About Christopher J.
Christopher J. Stender studied law at Syracuse University College of Law, earning his J.D. in 1990. He completed his undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1987 and spent time studying at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany in 1985. Those years abroad and the mix of domestic and international study informed an early interest in immigration and cross-border legal questions.
He began his legal career at the Immigration & Naturalization Service in 1990. That early government work gave him direct exposure to immigration adjudication and the administrative processes that govern visas, removals and naturalization. In 1993 he left the agency and entered private practice, founding a series of small firms through the 1990s and 2000s. He was owner of Stender & Larkin in 1993, later forming Stender & Pope, PC in 2004 and Stender & Lappin in 2008. In 2011 he established Federal Immigration Counselors, P.C., which he operates today.
Stender is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut and holds memberships in those state bars dating from the early 1990s. He is also admitted in several federal and appellate venues, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the 1st, 5th and 9th Circuits, and federal district courts such as Arizona. He practices in both administrative immigration fora and federal courts, representing clients on matters that require litigation beyond the agency level.
He has been active in professional organizations throughout his career. He has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1993 and holds memberships in its San Diego and Arizona chapters. He also serves on or belongs to groups that address professional practice issues, including an Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. Those associations provide a forum for case discussion, policy conversations and continuing legal education.
Colleagues describe Stender as a lawyer who blends experience in government and private practice. His trajectory—moving from the INS to founding several firms and then a practice dedicated to immigration counseling—has given him familiarity with both adjudicative procedure and the tactical demands of federal appellate litigation. He is based in offices associated with Federal Immigration Counselors in Arizona and at the firm’s corporate entity.
He continues to practice immigration law at Federal Immigration Counselors, P.C., handling administrative matters, appeals and federal litigation on behalf of individuals and organizations. His current practice focuses on immigration-related administrative representation and federal appeals.
