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From Courtroom to Community: How a Trial Attorney Builds Purpose-Driven Legal Impact · The Lawtino™

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Latino podcast where we discuss the intersection of law and our Latino communities with legal, political, and community leaders and visionaries.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get started.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: Hey Sean Gomez, welcome to another episode of the Latino, where we discuss the intersection between law and our Latino communities.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: This episode, as always, is brought to you by your sponsor, Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: We are a binational, bicultural, and best in class law firm.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: We offer premier legal services in both the English and Spanish languages to clients who have suffered personal injury, employment torts or wrongdoing, civil rights abuses.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: We also represent victims of sexual abuse, sexual assault.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: We uh provide legal services all over California, all over the United States, with a special focus on the California, Mexico I'm sorry, uh Southwest uh Mexico border region.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: So uh California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm today uh joined as by my co-host David Areguin.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: He is our managing attorney in charge of now the California and Mexico border region.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: He also is our uh a managing attorney for attorney relations.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: So we try to have relationships with different lawyers um both here in California and elsewhere.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: We're joined today by a very special guest who I can believe has not been on our podcast already.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um David was on our podcast before he was a lawyer at the firm.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Our uh guest today is a current senior trial attorney at our law firm, Laura Deetz.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: She um has been with us in doing really high-level legal word, very involved in La Raza lawyers and other community organizations from here in San Diego, and just an amazing lawyer and human and uh you know force in our community.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being with us, Laura Dietz.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me and thank you for the beautiful introduction.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Very kind.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Now, um, what we like to do is we like to learn a little bit about our guests, like where you grew up, went to school, um, that kind of thing.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm born and raised here in San Diego, and obviously, like yourself very proud of that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I care so much about our community, and that's what really motivated me to come back after college was I knew I want to be a lawyer and to really cater to our community here in San Diego.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew up in San Diego um and La Jolla and attended Francis Parker.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and from there I went on to Texas Christian University.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think 18-year-old me was just wanting to get out, away from parents.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, definitely a big culture shock from San Diego.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where's CCU?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Fort Worth, Texas.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So right outside of Dallas.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Very popular school.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people that went there, they loved it, right?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's an incredible school.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: I had an incredible experience, and I think that it really allowed me to become more independent, you know, really getting far away from San Diego.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it it was a culture shock just because here in San Diego, I just like to still think of us as, you know, a surf town.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it's just a different dynamic and different culture.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I attended Texas Christian University, where I majored in political science with an emphasis in law and a minor in criminal justice.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so really solidifying and setting the stage for me to become an attorney and really taking courses like due process and criminal courts to just ensure that this is what I wanted to do, become an attorney.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so knowing that I wanted to become an attorney and cater towards our community in here in San Diego that I care a lot about, I came back to San Diego and attended Calwestern School of Law where I graduated and received my jurisdictorate in that year ever since.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: With honors.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I saw that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not the cum lade.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, holy cow.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Man, I'm learning things right here.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: I always knew she was smart, but I didn't know like one of these nerdy book smart people.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_05: I did a little after I was shocked, but I couldn't find much.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_05: That's why I'm happy like learn all this.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, I definitely was the nerdy one in law school.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: It just really cut my head down and was really competitive and wanting to get the highest grade in every class.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Now, um, so where where'd this come from?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: This early focus on law and wanting to be a lawyer, like from the get?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a good question because I'm always envious of people that had an aha moment or something that happened to them, like a personal experience, whether it's a family member that went through the criminal justice system or et cetera.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't necessarily like that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think that coming, me coming from a family of immigrants, you know, I always like to joke about this.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're either going to become a lawyer or a doctor.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's always kind of the pressure that's instilled.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so growing up, my grandfather Robert used to always joke around and be like, you're gonna be a lawyer, you're gonna be a lawyer.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was always in the back of my head.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that, you know, as I read certain books or was become very intrigued.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: At first, my intrigue was with criminal law.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so having that pressure in the back of my mind and then actually realizing that the law was something that I was passionate about and something that I enjoyed learning about, and something that, you know, we're so lucky to have our civil and criminal justice system here in the United States as opposed to other countries that don't have the same access.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was really a motivating factor.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But still really, I think the lot of the driving point was coming from an immigrant family that really kind of pressured you to become to that grow to that level of professionalism.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, what an immigrant family like, tell us about that.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us about your family, where they're from, uh, their influence on you.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So on my father's side, I'm honestly a big mixture of a lot of things.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: On my father's side, um, my family is Eastern European uh Jews.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, in an effort to try to escape the Holocaust and the growing persecution in Eastern Europe at the time, um, my great-grandmother fella um um, you know, had to marry her first cousin in order to escape, in order to go to Mexico, because at the time Ellis Island hadn't met their cap.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: They were no longer allowing people into the United States.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's why everybody went to Mexico City.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_04: That's why they they closed the gates at Ellis.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, no way.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, a lot of the people I know in Mexico City, they're Jews in San Lorcien area.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I didn't like Polanco.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: Of course.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that unless you grew up here in San Diego or are just familiar with it, a lot of people don't really know that there's kind of a I grew up a huge Mexican Jewish community, and it started with that.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So wow.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my great-grandmother had, in order to escape and bring her mother, her brother, and her sister with her, had to marry her first cousin who was already living in Guadalajara.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so she came in through Ptampico and then eventually got to Guadalajara, where my grandparents and my grandmother and my father were born in Guadalajara.