Two events from recent weeks make it more important than ever that attorneys not miss a briefing schedule from the Board of Immigration Appeals. First, in Matter of Arciniegas-Patino, 28 I&N Dec. 883 (BIA 2025), the Board held that an attorney’s failure to monitor his or her inbox, including the spam folder, does not excuse a subsequent failure to comply with a briefing deadline. Second, the Board updated its practice manual to state that initial requests for briefing extensions will not be granted as a matter of course.

Given the severe consequences of missing a briefing schedule, attorneys should not passively rely on the mail (whether paper or electronic) to learn when the Board has set a briefing schedule. They must proactively monitor their cases to independently learn when a briefing schedule has been issued. Fortunately, there is a simple way to do so that should not take more than 5 minutes a day. I have been following these steps for years, and going forward, the failure to do so may be regarded as ineffective assistance of counsel.

While these steps are most important to follow in cases with paper records, they are also worth following in cases with electronic records given the possibility that an email containing a briefing schedule could land in your spam folder or be accidentally deleted.

Step 1: In your browser, create a folder entitled BIA cases (or something similar) in which you can save bookmarks. Make the folder accessible on your browser itself so that it always remains visible. Depending on your browser, you should be able to right-click on your favorites bar and select “Add folder.”

Step 2: Log into your EOIR case portal, which is available at https://case-access.eoir.justice.gov/cases. After you log in, the screen should appear as follows:

Step 3: Enter the A-number of a case pending at the Board. Press “Search.” The case should automatically appear in your portal, and the URL should read: https://case-access.eoir.justice.gov/casedetails. The screen should appear as follows:

Step 4: Put your cursor at the end of the URL and add the following text—?alien=XXXXXXXXX—with the Xs representing the client’s A-number. For example, if the client’s A-number was 123456789, the URL should read https://case-access.eoir.justice.gov/casedetails?alien=123456789

Step 5: Bookmark the URL in the folder you initially created under the name of the client. You can do this by pressing Control + D. For example:

Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 for every pending case you have at the BIA, until every case is bookmarked in the folder you initially created. When you’re done, you should be able to view every case by clicking or hovering over the folder.

Step 7: Every day (or at least once per week), open every bookmarked page in your folder. You can click each bookmark individually or right-click the folder and select “Open all.”

Step 8: When the page opens in your browser, click the bar on the left side of the screen that says “Case Appeal.” On the right side of the screen, you will see a box entitled “BIA Information” that displays whether the Board has issued a briefing schedule or decision. In the example below, the parties’ briefs were due January 8, 2025, and the Board has not yet issued a decision.

That’s all you need to do to ensure you never miss a briefing schedule from the Board.

When it’s time to write your brief, check out IRAC’s Index of Unpublished BIA Decisions. And when it’s time to file your brief, IRAC offers a same-day filing service for cases with paper records.