An honest walkthrough of how Novo Legal's two-step consultation works — the 15-minute phone screen, the 60-minute attorney-led meeting, and what you walk out with.
Introduction
You are not looking for a sales pitch. You are looking for a straight answer: what happens when you call a Denver immigration lawyer, how long the meeting lasts, what it costs, and what you actually leave with.
This page tells you that. It describes how Novo Legal Group's immigration consultations work — both the short phone screen that comes first and the longer attorney-led meeting that follows. Other Denver firms structure consultations differently; we can only describe ours.
This is general information about our consultation as a service. It is not legal advice about your specific case, and reading it is not a substitute for talking to a lawyer about your facts.
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Skip ahead and request a consultation — our intake team will tell you which step fits your situation before you book.
Contact Novo LegalHow a consultation at Novo Legal works (two steps)
We use a two-step process because the two steps do different jobs. Most callers go through both. A few never need the second step because their question is small enough to resolve on the phone screen.
Step 1: A free 15-minute phone screen
The first call is short, free, and built for triage. A member of our intake team — not an attorney — asks who you are, where you are in the immigration system, and what you are trying to figure out. We answer one question first: can Novo Legal help you on this matter? If yes, we identify which attorney is the right fit.
The phone screen is not legal advice. It is not a strategy session. It is the conversation that decides whether the next step makes sense. If your matter is outside our practice or better handled somewhere else, we tell you so on this call. We would rather route you to the right place than book you into a paid meeting you do not need.
Step 2: A paid 60-minute attorney-led consultation
If the phone screen confirms there is something to work on, we schedule the real consultation. This one is 60 minutes by default, by phone or video — in person on request when that fits the case — and it is led by an attorney. The fee varies by case type and is quoted to you in advance, before you book. There is no surprise pricing at the meeting.
Sixty minutes is not arbitrary. A real immigration consultation has to leave room for the attorney to hear the facts, look at the documents you bring, identify the legal issues, and explain your realistic options. A 15-minute call cannot do that work for most immigration matters. We do not pretend it can.
What happens in the 60-minute consultation
The paid consultation follows a predictable arc. Most meetings move through these stages in roughly this order:
Intake review. Your attorney opens the file with what you already told us at booking — your name, your country, your immigration history, the basic shape of the matter. You do not start from scratch every time.
Facts conversation. The attorney asks specific factual questions. You bring documents — USCIS receipts and notices, prior filings, passports, court records if the case touches criminal history. Specific facts drive specific advice; vague facts only get vague advice.
Issue-spotting. The attorney identifies the legal questions in your matter and the procedural posture — where you are in the immigration system right now, and what the next steps could be from this point.
Options conversation. The attorney explains the realistic relief and filing options for your situation. This includes honest framing of likelihood and obstacles. It does not include outcome guarantees. Any lawyer who promises you a result in 60 minutes is selling you something.
Cost and engagement discussion. If the case is a fit for Novo Legal and you want to move forward, the attorney explains how representation would be structured — flat-fee vs. hourly, what is included, what would be billed separately. You are not obligated to retain us at the end of the meeting.
What the consultation is not: it is not a full case strategy session, it is not a guarantee of representation, and it is not a complete legal opinion. It is enough time for an experienced immigration attorney to look at your situation honestly and tell you what the path forward could look like.
What it costs and why
The phone screen is free. The 60-minute attorney-led consultation is paid, and the fee varies by case type.
Why it varies: a marriage-based green card consultation, a removal-defense consultation, and a U-visa consultation require very different preparation by the attorney. The fee reflects the real time a competent consultation takes for each category. We quote it before you book.
What the consultation fee covers: the attorney's time, their advance review of documents you upload before the meeting, their issue-spotting, their honest framing of options, and a clear answer to the question "should I hire counsel for this, and at roughly what scope."
What the consultation fee does not cover: filing services, document drafting, future representation in your matter. Those live under a separate engagement agreement if you choose to retain us.
If you cannot afford the consultation fee for the case type you are facing, say so on the phone screen. The intake team can confirm the fee in advance and let you decide whether to schedule.
How to prepare for your consultation
A 60-minute meeting goes much further when you arrive prepared. A few hours of prep on your side is the single biggest difference between consultations that produce real direction and consultations that mostly fill the time with facts the attorney could have read in advance.
