Lincoln Stone

Contact:

Email: lincoln@sggimmigration.com

LinkedIn: Lincoln Stone

Lincoln Stone

Partner & Certified Specialist

Private Practice Experience

Lincoln Stone has more than 30 years experience as a lawyer, which includes comprehensive experience in business litigation and transactions, and US government experience in federal courts and litigation.  Lincoln gained this diverse experience while achieving client solutions for hundreds of denied or challenged immigration cases; advising about complex business structures, disputes and litigation including numerous distress business litigation matters, receiverships, and SEC enforcement actions; helping thousands of investors, entrepreneurs and startup ventures from all over the world; and solving complex immigration compliance issues for US businesses and venture firms that have raised more than $5 billion in more than 200 different job-creating enterprises through the EB-5 immigrant investor program.  Lincoln is recognized as a Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, and as a preeminent immigration lawyer by peer-based ratings such as Chambers as well as The Best Lawyers in America.

Lincoln is a co-founder of SGG Immigration, one of only a few full-service immigration law firms in the United States.  The diversity of immigration practice at SGG involves Lincoln in representing clients in immigration and federal courts, and counseling US employers on compliance issues and maintaining an employment-eligible workforce.  Clients include both closely held and publicly traded companies engaged in businesses spanning a broad spectrum of the economy.  Lincoln also has represented individual scientists, researchers and scholars, artists, poets, entrepreneurs, and other clients with extraordinary ability, as well as refugees, detainees, and families facing deportation.

With three separate national awards, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has commended Lincoln for leadership of national pro bono efforts and assisting detained refugees.  Lincoln brings the same passion to support the extraordinary work of dedicated SGG attorneys and staff on behalf of immigrants denied due process and access to the courts, challenged by mental health and competence issues, lacking adequate financial resources, or harmed by prior ineffective legal assistance.  See the link featuring just some of the SGG work.

For AILA, Lincoln also chaired the national EB-5 investor visa committee for five years, and created and served as Editor in Chief for four editions of the highly multi-disciplinary, and preeminent practice book Immigration Options for Investors and Entrepreneurs.  With two separate national awards, AILA commended Lincoln for advancing the practice area of EB-5 investor law.  Lincoln’s three decades of work in this highly specialized practice area includes deep experience gained in infrastructure finance as immigration law advisor to clients pairing immigrant investor capital with financing schemes for infrastructure in under-invested areas, including new market tax credits, tax increment financing, and redevelopment bonds.  Signature client accomplishments include using EB-5 investor capital to help fund:

  • Civilian conversion of military bases under the US government BRAC program
  • Commercial transformation of the industrial SODO district of Seattle
  • Construction of Ivanpah Solar, the world’s largest solar thermal power project
  • Development and construction of the state-of-the-art Los Angeles Stadium

Lincoln showcased some of that client work in his published article on investment for green energy — Immigrant Capital Investment and Priority Infrastructure. See also – Alternative Energy: Impact Investment with EB-5 Immigrant Investor Capital.

Lincoln has served as designated expert in litigated cases and has brought his litigation background to aid clients involved in distressed EB-5 projects, workouts and reorganizations, and related litigation.  That client work includes among others:

  • Finding solutions for EB-5 investors harmed by a project developer’s diversion of funds
  • Advising on redeployment strategies following a project developer’s failure to perform
  • Representing investors in aftermath of SEC case against project manager
  • Coordinating with SEC where diversion of funds threatened regional center termination
  • Advising State of Washington in a dispute involving infrastructure bond offerings

Select Publications and Presentations

Lincoln’s client work and research has been shared in more than 40 published articles. A select listing of authored/co-authored articles follows:

In more than 100 speaking engagements for lawyers, economists, economic development agencies, USCIS, and industry associations, Lincoln often presents on the topics of investment and entrepreneurship, or the intersection of immigrant capital and development finance. Following are a few of the venues for Lincoln’s presentations:

  • Council of Development Finance Agencies
  • City of Los Angeles Economic Development Forum
  • US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Office
  • National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer
  • University of Notre Dame School of Business
  • University of Southern California Law School Real Estate Conference
  • University of North Dakota Center for Innovation
  • University of San Diego International Tax Conference
  • The Hospitality Law Conference
  • State of Hawaii Department of Business and Economic Development
  • State of California Trade & Commerce Agency

Government Service

Trial Attorney, US Immigration and Naturalization Service – represented US government in immigration court proceedings

Law Clerk, US Senior Judge Robert Grant – drafted opinions for Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

University Education, Training, Select Volunteer Work

Lincoln’s formal education mirrors his multi-disciplinary immigration practice, reflecting ongoing explorations into the intersections and collaborations of private enterprise, civil society organizations, and the public sector to promote economic capabilities, integral human development, human rights, solidarity and social justice.

Juris Doctor

University of Notre Dame, where Lincoln studied law and in its Basilica he received his Juris Doctor, became a Catholic, and was married

Scholarship student, White Center on Law & Government
Studied constitutional law under US Judge Kenneth Ripple, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Studied criminal law under G. Robert Blakey, drafter of RICO statute
Publication – Criminal Forfeiture Under RICO – Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy
Research in comparative constitutional law, international human rights, and refugee policy
Research assistant to Ambassador Douglas Kmiec for the Zoning & Planning Deskbook
Internship, South Bend City Attorney Office

Master of Science Global Health

Northwestern University, the nationally-renown research university that opened to Lincoln new vistas and insights for tackling societal challenges locally and abroad through a public health lens

India-based Practicum – Programs for the Homeless in Delhi, India: Data Collection and Continuous Quality Improvement – including study of needs assessment for homeless shelters, sustainability of recuperative care facilities, conferring with advocates re Constitution of India and court cases on homeless, and research design for initiatives to empower homeless women

Research and writing on health equity and sustainability issues including
   – Best Practices in Electrification for Rural Healthcare
   – Community Health Workers in Uganda
   – The Medicines Transparency Alliance Initiative
   – Access to Essential Medicines for NCDs in India
   – Community-based Interventions to Address Mental Illness in Uganda
   – Healthcare Policy: Eliminating Iodine Deficiency in China
   – Reducing Infant Mortality in Nigeria

Master of Arts Humanities

California State University Dominguez Hills, the university of extraordinary diversity that arose out of the Watts Rebellion of the 1960s adjacent to communities of minorities on the first private land grant in Southern California from the Spanish crown; and where Lincoln’s father earned his degree in history

Studies in history, literature, philosophy, and religions of cultures worldwide, slavery and sex trafficking, terrorism and security
Thesis presentation at University Academic Conference – Korean Literary Voices: Post-Assimilation Aspects of Korean American Identity

Bachelor of Business Administration 

Loyola Marymount University, where Lincoln set his mind to earning a business degree, and Jesuit teachers kindled enthusiasms for the humanities, social justice, and law studies

Studies in business curriculum, including finance, entrepreneurship, and business law

Minor concentration in Spanish

Escallier Scholarship – Retracing History and Culture in Spain, based on residence in Galicia

Select Volunteer Work 

Short-term volunteer on annual trips to Uganda — collaborated with and interviewed community health workers, directors of health care centers, and local clinicians and nurses in “last mile” settings challenged by income poverty and insufficient supply of healthcare personnel, lack of medicines, physical space, equipment and power, communications systems, transportation, and medical records

Financial sponsor and participant in initiatives for clean water, education, healthcare workers, and women entrepreneurs worldwide

Philanthropy for capacity strengthening and sustainability — Endowment for Impact Evaluation
Initiative for Global Development, University of Notre Dame

Friends of St. Lawrence-Watts Youth Center, Board of Directors since 2003