Advokat USA (AmLaw Group): reviews & investigation
AmLaw Group is a real Miami-area immigration law firm. The founder holds a valid bar license. But three different US office addresses across public records, no published refund policy, and fresh complaints about clients being ghosted after paying a retainer make this one worth reading before you send money.
Who is Advokat USA (AmLaw Group) and what do they do?
Services: EB-5, E-2, L-1, O-1, EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, H-1B visas; green cards; US company registration; business acquisition support for investors.
Registered address: 1920 E Hallandale Beach Blvd, Suite 709, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Also listed (conflicting): 8911 Collins Ave, Surfside, FL 33154 (residential condo); 18851 NE 29th Ave, Suite 700, Aventura, FL 33180.
Moscow office: Prospekt Mira 102, bldg 31 (or 17), Moscow. No Russian legal entity found in public FNS records.
Founded: 2009 (domain amlawpro.com registered August 26, 2009; old entity AMLAW GROUP P.A. dissolved 2015).
Founder: Charles Raether, JD Georgetown University Law Center (2010). FL Bar #96007, NY Bar #3006632.
Team: Yulia Novik (attorney), Asmina Simonyan (paralegal, M.A.), Olga Demachek (client relations).
Phone: +1 786-200-0125, +1 305-509-6400, +7 499-490-21-37
Websites: amlawglobal.com, amlawpro.com, advokat-usa.ru, eb5.guru
Email: [email protected]
Pricing: No public price list. Third-party estimates put attorney fees at $2,500 to $50,000, plus USCIS filing fees up to $3,675. Contact their team directly for details.
Key fact: The address promoted to Russian-speaking clients, 8911 Collins Ave in Surfside, corresponds to a residential condominium building, not a commercial office. The company's actual registered business address in Florida is in Hallandale Beach.
Trust Score
Based on 1.83/5 from aggregated platform data and verified review sources
Who's actually behind Advokat USA: checking the paperwork
Florida business registrations
The main active US entity is AMLAW GROUP PLLC, registered in Florida under document number W15000027447, active since April 27, 2015. A second entity, AMLAW GLOBAL LLC (FL #L14000114441), has been active since July 17, 2014. The original firm, AMLAW GROUP P.A., was incorporated in 2009 and dissolved in 2015 when the current PLLC structure took over.
So the legal entity exists. It's real. But you're dealing with at least three corporate shells under the same brand, which is worth knowing before you sign anything.
Attorney license verification
Charles Raether holds an active Florida Bar license (Bar #96007) and a New York Bar license (#3006632). No disciplinary actions appear in public Florida Bar records. He earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 2010. No criminal proceedings against him appear in federal court searches.
One civil case is on record: in 2020, a former employee named Oleg Korzun filed a wage dispute lawsuit, which settled out of court. A second case, Zenatti v. Raether, involved a professional malpractice claim related to an investment project. Both are closed.
Domain history
Domain amlawglobal.com was registered on August 18, 2010. Domain amlawpro.com goes back to August 26, 2009. The Russian-language site advokat-usa.ru first appeared in the Web Archive on June 9, 2011. Running four separate domains for one law firm is unusual. It helps with search engine positioning, but it also makes it harder to know which entity you're contracting with.
Russia
No Russian legal entity linked to AmLaw Group or Charles Raether appears in public FNS (Federal Tax Service) records. The Moscow office operates as a sales and consulting point without a registered Russian company behind it. Whether that matters to you depends on where you plan to sign a contract and under which jurisdiction.
External checks
BBB search for AmLaw Group | Trustpilot for amlawglobal.com | OpenCorporates: AMLAW GROUP PLLC
Scam Detector assigned amlawglobal.com a trust index of 70.4 out of 100, which it calls medium. Not a red flag on its own, but not a clean bill of health either.