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So eventually, you know, like you'll see, I mean, there's a who there was a lot of Mexican Jews that immigrated from Guadalajara in Mexico City to Tijuana back in the 70s and 80s and eventually made their way to the United States.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So my family came here in the 70s and 80s.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so immigrants on the end.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So on my father's side, I'm first generation here in the United States.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: On my mother's side, um, third generation, but my grandfather came from a family of immigrants as well from Mexico.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so he was the one that I was saying that was really, you know, encouraging of you're either gonna become a doctor or a lawyer, because that's you know, we didn't make our efforts and strive and work hard to come to this country and you not to, you know, reach those expectations, which a lot of it was a joke, but you know, I think that really encouraged me and pressured me to become an attorney.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Super amazing story.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I learned something.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_05: Well, the fact that Nara is a little bit tapatia.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: I am, I am.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely, definitely.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so, um, so you said like at first you wanted to do criminal law.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to us about your journey through law school and kind of what you were thinking about doing, what you ended up doing, that that path and journey.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think, you know, this is gonna sound cliche, but I remember in eighth grade vividly reading To Kill a Mockingbird and being really moved by that book.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what really led to my interest in criminal law.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: But also I remember following so closely like the Casey Anthony trial and wanting to watch that nonstop.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so at that point in time when I was, I was like, well, I I think I want to do something whether in criminal law, whether it's be a prosecutor or criminal defense attorney.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: At that point, I was kind of torn.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so once I went to college, it was going the summer going into my second year.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I came back home to San Diego and interned as a student worker at the San Diego District Attorney's Office and got to Shadow, who is now a judge on the bench, Judge Brouwer.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was previously a JAG, and then he had entered the insurance fraud division at the district attorney's office.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I uh really was his law clerk intern.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um so at first I was doing a lot of insurance fraud-related crimes, which was interesting because it's a grant funded division at the district attorney's office, but wasn't really getting to touch those kind of You are Zucan KC ans.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, where I was wanting the exposure to the orders and yeah, not not the not having workers' compensation insurance.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I respect to that area, it just wasn't that glamorous side that you think of when you think of the criminal law and the criminal justice system.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: It's still a great internship.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_05: So I sit that on the uh under the economic crime sedition.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_05: So it's it's still probably like the largest law firm in Tallinn.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but I thought that was a great experience that you got there and basically going into court and audits.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and it really was because you get you I really got to see the dynamic.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously with district attorneys, they're in court every single day, whether they're the calendar attorney or, you know, answering up or whatever it may be.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it was nice to have that exposure and see the inner workings of the criminal court system.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I continued on, and then in college, I actually interned for a judge for two years in a criminal justice and criminal court.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was criminal court number six, I think.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Her name was Judge Jamie Cummings.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And she handled a lot of the criminal domestic violence.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Fort Ortallis, so Tarrant County, Fort Orth.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um And you were like dead set on this path.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was, and I was wanting to do anything.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it what helped is having good mentors that were encouraging and really telling me how important it was to try out different areas of the law and and really making sure that this was a path I was wanting to take on.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because as you guys know, law school's not easy.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not for everyone.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a big commitment, so really making sure that it's something that you're passionate about.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I interned there for the judge in Tarrant County, and it was a lot of domestic violence criminal cases.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And with it, I got to see the background stuff of the research that the research attorney is doing for the judge and what's happening in chambers, and then also getting into shadow district attorneys and criminal defense attorneys.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that point in time was I was really like, okay, I'm I'm into criminal law, but what side do I like?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm intrigued by both.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I kind of switched gears.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Then I reached a point where I was like, I don't know if I want to do criminal law.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that was when I started law school.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Or I went into law school thinking I complete 180 thinking I wanted to do general counsel work.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: General counsel?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't know what where that popped out of.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_05: This is the side of things.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I wanted at that point.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I complete 180, which is like you went from wanting to be so passionate about litigation, then all of a sudden in-house, which you don't do absolutely any kind of litigation.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're just kind of an expert in all different areas of the law.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so in law school, knowing thinking that, I interned for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority for the general counsel, which was interesting because you're dealing with land use regulations, um, you know, a lot of HR policy-making decisions.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was actually a few mentors and also my now husband that encouraged me saying, like, I think you're selling yourself not short, but that he he was like, I see you in the courtroom, not just behind a desk implementing policies and procedures.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so like as a diversion or you know, intro, your husband is a lawyer.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and he's a criminal defense lawyer.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, he is.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And did you guys go to law school together, I imagine?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: We did.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: He was the year above me in law school, but we attended law school together.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and you're doing your general counsel thing, and he's like, hey, Laura, honey, I've I think I think you're made for the courtroom, you know.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so then then what happened?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I actually so then at that point I took a few courses at Cal Western, which, you know, I'm a huge advocate for Cal Western, but they do have a lot of trial litigation courses that you could take.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So started taking that, and then I was like, okay, I think you know, this fell into, or even my second year of law school, we had used to have this course, I don't know if it still exists, but called Steps, and you had to argue an MSJ motion.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember, and they'd bring in a judge, and you'd argue it before them.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I in that moment I'm like, I think he's right.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And at a law school, I originally did government entity defense um for El Centro, Imperial County, Riverside.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Short-lived, because I didn't love being on the def the civil defense side.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Where was that?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um I worked, his name was John McCormick.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very small firm called McCormick Mitchell.