Professional Overview
Michael Wildes is the Managing Partner of Wildes & Weinberg, P.C., a premier boutique immigration law firm in the U.S. It was established in 1960 by his father Leon Wildes, who successfully represented John Lennon in his widely publicized deportation proceedings and served as National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in 1970.
More than 65 years since its inception, the firm continues to serve a distinguished domestic and international clientele. Some of Michael Wildes’ recent clients include Yoko Ono, First Lady Melania Trump, famed artists Sarah Brightman, Lionel Richie, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Sinead O’Connor, Boy George, many of the former Miss Universes’, as well as soccer icon Pele, master Chef Jean-Georges, and many other talented hoteliers, artists, industrialists, scholars, and businessmen.
Still, Michael treats all of his clients with the same respect and fights for their rights with tenacity regardless of their notoriety.
A former Federal Prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn (1989-1993), Mr. Wildes has testified on Capitol Hill with regard to Anti-terrorism immigration legislation and is frequently a legal commentator/analyst for Network Television including Fox News; MSNBC; and CNN, etc.
He was appointed by U.S. President Reagan to the District Appeals Board of the Selective Service System for the State of New York where he served for 20 years. He is currently Immigration Counsel to the iconic Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Yeshiva University and previously served Of Counsel to several International Law Firms.
Mr. Wildes is a published author, releasing his first book “Safe Haven in America: Battles to Open the Golden Door” in 2018. He is also a former Auxiliary Police Officer, a volunteer EMT, and has been an Adjunct Professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law for over 15 years, teaching multiple courses, including one focused on Business Immigration Law. He is a frequent guest lecturer around the world and is a longstanding Mayor in Englewood, NJ where he resides. He has received multiple prestigious Awards and Honors for his public service and work as an immigration attorney, and is well-versed in every area of immigration law.
