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Engineering a Path to Law · The Lawtino™

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Latino Podcast, where we amplify the voices of Latino professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders coming together to educate, inspire, and connect across one of the most dynamic binational regions in the world.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: Bicultural, premium, powerful.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's John Gomez.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the latest episode of the La Latino Podcast.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're here in Washington, D.C.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: in a special uh series of episodes with the Hispanic National Bar Association, meeting really great lawyers, uh, great leaders from all over the country.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Today we have a very special guest.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: This episode, as always, is brought to you by Gomez Trial Attorneys, your sponsor.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: We are a national consumer rights law firm uh based primarily out of California, but handling cases all over the country.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: We are binational.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have a presence both in uh the United States and Mexico, bicultural.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: We offer the very highest level of representation in both the English and Spanish languages, and we are best in class.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: We believe we are the best lawyers out there.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh I'll introduce uh my co-host David Areguin, who has a guy that he knows very well as our special guest uh today.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, John.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, again, super excited to be in here at HNBA.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: I actually learned about HNBA from our guest here.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um so a little intro about him.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll be clear, I'm super proud of this guy.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: He's my cousin, so I'm a little biased.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, all right, okay.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: But he's you know very proud of what he's accomplished, and I wanna, you know, I'm excited to have him here.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: Super excited.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Alejandro Echeverrilla, uh engineer and IP lawyer, and now more of a litigator, uh, which you know, I finally appreciate that he like chose to litigate some cases.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Alejandro, welcome.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for meeting us here in uh you know Washington.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: We could have done this in San Diego, but why not do it in Washington?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh tell us a little bit about yourself, uh how we know each other, and you know, former roommate as well.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Alejandro, welcome.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you guys.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And well, first of all, thank you for inviting me.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really excited, and especially doing this in Washington, DC.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that it's really meaningful and just having a wider impact, um, and what what's better than doing it at the Hispanic National Bar Association?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, as David mentioned, uh, we're cousins.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we know each other from a long, long time, if not all life.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and a little bit about myself.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I started my career as an engineer.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm basically uh I started studying in Tijuana, then I moved to the US.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I did engineering at San Diego State University.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: After that, um I practiced for about seven years as an engineer, and then I decided to go to law school.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um forget about your masters.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget about your master's.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I also did a master's degree in at John Hopkins University, um, basically for engineering as well.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And after that, I decided to go to law school.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I saw that David was doing really, really well, so I was like, what the hell?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and um I found out that I could become a patent attorney, which is something that not a lot of people know.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're an engineer and looking into the legal field, you're gonna be like uh really unicorn because that's something that there's not a lot of people.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that I'm really, really grateful with the HMBA, which made me part of it, it's that um less than one percent of attorneys nationwide are Latino lawyers that practice apathy.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that the HMBA has been focusing on, and they have a special program for them, which is the Intellectual Property Law Institute.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we heard about that from our last guest.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Really a great program.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Tyler, he he's a great guy.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, funny story with Tyler, I didn't know who he was, and we actually we were next to each other at the airplane, and after I got into the conference and the program, he's like, hey, you were next to me like four hours.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: We never talk, and we were like, bro.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: We heard that you were working on a brief that he didn't want to interrupt or talk law on the plane.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, workaholic here, man.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's good, that's good, ethnic work.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: And just tell us a little bit about the fact that, you know, for being a patent attorney, why is an engineering or like a science background necessary for that?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so basically to become a patent engineer, uh, sorry, a patent attorney, um, it's really technical because you're helping your clients and not only on the litigation phase, but obtaining a patent, it's really, really technical.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the the the reason of it is because, well, basically you're protecting the inventions of your clients.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, if you're dealing with a company like Raytheon, you're gonna be dealing with with uh with aerospace engineering.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: You you gotta know the business, you gotta know the components of an engineer.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that if you don't have the the science background, it's harder.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, um, you only need to be an engineer in order to get the the patent part that's for prosecution.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: For litigation, I know a lot of people that are they are really, really successful that they don't have the science background, but they really know how to litigate.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that probably you guys already know.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Not not saying that you want to become a patent attorney, right?