Pictured here alongside Managing Partner Michael Wildes,
Wildes & Weinberg, P.C., and his son Josh is 1980 Olympic Hockey Gold Medal
Winner, Michael Eruzione. The Michael’s
were spotted catching up at Boston University’s Agganis Arena Club room after
BU beat Wisconsin on Saturday October 19, 2013.
Michael Eruzione, former BU alumni and captain of the
hockey team there, is best known for leading his 1980 United States Olympic
Hockey Team to its Gold Medal victory in Lake Placid, NY as he scored the game-winning
goal against the Soviet Union. The victory against the Soviets advanced the
U.S. Hockey Team to the Gold Medal Game where they beat Finland to win the gold
medal. This “Miracle on Ice” served as the basis for Disney’s
adaptation of the feature film “Miracle” which was released in
February 2004. The film stars Kurt Russell as legendary Olympic head coach Herb
Brooks, and Patrick O’Brien Demsey as Mike Eruzione.
Michael Wildes, is the Managing Partner in a New York
City based law firm consisting of over forty individuals which is solely
dedicated to the practice of U.S. Immigration Law. Over the past 50 years, the firm has
concentrated its practice in all aspects of U.S. immigration and nationality
law, servicing the immigration needs of prominent American and International
firms, banks, industrial, financial and manufacturing concerns and law firms in
connection with the personnel needs of their foreign national employees. In addition, the firm has a distinguished
clientele and has done substantial immigration work for performing artists,
directors, writers, models, actors/actresses, athletes, fine artists, art
dealers, curators, and literary agents.
In April, 2011, Wildes announced that he had secured an
O-1 visa for Pele, who joined the New York Cosmos as Honorary President. The
basis of Pele’s application rested on the fact that he was an “Alien of
Extraordinary Ability”. U.S.
immigration regulations require that certain athletes who desire to work or
play for a professional sports team for an extended period of time obtain O or
P visas.
Though often difficult to secure for many athletes, the
attainment of an O-1 visa for Pele represents yet another success for Wildes
& Weinberg as the firm has served as immigration counsel to an esteemed
roster of renowned clientele in professional sports ranging from Famed Boxers,
Horse Jockey’s, NASCAR and INDY 500 Winners. The firm’s famed roster of clients
includes Greg Norman, Virginia Wade, Billy Smith, and Al Arbour, all in their
efforts to pursue careers in the United States.
Michael Wildes also assisted in securing U.S. citizenship for former
professional basketball player Kwame James, who subdued the would-be “shoe
bomber” Richard Reid on a trans-Atlantic flight.
The firm however, is most well-known for representing
former Beatle John Lennon and his artist wife Yoko Ono. Other notable clients of the firm include Joe
Cocker, Johnny Rotten, Paloma Picasso, the 2011,2010, 2009 and 2008 Miss
Universes, supermodel Giselle Bundchen and Sarah Brightman, the world’s
bestselling female classical artist of the twenty-first century.