Documents to gather:
- Any USCIS notices and receipts you have received (I-797s, RFEs, NTAs, decisions)
- Prior filings if you have copies (I-130, I-485, I-589, I-918, N-400, etc.)
- Passport and travel history records
- Any state-court criminal records if your case touches crimmigration
- Prior counsel's case file if a previous lawyer worked your matter
Write down before the call:
- Your family or case history in chronological order — dates matter
- The questions you most need answered
- Timeline pressures — hearing dates, document expirations, work-authorization gaps
Tell us your language preference at booking. Every attorney and staff member at Novo Legal Group is bilingual in English and Spanish — we are a Spanish-first immigration practice.
Book early enough for prep. Last-minute consultations work, but the attorney's review time is constrained. If your case has documents, schedule with enough lead time that we can actually look at them before you join the call.
After the consultation — what comes next
There are three honest possibilities after a typical 60-minute consultation:
- The attorney offers representation. You receive a written engagement letter laying out the scope of representation, fees, and how the matter will be handled. You decide whether to retain. Engagement is your call, not ours.
- The attorney determines the case is a better fit elsewhere. Novo Legal does not retain every case that walks in. Sometimes the right answer is a referral to a different specialty; sometimes a very simple matter is better handled pro se with USCIS than under counsel. We tell you when that is true.
- You take time to decide. The attorney outlines the options and you take a week, talk to family, and come back when you are ready.
On engagement letters. A written engagement agreement spells out what we are doing for you, what we are not doing, how fees and trust-account deposits are handled under Colorado and Washington's professional-conduct rules, and how the relationship can end. If you want a deeper read on how full representation differs from form-prep services, our piece on what full legal representation means in family immigration walks through it.
Common questions about Denver immigration consultations
How long is a Novo Legal immigration consultation?
The free phone screen is about 15 minutes. The paid attorney-led consultation that follows is 60 minutes by default. Some case types — complex crimmigration matters, multi-petition family cases — may schedule a longer block; the scheduler will tell you before booking.
How much does an immigration consultation cost at Novo Legal?
The phone screen is free. The 60-minute attorney-led consultation is paid, and the fee varies by case type. The fee is quoted to you before booking. There is no surprise pricing at the meeting.
Is the free phone screen the same as the consultation?
No. The 15-minute phone screen is triage — we figure out whether we can help and which attorney is the right fit. The paid 60-minute consultation is the substantive meeting with an attorney. They serve different purposes.
Can I do the consultation in Spanish?
Yes. Every attorney and staff member at Novo Legal Group is bilingual in English and Spanish — we are a Spanish-first practice. Your consultation can be in either language; many of our clients prefer Spanish.
Is the consultation by phone, video, or in person?
By phone or video by default. In-person consultations are available on request when that fits the matter; the scheduler will work it out with you.
Do I have to hire Novo Legal after the consultation?
No. The consultation is a stand-alone service. Whether to retain counsel after the meeting is your decision, not ours, and not every case we consult on ends in representation.
What if I cannot afford the consultation fee?
The fee varies by case type and is quoted before booking, so you will know the number before you commit. If the fee for your case type does not work for you, the intake team can talk through that with you on the phone screen.
Why Novo Legal Group
Novo Legal is a bilingual, community-rooted human rights firm. We represent immigrants and refugees in front of USCIS, in immigration court, and on appeal. We take the time at the start of the relationship because immigration cases are won and lost on facts that get missed early — and because the people sitting across the table from us are usually deciding whether to trust a lawyer with their family's future.
That is why our consultation is 60 minutes, not 15. That is why an attorney runs it. That is why we tell you the fee before you book. The honest version of how we work is the version we are willing to publish. In immigration matters, the government does not provide counsel; whoever you hire is the one in the room with you, which is why we treat the consultation itself as serious work.
Ready to talk to a Denver immigration lawyer?
Book your consultation with Novo Legal Group. We will start with a free 15-minute phone screen and tell you whether the next step makes sense.
Book Your ConsultationMain intake line: (888) 746-5245
Related reading
- Denver immigration practice at Novo Legal — how we work with Denver families and the full process from intake through active representation.
- Our immigration practice — practice areas we handle, from family immigration to removal defense to citizenship.
- What full legal representation means in family immigration — the difference between licensed attorney representation and form-prep services, and why it matters.
- ICE detained a family member in Colorado: what to do now — the first-72-hours companion piece for families calling about a detention.
- How to choose a Denver immigration lawyer — the next-step read once you have decided to hire counsel.