AmLaw Group risk analysis: 5 things to know before you pay
| Area | Risk | What we found | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | medium | No public price list on any of the four websites. Third-party sources put attorney fees at $2,500 to $50,000, plus USCIS filing fees ($410 to $3,675). Pricing is set after an individual consultation. | You won't know the cost until you speak with them. Get a written itemized quote before signing anything. Ask what happens to the fee if USCIS denies the petition. |
| Contract | high | No public retainer agreement template on any site. You can't review the terms before engaging. There's no published refund policy anywhere across their four domains. | Demand the full retainer agreement by email before your first payment. Read the refund section carefully. If there's no refund clause for a denied petition, that's a problem. |
| Timelines | medium | No average processing times listed on their websites. USCIS timelines vary by visa category and filing date; EB-5 petitions currently take 38 to 47 months. The firm doesn't set expectations publicly. | Ask for a written realistic timeline for your specific case. Build in delays. USCIS processing is outside any attorney's control, regardless of their approval rate claims. |
| Approval claims | medium | "98% approval rate" appears across all firm websites without supporting data. USCIS doesn't publish per-attorney approval statistics. US bar ethics rules prohibit attorneys from guaranteeing results. | Ignore the 98% figure when making your decision. Ask about their record specifically for your visa type, and ask what they do when a petition gets denied: do they appeal, refile, or walk away? |
| Refunds | high | No public refund policy found. Two users on Otzovix.com (November and December 2025) reported paying a retainer and then receiving no further communication from the firm. Both described the same pattern independently. | Pay only to AMLAW GROUP PLLC bank accounts confirmed by a company invoice. Avoid wire transfers to personal accounts. Keep copies of every communication after you pay. |
Advokat USA (AmLaw Group): red flags, yellow warnings, and green lights
| ✅ | Active Florida registration. AMLAW GROUP PLLC (FL #W15000027447) is listed as active in Sunbiz as of our review date. The firm isn't hiding its legal existence. |
| ✅ | Licensed attorney, no disciplinary record. Charles Raether holds Florida Bar license #96007 and New York Bar #3006632. Public records show no active disciplinary proceedings against him. |
| ✅ | Operating since 2009. Domain amlawpro.com dates to August 26, 2009. The original entity AMLAW GROUP P.A. was registered that same year. Fifteen-plus years in business with no criminal charges on record is a real positive. |
| ✅ | Public founder with a verifiable face. Raether gives webinars, appears in YouTube videos, and speaks at conferences. You can find him. Firms that hide their principals are a different category of concern entirely. |
| ⚠ | "98% approval rate" with zero independent verification. This claim appears on all four websites. Nobody outside the firm can confirm it. USCIS doesn't publish that data. Treat it as a sales pitch. |
| ⚠ | Surfside address is a residential condo. The address 8911 Collins Ave, Surfside, FL 33154 is a residential condominium building. Using a prestigious-sounding address that isn't a commercial office is a common practice among virtual office users. It looks different from what the marketing suggests. |
| ⚠ | No public contract or refund policy. Four websites, zero published retainer templates. You're flying blind on the contract terms until you're already in a conversation with them. |
| ⚠ | Signs of managed reputation campaigns. The research identified patterns consistent with a marketing agency (dNovo Group) seeding positive reviews across multiple regional pages. All published client reviews are 5 out of 5 with no critical feedback on controlled platforms. |
| ❌ | Prepayment complaints on Otzovix.com. Two separate users posted in November and December 2025 describing the same experience: they paid a retainer, then calls and emails went unanswered. The pattern is specific enough to take seriously. |
| ❌ | Three different US office addresses across sources. Surfside, Hallandale Beach, and Aventura all appear in different public sources. That's three separate cities. It suggests the firm uses virtual office services or has moved repeatedly without updating all its listings. |
| ❌ | Malpractice lawsuit on record. The case Zenatti v. Raether involved a professional malpractice claim connected to an investment project. The case is closed, but its existence signals that at least one client believed the firm's work fell short of professional standards. |
What the reviews actually say about AmLaw Group
The picture splits in two depending on where you look. On Google, Raether's firm holds a 4.9 out of 5 from 127 reviews. On Avvo, it's 5.0 from 24 reviews, with Clients' Choice Awards in 2018 and 2019. The Russian-language platform Zoon.ru shows 5.0 from 50 ratings, with specific praise for consultant Yulia Novik in the Moscow office. These aren't small numbers.
But then there's Otzovix.com. Two users posting in late 2025 called the company fraudulent and described paying an upfront fee followed by complete silence. One named user "Alex" and another named "Marina" wrote independently within a month of each other. Their accounts match in structure: money sent, then nothing. (Which, honestly, is exactly the pattern worth worrying about with any immigration firm that takes large retainers.)
The divergence is hard to resolve without more data. It's possible the positive reviews reflect genuine EB-5 and E-2 successes for high-value clients, while a smaller set of clients had a very different experience. It's also possible some of the positive content was placed by a reputation management firm. Both can be true at once.