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was like four, yeah.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, but it gives you a little insight on the other side.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_05: How it works, how they communicate, which you know works for us.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then now in my job, it has helped me so much, especially be on the other end of um representing these government entities and kind of knowing the games that are played on the other side and cut things that would make a plaintiff's attorney job difficult.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I wasn't getting a lot of litigation experience with that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was merely, you know, deposition here and there or appearing at a case management conference, and that was this.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a friend from law school reach out that they were hiring at a family law firm that she was working at.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she would always talk about how much litigation experience she was getting.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I jumped on the opportunity.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, at first I was like, I never really considered family law at any point in law school, but I thought, okay, if I could get in the courtroom every day, appearing in front of judges, creating those relationships, making my name known, and and really gaining the tools and skills to feel comfortable in the courtroom, I'll do this.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I did family law for just shy of three years before obviously coming here to the firm.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so is it true you're in court a lot?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: I we I had a very heavy caseload and I was at a very um high-volume firm.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So 99% of the time I would spend my days in court, which was great.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember there's even this one judge that I still see all the time, Judge Alvarez, and she used to be in Department 704, and we would joke because I'd be in her department almost every day during the week.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: I had so many cases assigned to that department.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: She'd be like, Miss Deeds, you're back again.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was in court a lot.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And where where is that?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where's family court?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's in the main courthouse, the brand new courthouse, the one that's drawn right behind you.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_05: And I think to this day, it's very much in person, people showing up in person for family law.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it was a weird time because when I did practice family law at the beginning, it was, you know, the COVID pandemic days where everything was virtual and just really adapting to that.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I did gain a lot of valuable litigation experience and which I believe has helped me become good at my job presently.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so like what percentage of your time uh doing that was devoted to like fighting over the kids, like kid custody issues.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: Too much or support issues.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, a lot of the kids, um, you'd see some cases where they'd be fighting over every little thing, whether the kid's gonna drink almond milk or whole milk.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you'd be sitting there thinking, you're spending thousands and thousands of dollars to fight with your soon-to-be ex over what kind of milk the child is is is drinking.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think that unfortunately family laws are very messy.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, did ever I always thought if you I wouldn't want to do that work.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, no re all respect in real to the people that do, but I feel like I don't know, man.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like of all the stuff you could do, I feel like it would emotionally drain me more than anything, especially like if the parents were like using the kids and like you know, I feel like a lot of I don't know, my impression looking from the outside is a lot of these parents not even realizing it or not acting in the best interest of their kids, like they're trying to perpetuate this relationship or they're trying to get back, or yeah, I don't know, like how was that?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Was that hard at times?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you are you are right.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, kids become pawns in these situations where some people just become so vindictive and they you see their darkest side when they're going through the family court system, and it is hard as their attorney because you know, you're seeing this firsthand.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, my my parents are divorced, so I went through, you know, and unfortunately it was a very amicable situation, but it's hard not, it was hard for me to not put myself in these kids' shoes because knowing that they were the ones at the end of the day being impacted just because their parents were being dysfunctional and hated each other so much and were so distracted with this rage and anger that at the end of the day they weren't staying or wanting to come to realize what was best for the kids.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because you have parents that are coming at the workworks with allegations that are crazy, and you're like, you wouldn't have stayed with it, just especially when it comes to the kids, just because out of the desire of wanting to have primary custody or or whatnot.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was hard because it was emotionally draining, because you could walk out of the courtroom.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: There'd be plenty of times where I'd be like, wow, I just got my client an incredible result, and your clients aren't happy.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Still, there's always another, another level.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it is interesting what you said.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, shouldn't they think about what's in the best interest of the kids?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, with custody, the standard, it's the best interest standard.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times, and it is like frequent and continuing contact with both parents, and and a lot of times the parents don't care.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's inside, I mean, there there are there's a minority group where you do have really amicable uh dissolutions where the parents just want what's best for the family and the kids, but then you have that stark contrast of that's not the case that people are willing to lose every single penny they have fighting.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_05: I think one of the very unfortunate situations I did a little a bit of family practice um at the start of my career.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_05: But did you see a lot of like domestic violence restraining orders?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_05: And generally they come from like fighting for the kids.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I would see that very frequently.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's hard because then you have situations where there are legit domestic violence situations.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, that shouldn't be overlooked, but then you have situations where it's a parent just it's a custody grab.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And a parent is, you know, fighting, you know, flying to court, being the first one to file their streeting, or just because they're trying to check the box uh that they you know ha should have primary physical and legal custody and that you know, mom or dad's a threat, so they shouldn't have any custody, and if so, it's supervision, and then you're creating an uphill battle.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I I would see that very frequently where it'd be false allegations of domestic violence.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's sad um because I think it just taints and puts a cloud over the legit domestic violence situations that do happen in in the court system.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I mean, I it's I'm I'm happy to have gotten away from it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And now do what I do, which I feel you know is feels so much more rewarding.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um tell us tell us about how so you're over there, you know, in court all day, you know, filling these crazy people for fighting with each other.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so um how did you find your way to Gomez trial attorneys?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: How did that happen?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: So uh a prior um associate here at the firm had actually reached out and I had attended law school with him.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um and he was aware of what a nerd I was in law school.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because he'd always give me a hard time saying that I would cry if I would get an A minus because it wasn't an A.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so he had seen me in court a few times.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: You have A-'s?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: This is an outrage.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, continue.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he so he had reached out that you guys had an opening position in the single events department and you know had Steam Me Accord and knew um just kind of the work ethic that I had um and reached out and was like, we're hiring.