be apprised of other northern Michigan writers’ works, at the website of the book’s publisher, www.arbutuspress.com.
Before turning her attention to the beautiful, storied dwellings on Mackinac, Lea Ann photographed and recounted the narratives for Historic Homes of Olde Towne, Columbus Ohio, a pictorial guidebook available from Sterling Law Office. That volume won the Ohio Historical Society Education and Awareness Award and enjoys the distinction of being listed on the Society’s site at www.ohiohistory.org.
Posted by Mary Wreford; Approved by Lea Ann Sterling, July 9, 2007
The information presented in this article is for general information only and should not be construed to be legal advice.