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the litigation is litigation, it's just applying the facts to whatever the law is, right?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: So that that's basically the the background to become a patent litigator.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say, like, I will admit that I dream of the day that someone, you know, some company hires me, maybe Google hires me to sue all respect to our last guest, Microsoft, and they they offer me a percentage.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: I dream of that day.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm just talking about because I feel like that's what like just tell us about your current employment.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: I know you like, you know, changed employee employers uh uh recently uh for a Texas firm.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this guy keeps flying out to Texas, coming back to San Diego.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: But I think like your practice is very similar to what John was talking about, right?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Representing like metal companies against like larger companies.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about that.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I recently moved uh from uh from one firm to to Cherry Johnson, Sigmund, and James.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're based in Waco, Texas.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the reasons that we're based in Texas is because most of the patent cases are litigated on the eastern and western district of Texas.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: The reason is because, well, there's a lot of precedent.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the other thing is that the actual judges know the patent.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's something that probably you're not gonna find in other courts.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: So this is something that most uh plaintiffs want to litigate in Texas.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that, for example, um how do you how do you get venue there?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you're I don't know, how did like how does that work?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: That that's part of our job.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because I there's a lot of places I want to sue, but I can't.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, actually, we're working with a client and just trying to find a connection, yeah.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: How can we make the the case law work for us?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's part of our job.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, um, we're litigators, we find the way.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if not, there's always second options like California.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think we were talking about this recently.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, how are you getting these cases to Texas?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: How are you getting these cases in California?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like the company's somewhere else, and but I guess these guys get pretty creative on it.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe you've got a bench there, you've got judges that totally understand the field and the space.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the other side wants to be there too sometimes, just for that reason.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, and and that's something that uh again, as David mentioned, uh, we most of the time we are local counsel for a lot of big firms.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because our partners know the judges and they know how to work.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's something that probably not no other firms can can give you, right?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: So again, um we we try to litigate in Texas, but again, right now we are also taking cases in California because for us, it's like, well, right now it's just litigation.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I and I think they might need uh like a personal injury lawyer in uh California and San Diego.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: So you know that's that's in the making.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: We gotta make the connection with Jerry Johnson, please.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Let's uh let's connect to that.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll talk uh outside of that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Off record.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so um the Southern District that is uh San Diego, I feel like historically, at least with like um Judge Huff and Judge Brewster and maybe some others over there, Judge Bitalia.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like I feel like they have a decent amount of experience doing these cases too, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is correct.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, uh one of the uh one of the judges in San Diego, her her last name is Benji Vengo.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: She's actually uh uh an IP attorney.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh she was, I believe that she mentioned to me that um she was maybe at Grey Carrie back in the day or something.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, she actually was like at the head of IP with DLA Piper.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, the predecessor.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: See, you're you young guys.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the Gray Carrie people, that was a big San Diego firm, and they emigrated to uh DLA.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so we we do have judges that know patent law in San Diego, and I do believe that there's a few cases that get filed in San Diego.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: As I mentioned, whenever your first option, Texas, Eastern Western, can't work, then you go to California.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it would be rare for a big company not to have presence in California.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I would be really, really surprised.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty interesting.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And Alejandro, I want to backtrack a little bit because I know, like, you know, we know exactly what you're doing now, traveling from San Diego uh to Texas.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, take us back to like all that, you know, a little bit of border crossing.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: So a little background.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Alejandro, while he was an engineer, already a lawyer, he was still living in Tijuana and actually crossing that border every single day.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: We've been addressing this like at our podcast.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us how that experience like shaped like who you are.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're a patient guy because I I was never able to do that, uh, especially for work.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh give us a little background on that.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and uh as you mentioned, um, probably this is something unusual for someone living in LA or or living in Texas or whatever.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like some of the people here at HNBA, do they understand like what you were doing before?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't think so, because whenever you mention, hey, you know what?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I live in Mexico, oh my god, they think Mexico City or something like that, right?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: But in reality, for us, that's something that people do it every day.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and people actually come from Tijuana to go and work every single day in the US, right?