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's a complete it's completely different than what you are doing presently, but he's like, I remember you did work on the defense side.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, are you interested to meet with me?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you about the firmware.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't and so I thought, you know what?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm content at where I am, but I don't feel fulfilled.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt that if I continued doing family law, I would allow it would it take over my life in in a negative way, just because it does make you it it's hard.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: It it's it it affects you emotionally and your your own personal life.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I thought, oh my god, I'm gonna end up in the court system myself in the divorce if I don't if I don't find it out.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: You were married, right?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I wasn't my and Ari and I would joke about that, like the it just was the I it was hard.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was hard not to let what your clients were going through and the reactions impact you emotionally.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um I met with the former attorney that was here at a firm and um I heard him out, and then he brought me over to the firm and I met you and I met with the other partner, John Greer.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I went to went to lunch with John Greer and I thought this is what I'm looking for.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for a career where I'm able to help people that I have been harmed, but without that emotion, you know, obviously it's it, I still get have that emotional connection with my clients because I feel so much for them and um, you know, I want to fight so hard for them, but it's it's a different level of emotion.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just felt like this career opportunity and doing plaintiffs work was just gonna be so much more fulfilling and more rewarding.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that, you know, was what had motivated me to even become an attorney.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I started off here at the in the single events department.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: What is that single events?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't, I mean, it's the our high volume um division, um, typically lower policy limit cases, um, but just higher volume.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so starting that a lot of car crash cases?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, predominantly a lot of motor vehicle collisions and not as much um premises liability, but um, you know, it's you and paralegal and a case manager, and it's it's higher volume.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um, starting off that department really helped me grasp and have an understanding and a foundational knowledge on the plaintiff's, you know, side of um civil litigation.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so to me, that was such a good starting point.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just because I got to understand the inner workings, um, and it was really much a sink or swim situation, which I'm so grateful for because one, I was able to swim too, you know, it really, I believe, taught me a foundational starting point, um, which really helped me once I moved on to a trial team.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: So at some point you go from that to what you call a trial team.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: So, what do you do as a lawyer today for Gold Ministrial Attorneys on a trial team?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so now I'm on Brian Mason's team, who's one of the partners here.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was in single events, I don't even, I think it was not even a year until him, he recruited me over to his team.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we're just working, we're working on catastrophic injury cases.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our team does a lot of civil rights cases, which I'm very passionate about and medical malpractice.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just more complex cases, a lot more litigation heavy than um what I was doing more so in single events.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: In single events, I was a lot of it was primarily uh pre-litigation.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I had cases in litigation, but very pre-litigation heavy.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but now on a trial team, it's we're very litigation heavy.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to trial, um, you know, a lot more depositions, a lot more discovery, a lot more meet and confers.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: And tell us about a couple cases that that you really have been excited or are excited about that that you work on.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite case, which I guess I can't talk too much about it's it's pending litigation, but um civil rights, our jail death case on the back case is probably one of my biggest passion projects.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's it's something that I'm very passionate about, maybe because I'm married to criminal defense attorney, but I think that, you know, we do have a problem in our jail systems here in San Diego County.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that a lot of people are not aware of that, and or sometimes people don't care because they're like, oh, they're criminal defendants, who cares?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, it's it's pretrial detainees that are being held in our county jails.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's the presumption of innocence.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just because someone is, whether or not they are a criminal, doesn't mean that they're they are they should be killed in custody or, you know, not provided adequate medical treatment.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we're currently in active litigation on that case, but that's a case that really makes me excited and something that I'm very passionate about and and advocating for that family and for you know what what Keith Bach had to endure.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: But what I love so much is just digging through just the policies, the procedures, and the issues that have been occurring within the county jails.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then um in that case, you know, Laura doesn't want to talk about it too much because it's impending litigation, but it's been in the news.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: This gentleman was um Navy veteran, long time Sandy City San Diego employee, had um is a diabetic, um, had uh an incident at home while his blood sugar was unregulated and it causes him to get in a bad mood, basically.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so they take him away and then they don't give him his insulin, he dies of ketoacidosis.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Correct, correct.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sad case.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it it was a preventable death.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: All he needed was his insulin, which obviously they're in dispute about uh the insulin that was given and whatnot, but um that's that's a that's a case that's received some press coverage.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of remember right when the case came in, I kind of remember like most of the team was either at or off to a retreat in Mexico, I think.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then you you and Brian were here.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Brian went on English TV and you went on Spanish TV.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I was actually in Houston.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're correct.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in Houston with you for um Shades and Masks, but majority of everyone else was in Mexico on the firm retreat.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Brian was still here finishing up an MSJ.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: He had argued um an MSJ in a big trucking case that we had settled um this year, but he did the um interview here in English, and then I hopped on when we were in Houston to do the Spanish, yeah, to do the Spanish uh interview just because um on the eve of of the deadline for filing the complaint was when we finally received the medical examiner report, which really shed a lot more light onto what had happened um while Keith was in custody.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like one more case.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: So Isabelle, one more case that you've worked on or you're excited about.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, I think uh another case that I was really excited about, and even more so after the verdict was our uh recent case against MTS that we received an$8.5 million verdict on.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think that case is as well, um, just because really seen through justice.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um in that situation, the parents, it was a wrongful death case.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the parents just wanted validation and justice and accountability on MTS's part.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just because for so long, you know, it was painted a picture that their son, who was strangled to death um on the MTS bus, was a drug addict, criminal, you know, uh every horrible name under um the sun.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that the jury really validated how they were feeling and showed that that's not who their son was, and that MTS was responsible and held accountable.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think getting to work on that case was something that I enjoyed so much and I'm still very happy with the outcome.