ACBA Member Spotlight: Jesse Lloyd
Jesse Lloyd is a certified specialist in immigration and nationality law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, and helps certify new specialists as a member California State Bar Immigration and Nationality Law Advisory Council. He is also the chair of the Alameda County Bar Association’s Immigration Section and American Immigration Lawyers Association national ICE liaison committee. Additionally, Mr. Lloyd is a past chair of both the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Northern California chapter, and the UC Davis Immigration Clinic Alumni Council.
When did you know you wanted to be a lawyer?
The summer of my junior year in college, I split time interning at a legal nonprofit and working at a restaurant. I learned both that I wanted to be an attorney and I had no future in the restaurant industry.
If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what would you be doing instead?
I went to law school straight from college very glad that I’d been admitted because I had no idea what else I would have done for a career. To this day, I still don’t know.
What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were first admitted to practice?
When I started as an associate, I was annoyed when I had to deal with fees and business issues instead of legal work. Now that I have a payroll to meet, I definitely appreciate how important finances are.
What is the biggest challenge facing you as a lawyer today?
A government which is openly hostile to my profession.
What is your favorite part of being a lawyer?
Winning against a government which is openly hostile to my profession.
What is your dream vacation?
Peru, with a long layover in Costa Rica on the way home.
What are you reading now?
The Fifth Risk– Michael Lewis.
What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?
My grandfather Norman Lloyd just turned 104. He was both in a play directed by Orson Welles in the 1930’s, and the Amy Schumer movie Trainwreck.
What person, living or dead, real or fictional, would you like to have dinner with?
If anyone figures out how to reanimate the dead or bring fictional characters to life, I’d like to have dinner with that person.
Why do you choose to be a member of the ACBA? What is the greatest benefit you have enjoyed as a member?
ACBA has been a great way to connect with the local community which we would not be able to get any other way because immigration is national and even the local practice is focused on San Francisco.