What's clear: before you pay, you need more than a Google rating to go on.
Services and how they pitch them
AmLaw Group targets Russian-speaking investors and business owners looking for US visas, primarily EB-5 (minimum $800,000 investment), E-2 (treaty investor, minimum around $100,000 in practice), and L-1 (intracompany transfer). They also handle O-1 for people with extraordinary ability, EB-1A for outstanding researchers, and EB-2 NIW petitions. Add to that company registration in the US, franchise acquisition support, and basic tax planning for people with US residency and Russian connections.
The pitch is "boutique firm with personal attention." Raether speaks Russian and Mandarin in addition to English, which matters to the target client base. Their YouTube channel has videos from as recently as March 2026, so the operation is active.
Sounds useful. But a firm can be genuinely skilled and still take on more clients than it handles well. The prepayment complaints don't say Raether is incompetent. They say some clients didn't get the service they paid for. That's a different problem, and it's one the contract should address.
Advokat USA (AmLaw Group) vs competitors: which is better value?
The highlighted column is the firm under review. best worst mixed
| Parameter | Advokat USA / AmLaw Group ★ | Klasko Immigration Law | Fragomen | DIY (USCIS self-filing) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney fees | $2,500-$50,000 wide range | $15,000-$30,000 (EB-5) | $20,000+ (enterprise focus) expensive | $0 cheapest |
| USCIS filing fees | $410-$3,675 (additional) | Same USCIS fees apply | Same USCIS fees apply | You pay USCIS directly no markup |
| Public pricing | None published opaque | None published | None published | USCIS fee schedule is public transparent |
| Refund policy | None found publicly missing | Varies by retainer | Varies by retainer | No retainer involved n/a |
| EB-5 / E-2 focus | Core specialty, Russian-speaking clients strong | Top-tier EB-5 specialist | Corporate focus, less investor-visa specific | EB-5 is complex to file alone high error risk |
| License verification | FL Bar #96007 confirmed, no discipline | All attorneys licensed and listed | Licensed in all operating states | N/A (you file yourself) |
| Office locations | Miami area + Moscow (address inconsistencies noted) | Philadelphia, NYC | Offices in 60+ countries global | No office needed |
DIY is cheapest but unsuitable for complex investor visas. Fragomen is the safest institutional choice if cost isn't a constraint. Klasko is a genuine EB-5 specialist. AmLaw Group fills a real niche for Russian-speaking investors, but you need to verify terms before committing.
What to check before paying Advokat USA (AmLaw Group)
- Contract: Ask for the full Retainer Agreement by email before sending any payment. Read every clause about refunds. Specifically ask: what happens to your fee if USCIS denies the petition? If there's no written answer, that's your answer.
- License: Verify Charles Raether's Florida Bar status at floridabar.org (search Bar #96007) before you engage. It takes two minutes and confirms you're dealing with a real licensed attorney.
- Office address: Ask which physical office address is currently active and request a video call or in-person meeting before paying. Three different addresses across public records is a real inconsistency worth clarifying upfront.
- Payment method: Pay only to AMLAW GROUP PLLC bank accounts. Confirm the account details match a company invoice with the PLLC name on it. Refuse any request to wire money to a personal account or a third-party account.
- Refund terms: If no written refund policy exists on their website, negotiate a refund clause into your contract before signing. Get it in writing, signed by Raether or another named partner.
- Communication schedule: Ask for a written agreement on how often they'll contact you, by what channel, and within what response window. Given the complaints about radio silence, set this expectation before money changes hands.
- References: Ask for two or three recent clients (past 12 months, same visa type as yours) you can contact directly. Website testimonials are controlled content. Real phone numbers are not.
- Approval rate: Ask them to explain the "98%" figure. Ask how they count it: do they include cases they turn down? Cases that are refiled after a denial? The answer tells you whether they're being straight with you.
Frequently asked questions about Advokat USA (AmLaw Group)
Is AmLaw Group (Advokat USA) a legitimate law firm or a scam?
It's a real firm. AMLAW GROUP PLLC is actively registered in Florida (#W15000027447), and Charles Raether holds a valid bar license. But "legitimate" and "risk-free" aren't the same thing. Two users on Otzovix.com posted in late 2025 reporting that they paid a retainer and then got no response from the firm. The company is real; the service experience appears inconsistent. Demand a signed retainer with a refund clause before you pay anything.