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Another high profile case that received some good media coverage.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: And basically, um your client's decedent was uh basically put in a chokehold by another passenger for like eight minutes.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, a little reminiscent of um George Floyd, D.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: Black uh young man, and um a zero offer case.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: In that case, the bus company offered you nothing, and you got a verdict of eight and a half million.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it was, you know, I I really owe it to to Brian and to you.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um you guys were the masterminds on this, and um, you know, Brian did a fantastic job putting on the case, but it it was really nice to see that you know the jury cared so much because it was the student was someone that had a future that was taken away from him at 28 years old.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I do think there's there's a trend with the my favorite cases to that, right?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_05: One of these radicals, I remember the poster in the press conference.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_05: I know we you spoke about emotion.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_05: You spoke about being passionate, and I think I told you this.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_05: I saw the press conference and I just saw your like your face.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_05: It just you just show it in motion.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you said the jury cared, but it definitely looked like you care about your clients.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_05: So when I saw that, that really like stuck to me.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, it's good that you know we have her on the vern.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_05: A special shout out to the husband because she got her doc on the litigation.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_05: And this way she's all right, thank you.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta give him a shout-out, but I I do appreciate that.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I think, you know, it it's been nice to have mentors like Brian and you that are so passionate about your clients, and you know, that's that's really taught me well.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it and it's hard for me, it's it's hard not to care, especially like in this recent situation, seeing two wonderful people lose their son.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, no parent should ever have to go through that.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or even in the box case, like no one deserves for their spouse to be taken away from them and and killed in that way.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but thank you.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: I it means a lot.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: So um I understand your current former treasurer, currently um at large director for La Rosa Lores of San Diego.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to us a little bit about that group, the work that they do, and and your role with that group.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um I was I'm the former treasurer of the association.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was one year term.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I recently just stepped out of that, and then I've now assumed the role of at-large director.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm still on the board just in a different capacity.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it is an association that I do care about tremendously.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've met such incredible people working on the board or just attending these events, and something that we care so much.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not just the Hispanic community that we're passionate about uplifting.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's all minority communities.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we do put on the scholarship fund um gala every year.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're awarding um scholarship um funds to the recipients that are called, I mean, law school students, um, to obviously help alleviate the drastic cost of law school.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we also do it in the springtime, which is the bar stipend.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's something that's part of the association that I am very passionate about that you know, we're have such incredible donors like our firm, which I actually just found out at the most recent gala that you were the first one to donate to the scholarship fund.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: I did, yeah, I didn't remember that either.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: Are aren't you a longist like setting member of the colour?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like a lifetime matter too.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I didn't even either he said that, I go, wow.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so thank you for that.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, that's something I care about tremendously because law school is such a financial hardship and it shouldn't prevent anyone, you know, whatever background demographic you are from pursuing your dreams and becoming an attorney in this legal community.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we do, aside from that, we do, you know, give back tremendously.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we do have the public benefit fund that does a lot more hands-on community service um events, whether it's putting on suit drives um for homeless or you know, low income that are needing suits for um interviews, et cetera.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I am very passionate about that Rasa and the association, everything that the community has done.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been really cool to see it um evolve.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited to see where um this no new board and president are gonna take it the next year.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, you know, we see this growing I I would say, you know, the the demographics of you know, California and the Southwest are um increasing uh showing an increasing population of Latinos, um Hispanic speakers, uh you know, people from you know, Mexico, Central, South America.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you know, organizations like that that among other things provide scholarship resources to representative uh future lawyers, I think super important.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: What about you know, your work here?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we say that we're a binational, you know, we have office in Mexico and here and we're bi uh cultural, you know.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think you can speak to well, why don't you speak to like I do we try how does how does it help you to have that cultural awareness and and basically language ability in terms of representing, you know, your clients and your everyday work as a member of this trial team?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: It helps a ton, especially being in San Diego, like we just said, we have such a large Hispanic population here in San Diego County.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm fluent in Spanish.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so immediately we we have a very large amount of Spanish speaking clients, and immediately, you know, just the ability to understand their culture, you know, I myself a Mexican, but also the ability to speak Spanish fluently allows them to feel a lot more competent and comfortable with me.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I for my dad, for example, my dad speaks Spanish and English, prefers Spanish.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he's gonna be more comfortable working with an attorney or someone that is going to be able to speak Spanish fluently, but also understand the culture, you know, like the whether it's the jokes or just the cultural background, et cetera.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it does help me immensely, you know, having the ability to understand my clients because, you know, there's so many people I could say, okay, well, I don't speak Spanish, but I could have someone interpreting and I could still represent them.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a huge difference because having that ability to have that one-on-one communication conversation with your clients not only helps me understand what they've gone through better, but also be able to connect with them, which you know is so imperative in what we do in order to adequately advocate for them.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's something that I think is awesome that we have, that we have so many Spanish speakers here at the firm because we are able to, you know, effectively communicate with them, make them feel comfortable, um, you know, make, you know, have them understand that we know where they're coming from, we we know their cultural background, and we are going to be able to adequately, you know, fight for them and and represent them.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it has helped me tremendously, not only my current role, but even prior jobs, just um being fluent.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I always tell people, Mike, if you speak Spanish, if kids teach your kids to speak Spanish, it's the most important thing to me, especially here in in San Diego County or just the growing um Hispanic population throughout the country.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_05: I totally agree with that.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_05: You probably see the advantage as well during the depositions.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_05: So maybe an interpreter is trying to translate something literally, but they're not getting the real message behind it, right?
