New windows not getting focus seems to be an [issue with the OS/window manager](https://major.io/2015/07/06/allow-new-windows-to-steal-focus-in-gnome-3/), not Emacs.

There are a lot of search results suggesting various hacks at either the [Emacs](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3636694/emacsclient-window-focus) or [OS](https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/485s8o/emacsclient_new_terminal_frame_does_not_get_focus/) level, but my preferred solution is to use the [scripts suggested by MJ Wall](http://mjwall.com/blog/2013/10/04/how-i-use-emacs/). These have explicit `raise-frame` actions.