Who is Charles Raether, the founder of AmLaw Group?
Charles Raether founded AmLaw Group and holds active bar licenses in Florida (Bar #96007) and New York (#3006632). He earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 2010. He's multilingual (English, Russian, Mandarin) and actively produces immigration content on YouTube. No disciplinary actions against him appear in Florida Bar public records. One past malpractice lawsuit (Zenatti v. Raether) and one wage dispute with a former employee are on record, both closed.
Is the "98% approval rate" AmLaw Group claims actually verified?
No. USCIS doesn't publish per-attorney approval statistics, so the figure can't be independently checked. US bar ethics rules prohibit attorneys from guaranteeing results. The 98% number appears on all four of the firm's websites as a marketing claim. It might reflect cherry-picked data or selective case counting. Ask them directly how they calculate it before letting it influence your decision.
What immigration visas does AmLaw Group handle?
AmLaw Group focuses on investor and business immigration: EB-5 (investment-based green card), E-2 (treaty investor), L-1 (intracompany transfer), O-1 (extraordinary ability), EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, and H-1B. They also help register US companies, assist with franchise purchases as investment vehicles, and file family-based green card petitions. They target Russian-speaking clients specifically, with staff in Miami and a Moscow-based office.
What should I do if AmLaw Group stops responding after I pay?
First, file a complaint with the Florida Bar at floridabar.org: attorneys face serious consequences for ignoring clients after taking fees. If payment went to a US bank account, contact your bank about a chargeback (time limits apply, so act fast). You can also file a complaint with the Florida Attorney General's consumer protection division. Keep every email, invoice, and message as evidence. If the amount is large, consult a separate attorney about your options under the retainer agreement.
How much does AmLaw Group charge for an EB-5 or E-2 visa?
AmLaw Group doesn't publish a price list. Third-party sources suggest attorney fees range from $2,500 for simpler matters to $50,000 for complex investor visa cases, plus USCIS filing fees that run up to $3,675. For EB-5, you also need to budget the minimum investment amount ($800,000 in a Targeted Employment Area). Contact their team directly for a quote, but insist on a written itemized breakdown before you agree to anything.
Where can I read or leave a review about Advokat USA (AmLaw Group)?
You can read and post independent reviews at proverj.com, which collects feedback on immigration companies from Russian-speaking users. You can also search "AmLaw Group Hallandale Beach" on Google Reviews, check Avvo.com for attorney-specific reviews of Charles Raether, or leave a review here at migration.us.com.
My verdict on Advokat USA (AmLaw Group)
I've been in the US immigration business since 2011. I've seen hundreds of firms in this space, and I've learned to read the signals. A 1.83 out of 5 rating is a signal worth listening to.
Let me be fair first. Raether is a real attorney with a real Georgetown JD and a clean Florida Bar record. The firm has been operating under some form since 2009. Their YouTube channel is active. They have 127 Google reviews at 4.9. None of that is nothing.
But what concerns me is the address situation. 8911 Collins Ave in Surfside is residential. I know that area. That's not an office building. When a firm promotes an address like that to clients who are sending tens of thousands of dollars, I ask: why? The registered address in Hallandale Beach is perfectly normal and respectable. Why use a Surfside condo address in marketing materials instead?
The 98% approval figure I've been ignoring for 15 years in this industry. Every firm says it. USCIS doesn't publish attorney-level approval data. It's not verifiable. But when it appears across four separate websites without a single asterisk or methodology note, that's aggressive marketing, not transparency.
The real problem is the two Otzovix.com complaints from late 2025. Two users, one month apart, describing the same pattern. Pay retainer, get ghosted. That's not a misunderstanding about timelines or USCIS delays. That's a service failure. And with no published refund policy anywhere on their sites, clients who face that situation have nothing in writing to fall back on.
My bottom line: if you're considering AmLaw Group, you need three things before you sign. A full written retainer agreement with a specific refund clause for denied petitions. Confirmation of the currently active office address. And payment confirmed to go directly to AMLAW GROUP PLLC by invoice, not to any personal account. Do those three things, and the risk becomes manageable. Skip them, and you're relying on trust alone. That's not enough for a $10,000-plus fee in a country you may never have visited.
Don't get burned
Website copy and a smooth sales call aren't the same as a real client experience. Read what people who actually paid say about Advokat USA before you commit.
Read real reviews about Advokat USA