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_05: So at that point, you can actually interject and say, well, that's not what my client said.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've had that happen to me before.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if I was, I think it was like in June, I was in a deposition up in uh Temecula, and they were taking my client's deposition and the interpreter, you know, court certified interpreter.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we were five minutes into the admonitions, and I go, She's not even translating the admonitions correctly.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is what is happening here?
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm like, okay, I'm gonna give it another minute to see if this was just the few mistakes.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't, I told defense companies, I'm like, Can we take a quick break?
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Pull our sign.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: I go, we're, you know, you guys are entitled to my client's most accurate testimony, but I need to ensure that my client's testimony is being adequately and correctly translated, and that's not what's happening here.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a huge benefit because if not, we would have allowed the whole deposition to have gone forward, and who knows what the transcript would have looked like.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they'd be like, uh, are you hurt?
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: And she'd be like, yes, very much, and it get translated.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's some, I mean, I've even seen it in court when I did Fazling All.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: I remember doing a restraining order, and then I'm like, my clients testifying as to the abuse uh he underwent.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, and I was a brand new attorney, and I'm like, what do I do?
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I pay I'm in sheer panic.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like in front of the judges of a court certified interpreter.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Am I about to embarrass?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like it, but it is it is such a benefit um being able to speak Spanish fluently.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: What about like a year-old firm?
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of remember, weren't you like the Spanish-speaking lawyer?
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I handled predominantly the Spanish-speaking clients there.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_05: That's a lot of clients.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it it was a lot of, you know, a lot of the clients had, you know, one of the spouses was still in Mexico, or a majority of the assets, bank accounts, et cetera, were in Mexico.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: So figuring that out was was uh took a lot.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's really easy to hide stuff there or falsify documents.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, other than it's exposure to Mexican law.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know um you do you see it all over.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: You see like say habla español, like on everyone.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_02: Without the on everybody's, you know, website or their whatever, their TV commercials or their billboards.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I think like the traditional model was they'd have like maybe like you know, two or five lawyers, all non-Spanish speakers, and then they would have paralegals, you know, almost all non-Spanish speakers.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: Then they might have like one legal that's just speak Spanish, and so they say say hablaspanish.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, no, no.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_05: To this day, it'll probably be a good thing.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it still is the case, you know.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's why, you know, just recognizing the importance of what you said, like that why we've you know intentionally tried to build out a team that uh can connect both linguistically and culturally.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because it matters.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it matters a lot.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: So um so you're here um, you know, uh about to embark on this new journey of motherhood.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, you know, like I feel like you know, being a lawyer in a high sort of stakes capacity, like you're working on million dollar cases all the time and a lot at stake, high stakes, high risk.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_02: And now you're gonna be a mom too.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder, like, and I'm sure like a million not a million, many of our listeners have been through that journey.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so I want to check in with you about like, how are you feeling?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_02: Are you like worried that's gonna be too much?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: Can I juggle it all?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: Do you feel confident?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: How do you feel?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think I feel confident.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, in our most recent trial in the GAF case, I was pregnant.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so that I was like, I gave me so much more respect.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've seen so many attorneys, whether like I remember my husband had a trial against a district attorney.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was like a year and a half ago, and she was two weeks from giving birth and had like a week and a half trial that she put on.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, it just has given me, you know, a lot more respect for going through that.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think I think nerves with becoming a parent, but not nerves in terms of my career.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think inevitably, you know, it's in the back of our minds of, oh, how is this gonna change?
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like I still want to be performing at that same level.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want my career to change.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: I still um, you know, want to get it my hundred percent, still work on these types of cases.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think just trying to go into it with a plan, knowing that, you know, I'm gonna have a spouse that I'm gonna have to rely on, but I guess trying not to be worried about how it's gonna impact my career because I really don't want that.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think, you know, for so long, um my number one was my career, and that's something I still care about so much, and it's still my number one, and it's you know, I I don't want that to change.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: I just want it to be that, but just plus a kid, and you know, my husband and I will have to figure it out since we're both trial attorneys, but thank God for grandparents and yeah, and hopefully help.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Do they live they live here?
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yes.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: My my both my parents are here, and you know, I have a great support system with my family, so I will definitely be leaning on that so that I feel trials.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, David's a new dad.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I feel like it really grounds you, really gives you purpose, yeah, motivates you, I think makes you a better lawyer.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_02: But like, how about you?
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_02: How are how's it going for you?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: You how old is your boy these days?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: So he's turning four months into two days.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god, congratulations.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, and congratulations did not give me a five year.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_05: So that's very exciting.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, so it's sort of like you said, it grounds you, but it makes you more focused, right?
