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Fong Ilagan: Two Board-Certified Partners, One of Whom Helped Build a Law School’s Immigration LLM Program

William Fong doesn’t just hold the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s immigration certification — he now teaches at Thurgood Marshall School of Law, where he helped establish the school’s ABA-approved LLM program in immigration law, meaning the attorney training a Houston client’s case also helped train the next generation of immigration lawyers in the classroom.

At a Glance

Origin and Background

William D. Fong, born and raised in Washington, D.C., earned his J.D. from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in 1994 and is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the State Bar of Texas, a credential independently verifiable through the TBLS directory. He now teaches at his alma mater and helped establish its ABA-approved LLM program in immigration law. His partner, Gary Ilagan, is independently Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law as well, with documented experience handling complex nonimmigrant and permanent-residence petitions.

Practice Concentration

The firm handles business immigration — including specialized nonimmigrant categories like L-1B intracompany transfers and O-1B extraordinary-ability visas for the arts — alongside family-based immigration and permanent residence petitions. See this Houston Immigration directory for how this dual-board-certified firm compares to other Harris County immigration practices. The firm also lists Robert S. Kwok, Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, as Of Counsel — a credential from a different specialty, disclosed here for accuracy since it is separate from the firm’s core immigration certification.

Track Record

As is typical for an immigration practice, the firm does not publish a table of case outcomes with dollar figures, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify one. What is independently verifiable is Fong’s continuous Texas Super Lawyer recognition spanning 2004 and then every year from 2006 through 2024, his and Ilagan’s TBLS certifications, and the firm’s Best Law Firms in America and Best Lawyers in America inclusions.

Client Voice

The firm holds a 4.7-star Trustanalytica rating and a substantial Birdeye review base of over 200 reviews, with clients repeatedly and specifically naming staff members Sofia Fraiti and Elsa Nieto for support, and describing successful outcomes on complex cases including a case Fong personally took over after a client received an Intent to Decline letter from USCIS following unrepresented filing. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a pattern of negative or unresolved reviews warranting disclosure for this firm.

Beyond the Courtroom

William Fong’s role helping establish Thurgood Marshall School of Law’s ABA-approved immigration LLM program, combined with his continued teaching there, reflects a substantive, documented contribution to legal education beyond his private practice. He also serves as an employment-based immigration and ethics mentor for AILA, has held the Vice-President role at the Asian American Bar Association, previously served as AILA Texas Chapter’s Consular Liaison, and is recognized for sustained pro bono immigration work.

Recognition for This Houston Immigration Attorney

Both William Fong’s and Gary Ilagan’s Board Certification in Immigration and Nationality Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization is the state’s official specialty credential, independently verifiable via the TBLS directory for each attorney — the basis for this profile’s board-certified language applying to both named partners. Fong’s near-two-decade unbroken Texas Super Lawyer recognition (2006-2024) and the firm’s Best Law Firms in America and Best Lawyers in America inclusions are separate, independently administered peer-review distinctions.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Immigration law is federally governed, so Texas attorneys in this practice area work primarily before USCIS, the immigration courts (EOIR), and U.S. consulates rather than Texas state courts. O-1B extraordinary-ability visas, a named part of this firm’s practice, require documented evidence of sustained national or international acclaim in the arts — a higher, more document-intensive evidentiary bar than standard employment-based visa categories. None of this is legal advice; a specific immigration matter should be evaluated by a licensed attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Fong Ilagan’s clearest, most checkable differentiator is having two independently TBLS board-certified partners on a single small-firm roster, paired with William Fong’s nearly unbroken two-decade Super Lawyers recognition and his documented role building a law school’s own immigration LLM program. The honest trade-off: as with most immigration practices, there is no published case-results table to independently benchmark outcomes, though the firm’s substantial, specific review volume across multiple platforms partially offsets that gap. For a Harris County client with complex business or family immigration needs seeking dual board-certified expertise in a boutique setting, this firm is a well-documented, highly credentialed option.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Fong Ilagan’s official website (fonglegal.com), including its attorney biography pages, William Fong’s Super Lawyers and Martindale profiles, and the firm’s Trustanalytica, Birdeye, and Avvo review pages.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Fong Ilagan, LLP prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.