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that for us, it's like, well, it's every day, but you gotta explain it to people that are not from the board.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, my experience was that basically crossing the border and going to school or things like that, yeah, it is a hustle.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's something that I do believe shapes you, and especially for me, it was like I I was working and going to law school.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that most people can't handle.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, it was like, well, I'm already spending three hours in the line, right?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Why not do that?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why not just do law school and work?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a big deal.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: But in reality, it was.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I believe that right now, I believe that uh it shaped my my background and it gave me the opportunity to be really, really focused on whatever I'm doing and just be determined.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that that's at the last point that that that would be something that if people don't have that passion and and determination to finish something, that they're not gonna be doing it.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So you you were uh a licensed and working engineer at the time you went to law school?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is that yeah, that is correct.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: So at the time, whenever I decided to go to law school, I was an engineer at Pratt and Whitney.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you guys are familiar, but uh it's part of uh Raytheon and all those big companies for aerospace engineering.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um I decided to go to law school, but I I was at the moment in Florida.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, you know what, I gotta move back to California because that's where I want to practice.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: I moved back to California, and during that time I couldn't work based on my schedule with this company.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: I decided to move to another company, which is Caterpillar.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Probably everyone is familiar, right?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I started working at their solar turbines facility at the harbor.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I started as an experiment going to law school.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know what?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go the first year.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: If it goes well, then I'm going to go.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: You were going at night?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I was I was going part-time.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I was basically I'm really, really grateful with Caterpillar because they gave me the opportunity to basically go to law school.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And after that, well, obviously um uh I had to quit.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's whenever uh I started working with Procopio.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, which also I started working as a patent agent because at the time I got the opportunity to take the patent bar.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: I passed it, and I was working basically full-time and going to law school.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we were talking about this when you know he was still doing the engineering work, and one of the discussions that we had was well, I I guess at one point you need to quit your job to start getting legal experience.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: So he actually followed my advice, which you know I'm appreciated.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he goes, uh he gives good advice.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, apparently, like he you were doing something that he looked at and said, Oh, that looks like a pretty good path.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, did you were you roommates with him?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: We we used to live together like on this on uh in Chula Victoria's house with all the people in there.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we had, I mean, for listeners, we had an interesting dynamic.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I was already I was already in college, and I lived one year by myself at this house in Chula Vista, and then all of them were still studying at Instituto Mexico.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh shout out shout out to Instituto.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: Half of our guests are from there.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: So they were good people, yeah, very amazing, amazing.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: John knows this now.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh, so a lot of them were still down in Tijuana, and then they actually moved to Chula Vista to finish or at least start high school at Hilltop.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and you know, I was a college guy taking them to school, picking them up.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: I felt like a little parent.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you were like the the TA.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly, yeah, exactly.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and we would have actually the moms come in for you know, like basically getting the meals ready and making sure that they were not getting in trouble.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: But it was a very interesting dynamic.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about it.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And as David said, I believe that this is uh like the family core, it's just uh supporting each other.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Is it working?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, just lean in.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, uh as David mentioned, it was just like the family background, like most of our uh cousins are engineers.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're the only lawyer, we're we're the weird ones, but uh most of them are engineers, and that's something that uh just supporting each other within the family has been really, really successful for everyone.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we got along well.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it was interesting because we had three bedrooms, and then we we all had roommates in those bedrooms.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: There were like two guys in each bedroom, yeah.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, you guys.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a military school.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay, all right.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then at one point, you know, Alejandro was living with these two, like two of my cousins.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: He actually got kicked out of that room, and he I would kick out for like being messy or loud or no, he just wanted to be crazy.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: And that was we were talking about this because he lived in the garage for like three years.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Mad Garage is a good place to live.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like had a loft, yeah.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that was an interesting setup, and people would not couldn't believe that yesterday.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: I was telling them, uh, so interesting setup, and just the fact that you know, like the whole relationship, and I feel like it just made us great.