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_05: Because you basically want to go to work, and now you're not thinking about making money for yourself, you're thinking about making money to pay the mortgage.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, and then get a 529A to make sure that you have your college tradition, right?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, you know, all these things change, but you know, I I think I I've become more efficient because I know like I have this limited time that I want to do work, and then at least from like 8 30 to 10 I can be with Davey.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_05: Something like that.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um and I do enjoy being out.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_05: So uh, but no, congratulations and then at this point.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, you know, like you said, you're you've been very focused on work, you know, getting all these A's too lost, so not A minuses.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: I had A minuses too.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_05: So, so I think uh, you know, just the fact that you worked so hard, you were at a computer working so hard, you know, with a baby, with your work, with your career.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, no, I have I mean it's it's a good question because like I've had friends that are not lawyers that think what I do is crazy or how are you gonna do the baby?
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, so there are plenty of other people that do it.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: I could figure it out.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of just okay, you know, if I'm gonna have to get back to work after the baby goes to sleep, and that's what I'll do, and that's no problem.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just a matter of just adapting.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I love what I do, and it's it's part of who I am, and I don't want to get rid of that.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I feel like I feel like mothers have a superpower, yeah, knee rest.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_02: They can get everything done.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: I always think about Ruth Bader Ginsworth, like when she was at Harvard Law School, and I think her husband had cancer, and so she was doing like she was and they had kids, she had two kids already, I think.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and she was like doing all her work, she was doing all his work, taking care of the kids.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, I just you can't, you can't you can't beat a mother.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_05: No, she's a superwoman.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_05: She had dirty teeth.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_05: I'm always dosy, even though I fight and try to help, especially at night.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you'll see this.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but yeah, mom's like my wife's doing a great job.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_05: Just like, I don't know how she she doing it.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_05: She goes through me well, but she's still there.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: You just power through, I think.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: I will I'll figure it out.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: I fortunately I'm at six months, so I still have a few months to at least get emotionally prepared and we'll see how things go.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: So um, are you like when this baby arrives?
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: Would you like to see this baby one go to Francis Parker?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: Which uh for our listeners, um Laura grew up in La Jolla, she said, but she went to Francis Parker.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so, like, there are a number of these nice, well-acclaimed private schools here.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: Two of them happen to be in La Jolla, one in La Jolla proper, place called Bishops, and then there's a place called La Jolla Country Day, which is not really in La Jolla, but close enough.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but then you went to Francis Parker, which is kind of, you know, I would say Linda Vista E.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the middle school and high school's right across the street from USD and then the elementary school in Mission Hills.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: So like just I'm curious, like how come you went to Francis Parker?
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I will have to ask my parents.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they've made that choice.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: They made that choice.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: My s my sister originally went to San Diego Jewish Academy.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I think in fifth grade went to switched over to Francis Parker.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so my brother Jewish Academy were around back then?
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, but it was uh it was at Bet well, do you know where Beth Al it's a city?
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't at his current No, it wasn't at his current campus.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was later.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: We might be a Jewish Academy alum if it was.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's pretty nice.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, yeah, I mean the campus is very very nice now.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think just because my sister was uh Francis Parker, my brother and I are 15 months apart, so I think my parents just thought let's have our kids there.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, will my future will my kid go there?
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: I had an incredible experience.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: I some of my closest friends are my friends that I made, they're Francis Parker.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it has a grand reputation.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it does.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's a it it really prepared me well for college.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, it really is the college, uh, you know, key college prep school.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: But one, I don't know if I want to pay as much as they now charge.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh two, I I I think that, you know, you're kind of in a bubble there, which is great.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's those pros and cons.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think my graduating class was less than 120 kids.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think maybe more on like 100, 105, um, which is great.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're with the same kids pretty much from pre-K kindergarten through your senior year.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: So really have the opportunity to make those close friendships, but I think it's also closed off from uh the real world sometimes.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think it's a give uh you know, a give and take because I think as a parent, you want what's safest for your kids and you want your kids to have the best education.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's definitely a dialogue my time will tell.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm I'm for sending my kid to the Jewish Academy.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: My husband's from Houston and the opposite spectrum, but we'll we'll see.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I do feel I do foresee preschool at JCC, though, is what I see.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, probably I think we're gonna debate that one.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, probably GCC or they have a monastery school at Bethel, which they teach them Spanish also.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, okay.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is very good.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: Much needed here.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: The more important question, you know, with two lawyers as a parent, you think this child, you know, might end up being a lawyer?
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_02: Would you like to see that?
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: We actually might uh Ari and I were talking about that the other day because Ari's a third generation criminal defense attorney.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so we were joking around, we're like, what it, you know, are we getting encouraged that or are we gonna tell him like maybe, maybe get into, I don't know, AI or tech, something tech related.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think that we're both like, you know, I think inevitably seeing both of your parents, that's something that's encouraging.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of times do you want to follow the footsteps, or so much of our converse, our home conversation is surrounding the law, whether it's me talking about my cases and brainstorming ideas with Ari or vice versa, Ari doing the same.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm know pr about pretty much every single one of his cases because that he's constantly brainstorming.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I think inevitably this kid will hear a lot about the law, and I'll either drive them to want to become an him to become an attorney, or for him to say, absolutely not, I want something completely different.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be supportive of whatever.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I think selfishly I'd be excited to see my son.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, and passionate about their work.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like in if I feel like if your son was listening to you guys talk about work or maybe going to court with you once in a while, they would see you enjoy it.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: And probably want to do it, yeah.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: I imagine.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my dad always told me, you know, pick your career on whatever fulfills you makes you happy.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if it doesn't make you happy, what's going to motivate you to get up in the morning?
