San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association

I am the Past President of San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association. I became a lawyer because as a kid I always felt helpless, powerless. I could not escape poverty, I could not escape the fact that I was undocumented, I could not escape violence, and overall, I could not escape the limitations handed to me by the simple fact that we do not get to choose who our parents are and what socioeconomic circumstances we are born into. Even till this day, it is what drives me every day.

As attorneys I believe that we represent these people in some capacity no matter what we do. We are advocates for good people in unfortunate situations. Therefore, as the lawyers that represent humans, we must connect. Our connections and our networks, allow us to learn from each other. This is crucial because it makes us better lawyers. The fight for justice, for humans, is a never ending endeavor. 

Being Latino, being born in Mexico, and growing up through the struggle of poverty, I know that Latinos still struggle with the same issues that I struggled through my journey. I know people still struggle to put food on the table, there's still violence, there's still kids growing up without a father figure. These issues are especially prevalent in the Latino communities and they need our help. Just like the Latino community needs help,  the Latino Lawyer community must unite and connect with one another. When we are connected, we can engage others.  We can gain from each other’s insight, each other’s ideas, and even each other’s motivation. 

I wish as a young kid I had easy access to the brilliant minds that exist in our community of lawyers because I know they would have given me sage advice. I know that as a law student, as a young lawyer I was intimidated by talking to older lawyers or someone that I believed was super successful (rightly or wrongly). We must change that for others. 

 The way we improve our reach to the community and to our people is by improving our influence in the legal community. The way we improve our influence in the legal community is by literally becoming better advocates and better lawyers. We cannot do this alone. No matter what success you have had thus far in your career, you can get better and we can help you do that. We are stronger together than apart. When we become better lawyers and better advocates, we are providing better service to our communities but also increasing our influence in the legal world. 

As of now, as a board we can communicate with our members, but how many of our members are communicating back? How many of them can feel engaged in what we are doing or have their thoughts and ideas heard? We must change that.

I do not want us to in any way minimize the good things La Raza already does and has created. I believe this organization is wonderful, but I do not want to be limited by what already exists. I want us to challenge and push the limits with the belief that doing so will unite us and make us stronger, only then will we be able show the rest of the country, that Latino lawyers are strong and united, willing to fight for the rights of our rising community.

Lets put a ding in the universe. It starts with our immediate circle of influence.