The Rise of the Latino Power Lawyers

When Justice Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the newest member of the Supreme Court in August, attorneys and non-attorneys alike rejoiced: Finally, after 220 years, the Hispanic community would be represented on the nation's highest court.

In some ways, however, the celebration was fleeting. It takes more than one person to bring equality to a profession, and in the pervasive legal industry Latino attorneys are still severely underrepresented.

Even though Latinos represent 15 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 3.8 percent of the nation's attorneys, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the upper ranks of law firms, the situation dims further: Hispanic women make up 0.42 percent of partners nationwide and Hispanic men 1.26 percent, according to the National Association for Law Placement. In most major California markets, the percentage of Hispanic partners is slightly higher than the national average, rising over 3 percent in Los Angeles and Orange County.

The reasons for the disparity are varied and complex, attorneys say. Educational inequalities, barriers to entry, lingering stereotypes and high attrition are all keeping Latinos from reaching the upper echelons of the American legal system.

And then there's the old boys' club mentality that continues to pervade the legal industry, where bonds are built over fancy lunches and golf games, and you're either in with the right people or on the outside struggling to find allies.

"The law firm practice is a pretty exclusive club," said Antonia Hernandez, the former president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund who now heads the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles. "Not being an insider, not having the networks or the connections makes it exceedingly hard."

Alicia Villarreal, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Los Angeles, said she's heard multiple tales of women and minority attorneys being shut out from networking and social events. "I don't think any of that is intentional, it's simply not thinking, not being proactive about including lawyers of color," Villarreal said. "It's an insensitivity more than anything deliberate."

Hernandez attended UCLA School of Law in the mid-1970s, a time when she said working at a law firm was not a realistic option for Latinos and other students of color.

"Therefore, the vast majority went into public service, legal services or started their own practice," Hernandez said. More than 30 years later, she said, "It hasn't gotten much better."

Sergio Garcia, a partner at Reed Smith in San Francisco, remembers the feeling of isolation when he joined Heller Ehrman right out of law school in the 1980s.

"I didn't know a single Latino partner when I joined," Garcia said. "My sense was that I needed to get active outside of my law firm to be able to interact with other attorneys of color."

People often cite the lack of role models as the reason more young Latinos don't aspire to go to law school, and the reason more Latino associates don't advance to partner.

The Hispanic National Bar Association echoed this assertion in a recently published report on the status of Latinas in the legal profession. The study opens with a beacon of hope, proposing Sotomayor as the ideal role model to inspire young girls to pursue a career in the law. Its authors quickly point out, though, that "her triumphant story and ability to overcome the myriad of barriers can be elusive for many Latina lawyers."

Even so, Sotomayor's appointment is a step in the right direction. "She is sending out messages to every Latina in every community across this nation," Villarreal said. "Even if you come from the projects in the hood, you can make it if you stay in school and work hard."

Thomas Saenz, the newly instated president and general counsel of MALDEF and former legal counsel to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said he sees Sotomayor filling a void much like President Barack Obama has done for the African American community.

The new MALDEF leader - who worked at the nonprofit for 12 years before going to the mayor's office - has long noticed the unbalanced nature of the legal industry.

"Unfortunately Latinos are often litigants in criminal proceedings but not represented on the bench and among the lawyers," Saenz said. "It is a product in my view of ongoing educational inequities, from [pre-kindergarten] all the way through law school."

The elimination of affirmative action in 1996 through the passage of Proposition 209 further compounded the problem, Saenz said, by making it "very difficult for admissions officers in our public universities to appropriately consider the background of an applicant and how that might have affected their application."

In 1991, Villarreal founded the Mexican American Bar Foundation to award scholarships to students attending Los Angeles-area law schools. Working with the foundation, Villarreal has noticed a familiar pattern.

"Even 19 years later, the student statements we read are the same story over and over: 'I'm the first person in my extended family to ever attend college, the first person to attend law school,'" Villarreal said.

Having parents who stress the value of education is pivotal to get more Latinas to attend law school, the Hispanic National Bar study concluded. The research also found that many cultural factors inhibit Latinas from considering the legal field.

"They were socialized from an early age that this is the role of women: You are deferent to men and those you work with. You are socialized to be humble," said Jill L. Cruz, co-author and co-researcher of the study. "The legal profession tends to be one where you have to be assertive, you have to self promote."

Self promotion can get someone in the door, but the key to advancement is finding people to give young associates experience instead of relegating them to document review and memo writing, said Arturo González, a veteran trial attorney with Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco.

"All lawyers, but especially lawyers of color, need to take the initiative, walk into the office of the big bad white partner, and say, 'Tom, I can do this. Give me an opportunity and I can do it,'" González said.

The MoFo litigator considers himself "a rare breed" as the only Latino trial lawyer he knows who joined a big firm right out of law school and stayed for more than two decades. He credits has advancement to the opportunities given to him at his firm, most of which "were provided for me by white men," he said.

Law firms have been touting diversity as an initiative for years, but it's often hard to tell which firms are walking the walk and which are blowing hot air.

The real push to diversify the legal industry has come from law firms' clients the corporations who control the purse strings and know how to use that power to push an agenda.

Companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Microsoft Corp., American Airlines, AT&T Corp. and Xerox Corp. have all spearheaded the movement, instituting programs that offer bonuses and more work to law firms who meet diversity benchmarks and sometimes ceasing relationships with firms that fail to show an interest in increasing diversity.

Corporate legal departments are also practicing what they preach. In 1997, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association formed to promote diversity initiatives in an organized fashion. Since the association began tracking data in 1998, the number of minority general counsel at Fortune 500 companies has risen from six to 43 in the most recent survey.

The growth for Hispanic general counsel, however, is not as profound. MCCA numbers report one Hispanic general counsel in 1998, compared to five in 2009. The number of African Americans leading Fortune 500 legal departments, in contrast, has jumped from five to 22 in the same time span.

González has noticed the push from corporate law departments, and says he doesn't mind when clients hire him because they want a minority attorney on their side.

"I'm smart enough to know it's not just because I'm Latino, it's because I'm a damn good lawyer who happens to be Latino," Gonzalez said. "If you want to pay me $750 an hour because I have brown eyes, I'm fine with that."

An answer to how the legal industry can become more proportionally representative of society is murky at best. The Hispanic Bar suggests creating mentorship programs, reaching out to young students, supporting research and educating the legal profession as some ways to a solution.

With jury pools becoming increasingly diverse, Gonzalez believes the time has never been better for law firms and corporate legal departments to look at hiring more Latino attorneys.

"Because when it comes time to try a case," he said, "when the client asks you if you've got a Latino attorney they can use and you look with a blank face - that's not a good answer."