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, like he's he's doing well now.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that was a great setup.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, and that that has been uh something that I'm really grateful with David.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and the other thing is that uh we see each other as examples.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, watching David go to law school and and learning everything, I I want to say that I got it easy because he already told me, like, this is a path, this is how you manage it.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and whenever I was taking the bar, he told me, like, you gotta quit everything.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: In my world, I wouldn't do it because I was like, Oh, I'm I'm working, I'm going to law school, why not?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: But that was a great advice, and well, here we are.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I feel like for the bar, for you know, our listeners, we we have a lot of law students who listen to this.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, no, when you're gonna take the bar, just take some time off because that's the only job that you have.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're passing that bar exam so you can practice and take it as a full-time job.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's like in the end, if you have to do it again, it's gonna cost you more time and more effort, anyways.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: So here we are at uh the Hispanic National Bar Association.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: David tells me you were instrumental and kind of you know sharing with him the importance of this group and this event.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: How has the Hispanic National Bar Association been for you?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the thing it's funny how I got into the Hispanic National Bar Association.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So when I was in law school, I was looking for another patent attorney in San Diego that spoke Spanish.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't find it.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's hard to find.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't find it.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh honestly, I went to La Raza and everyone there, and they were like, we just don't know anyone.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: So they told me, hey, you gotta step it up into a national lab.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I went, I talked to people, and actually um I got the opportunity to get into their intellectual property law institute program.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember uh her name is Brennan.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: I remember her calling me, and I was like, Whoa, this must be a scam or something.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: How did I get in?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: A free conference?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Every year they only choose 25 students around the nation to go to this program.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: So they take you for a whole week to big companies, big law firms, and they actually give you an estimate to to spend like during your stay in Washington, DC.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: So um that's something that now presently um I have been advocating for students to go and do it.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: So this year, actually, we got someone from San Diego to attend this conference, and that's something that we gotta keep doing because we we need more representation, not only in California, but San Diego.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's not possible that it's only a few guys with us.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, what would be your recommendation to like law students?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: Because right generally, when I talk to law students who are Latino, like I give them advice on things, but then I usually connect them with you for HMBA particularly.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because of this program and the conference, because I know they get like free attendance, right?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do believe that the most important thing is uh just go and talk to lawyers, they know someone, and especially for seasoned attorneys, they they're gonna know someone that basically does whatever you want to do in the future, not only patent law or or or just civil litigation, but going and finding someone, even if you want to go in-house, we're here, we're a resource for you because someone did it already for us.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we're here to help, and that's part of this conference.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: The most important thing is connect with people that people that probably you're not gonna meet anywhere else.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is where.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: And tell us your like your role in connecting HMBA to San Diego La Raza lawyers, because I know there was a disconnect at one point, and then you became was it a region?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Regional deputy for for the Hispanic National Bar Association.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I started working really closely with with Esteban Rodriguez.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was the past uh uh governor for the South Cal region.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And again, as you know, uh I have been involved with La Raza, so I was wondering why there was no connection, and that's something that we started working to years ago, whenever we did the uh the first event in uh in San Diego, which is like just co-hosting an event uh every year in January.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh Gomez Straw Attorneys was title sponsor to that event.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta make an image.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta make the mention.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: You guys have the money.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, but uh, I do believe that that really changed things, and we're really glad that our new governor for the South Kel region is from San Diego.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Her name is Leah Gonzalez, right?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that I do believe it's really important, especially that in 2029 our annual conference is gonna be in San Diego.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: No way, bring it.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be able to.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's another sponsor to it.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're gonna have a nice time.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for we have a lot of uh listeners that are maybe young lawyers, aspiring lawyers, you know, maybe some of them want to go into intellectual property or uh maybe representing or helping larger companies or innovators.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just you know, share your perspective about how, if at all, your international um upbringing and your ability to seamlessly speak uh Spanish, how has that helped you?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how has that influenced your career?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um actually this morning I was just listening to the to the plenary and they mentioned that there was a study that said that um basically students who had the international background do better as an associate because they have the opportunity to connect with other with other cultures that are from Latin America.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's different being from Mexico than from Colombia, right?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: But at the end, in this country, you're still a Latino.