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I always took that to heart.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think with me, it's like I care so much about the clients that I'm representing and about the work that I am doing.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's so motivating and it's fulfilling to me.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so as long as my kid is fulfilled, but it I think that inevitably, like what you're saying, them seeing both me and and Ari being passionate about what we do will instill that in them.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I'd be excited.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it I think it's always cool, like when your kids, like Annalise comes and interns at the office and um, you know, is really driven by the type of work you've done.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really cool.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's cool.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think Annalise will be a lawyer.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: She'll take over this place.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_02: So um, in kind of closing, um a lot of uh our listeners are kind of younger, maybe law students, future law students, uh lawyers just starting out.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like what kind of advice would you give them, especially to maybe the females that are kind of saying, oh, look at this, you know, strong, successful Latina lawyer.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: How can I get there?
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: What advice would you give them?
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think really relying on mentors.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think making those connections.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like it I always tell people, because I'll have people reach out to me after a La Rasa event, saying, Can I grab coffee with you?
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I always take the time to do that because, you know, I think so many of them are nervous or scared or, oh, I come from a family where no one is a lawyer.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, can I do this?
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think, you know, really going to these networking events, making connections with, you know, current lawyers in the community and and really, you know, keeping that connection with them because you never know who's gonna one of these days have a job opening or or have a friend that's looking for an associate.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's not just the job opportunity, but just the mentorship through law school.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have, there's this one law student that goes to Thomas Jefferson that, you know, is gonna wants to is gonna become the first attorney in her family.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember she reached out to me immediately after the tri-school mixer that we had here at the office.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm always more than happy to meet with her because, you know, I always told her like you could do it and and giving her advice of, okay, you're coming up to bar prep.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is the program you need to do, this is the type of schedule.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think relying on on your mentors and really making those connections and just working hard and trying to get as many internship, clerkship positions as as possible and really gaining that experience because you know, you could sit in a library all you want and just study and get good grades.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the practical skill is something that's so important, you know.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's something like when we've hired law clerks for the team.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to see that you've had experience, you know, drafting or, you know, the more hands-on experience as opposed to like, oh, you could recite me this evidence code section without looking at it.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's that is great.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think also really getting that hands-on practical experience is is something so important.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but so I think that those things, but obviously work hard.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:32
  unknown: Yeah.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: Good advice.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: Good advice, Laura.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think that there's a lot of things uh you could do, but I think And so where where can people find you?
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_02: You're on our website, right?
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_02: Gomez trial attorneys.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wait.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_02: The gomez firm.com.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_02: Get gomez.com.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_02: And do you have like social media?
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_02: Are you on social media?
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not too active on social media.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's more private for like family stuff.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, don't say I think, I think uh after yeah, I maybe maybe one of these days they need to cream a more firm uh based one, but I think uh I had some uh interesting clients who I did family law that uh crossed that boundary.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: So now I like to have my personal social media private, but it could they could reach me at firms like that.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like to find out at the law front.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_02: Now um, do you accept referrals?
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like say someone was listening to this and they say, Oh, Laura seems cool.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I've got a a a large personal injury case or a civil rights case or a medical malpractice case, and but I don't do that, you know.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how would it work if they say, hey, I want to collaborate with or support Laura?
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, reach out to me, you know, either cell phone or email, and I'm more than happy to review the case and take it on.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: And our firm, we're always great about um giving referral fees to any attorney that is referring us to case.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm constantly getting referrals from from other attorneys that I'm friends with in the legal community that practiced in other areas of the law.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm always more than happy, especially, you know, we have our team in particular.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like we've had cases that have come to our team, you know, via referral to Brian where it's a solo that just doesn't have the capacity to take on a big volume case, send it our way.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're always more than happy.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_00: We have the capability, we have a big team.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so just reach out to me.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_02: And they get uh you get credit.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_02: And um the referring lawyers get checks.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_03: They do.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so if they if they are like a family law lawyer, landlord, tenant lawyer, uh, don't do this work, but then you know, they are approached by someone with a case like this, then they could call you and you would they would be well taken care of, the client, and they would at the end assume you'd success get a check.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, we've I saw one in particular.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_00: I can't talk about the case due to the confidentiality that we could sign, but it was a trekking case that we settled um before summer, and the referral attorney got a check for over a million dollars.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: So a million dollars.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or say, hey, Laura and Brian, help us out.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so you know, send them our way.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're always more than happy and be very pleased.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent, especially if the client speaks Spanish.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_02: All right, well, thank you so much for spending time with us.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_02: It was fun to learn more about you and your journey as a geek, law nerd.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, great things in the future for you as part of the trial team here at Gomez Trial Adorne.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Dobby, as always.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so this wraps this episode of the Latino.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_02: If you like what you heard, please follow, share, and like.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, we'll continue to bring you great conversations with great contributors to our Latino community.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's all for now.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you again for listening.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, John.
• 1:00:05
  unknown: Bye.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Latino podcast.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.