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that if you have that background, if you have the opportunity to connect with other Latinos, it's gonna open your doors.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And especially like there's a lot of business like down the south, right?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that if you take advantage and see it as uh enhancement and and just um showing law firms or or your clients that you can represent them either in English and Espanol, that's something different, right?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And again, you guys see it every day with your clients.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the same going and looking for representation with someone that understands you than with someone that probably doesn't even know your your language, right?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're seeing it in law schools.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, like, for example, uh Alejandro and I, we were uh we taught like this class, Spanish for lawyers with Agustin Peña California Western.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I feel like California Western like really understands that.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: USD's understanding that with the fact that Spanish, it's really like an obligation, right?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: At this point, with for like our clients.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'll talk about my field in the sense that um most of Latin America uh companies don't understand how it's like we we deal with intellectual property in the US.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we treat it really seriously.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like a company can go bankrupt.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: If they infringe on the patent, and I have seen it several times.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something that for clients down south, if you don't know how to explain it, then probably they're gonna be in trouble in the US.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not a good thing whenever they call the litigators, right?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, no, that's not good.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: And hopefully at one point they will call John like Microsoft, Google, or his clients.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we can we can do so.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can do the science, you know, I'll dumb it down.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, we'll we'll just make it simple.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: They stole his idea.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get you good experts.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good, man.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's all we need.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, what would you say?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're gonna wrap here in the next couple minutes, but in terms of uh, you know, listeners out there that are considering being members of the Hispanic National Bar Association, why should they be members?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why should they be involved?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say that it's not only the benefits, but it's something that it will connect you with other people.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: One of the benefits that I would say for me, it was the IPLI program, the Intellectual Property Law Institute.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: But I know there's several other programs.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, Leah was telling me yesterday that she got connected with the HMBA because of the program that it's uh empowering women, Latino women in the field.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, those benefits are something that probably you're not gonna find in your local chapters.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And this is something that, for example, they have Poder 25, but they are trying to increase the general counsels across the board, like big uh Fortune 500 companies that basically don't have that Latino representation.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: And here it's basically a pipeline to get you into those positions.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, and the other thing is that again, connections, connections, connections.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's who you know.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that is really important, especially for young lawyers and students.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can get a job, you can get a good client if you get connected.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And again, at the end of the day, we're salesmen, right?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to get clients.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: Agreed.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then you know, like just touching on Tyler's point, like our first guest, he called it the HNBA Familia.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, right?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Good, perfect.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, sir, uh final question.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is a little deeper question.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we stole it from uh Oso Trava, the Cracks podcast.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever heard that, but he asked at the end, he goes, if you could write a message in the sky for all the world to read, what would your message be?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: What would you write in the sky for all the world to see?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Being pathetic.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's something that most most of us forget about it.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and not just with your clients, also with your co-counsel, with anyone that is reaching out to you.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're on the same team.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we're we're trying to help everyone, and we're just giving good service.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I love it.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Here's so here's another reason you know to come to HNBA.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: We've had two guests.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: First guy said lead with kindness or be kind.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: You said be empathetic.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So these are the nicest people in the world.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, quite clearly, you need to come out and be a member and get involved in the Hispanic National Bar Association.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, thank you so much for uh for being here with us.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a friend.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for looking after your elder cousin.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was gonna say younger cousin.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Young cousin.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: So younger cousin, your baby cousin.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for looking after your baby cousin.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: So um this is uh we'll be signing off now.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if you like us, please subscribe, share.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, look forward to uh we're gonna have a series of these shorter conversations here at the Hispanic National Bar Association.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Get to meet some incredible, smart, thoughtful people like our guests so far.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And really a great privilege to have you on.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for taking the time.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Alejandro.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Signing off.