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The Power of Cultural Connection in Law · The Lawtino™

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: 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_00: Let's get started.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm John Gomez, your host for the Latino Podcast, where we bring together Latino lawyers and leaders to talk about the intersection of law and our Latino culture.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: This episode is brought to you by Gomez Trial Attorneys, a personal injury employment and civil rights law firm located primarily in San Diego, but having a presence all over the country.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: We are the one of the largest Latino-owned personal injury, consumer, and civil rights law firms in the country.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm pleased to present to you, introduce to you today a good friend of mine who is our guest, Frank Gera.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: He is a capital partner at Guerra LLP.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: He has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and is board certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: He and his firm, you know, feature some of the really top litigators and lawyers in the country.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: And he's also a very good friend of mine.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: We actually had the uh opportunity to try a case together here in San Diego some years back.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's my great privilege to have this conversation with you today, Frank.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for being here.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me, brother.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: So tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you grew up, like where you come from, what your story is.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm um uh I grew up on the Texas-Mexico border, uh, a little place called Stark County.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: In Stark County, they were two little cities, if you want to call them that.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: They were really towns, 4,000, 5,000 people each, very rural.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh right across the river is Miel Alemanta Maulipas.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so grew up on the border.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um then when I went to college, I went to uh Texas AM University and College Station.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: And man, at that time that was like the biggest place I'd ever been.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've ever been there, it's not much.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So when I went to law school in Austin at UT, man, I thought I was in another country.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so grew up in a very rural place.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my dad's dad was in the concrete business.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I grew up in the concrete plant.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: My mom's mom was a rancher uh and also worked for the federal government.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was largely raised by my grandparents because my mom and dad were only 19 when they had me.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: So how did you find your way to Texas AM and then ultimately to law school at the University of Texas?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's it's interesting because uh, you know, we had about 180 kids in my high school class in 1988 in Roma High School, uh, but only like four of us really went to college.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of went to community college, maybe 10 max.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then those who went to college before me mostly went to back then it was University of Texas Pan American, which was in Edinburgh, Texas.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I had a baseball coach who I didn't know then, was kind of part of my destiny.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I made the varsity baseball team as a sophomore.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And one day he just kind of said, Hey, I'm gonna pick you up Friday, and we're gonna take a drive.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Man, I got to work at the ranch.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, I already talked to your grandfather.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, just I'll pick you up.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So he picked me up.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: We drove straight from uh Star County to college station, but we stopped en route in a little brewery called Shiner.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: So back then he bought me a six-pack of Shiner, what is now Shiner Blonde.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought it was the worst crap I'd ever tasted in my life.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he took me to college station.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: We saw it on a Saturday.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: He then drove west to Austin, which was you know UT, and he and he said, be clear, you will go to one of these two schools or you will not play baseball for me.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: So early on, he said that's the standard.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I was at A, when I was my senior, I was blessed and that I did well.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was a validatory in my class.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: And the question is which of those two two schools is going to offer me the most money.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: But then a funny thing happened because Top Gun came out.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I thought if I went to AM, they offered me the same amount of money.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I could be in the core, I could wear a uniform and get all the chicks, and also not have to buy clothes.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how I ended up in college station.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, very good.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's quite a story.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, this baseball coach took this interest in you.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: I have behind me, there's actually a mural.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, there's me that was that was painted by the father of one of our lawyers here.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: She grew up um in Juarez and then had to cross over to El Paso because her dad got a little sideways with some folks down there.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, but she had a priest that took an interest in her.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you had this baseball coach.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what did what do you think he he saw in you?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny uh because because shortly after that, I also had a priest who was also an Aggie.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: I ran his youth program uh for him all four years when I was in high school.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, my wife was an Aggie.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: When we got married, that Roman Catholic priest, Father Royce Snipes, uh drove all the way to Waco, Texas to marry two Aggies with a full Aggie court.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's how much he was an influence, too.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: But Ricky, going back to Coach Bettis, um, you know, he uh he did this for me and another guy.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And since then he's probably done it for 30 kids as he rose in the administration.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he just uh he was an Aggie uh and he came from a family that was uh they were full of educators, and so he just he just kind of made it his mission to help people out.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we clicked it, we clicked early, uh, and he just he just took me under his wing, man.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I owe him everything.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's super cool.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is he still around?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: He is and young, and and you know, he still comes and tries to play golf and whips my ass and you know all that kind of crazy stuff, still has all sorts of attitude.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when I was a senior, he was in the core.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: When I when I was a senior at AM, one of my great honors, so senior cadets wear are the only ones who wear knee-high boots.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I wore his boots that he wore back in 1975.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so then when I graduated, I had those boots refurbished and then I put them in a glass case, which sits in his office to this day.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's um he's still very close to the to my family, to the boys.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, she sees mom and dad all the time back home, just fantastic.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, that's super cool.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: You keep referencing the core, and you know, some of us know about the core at Texas AM and what that is.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what what is that?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: So, because some of the people may not know.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so the core is the core of cadets.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, Texas AM, although now it has you know 60,000 students, I think, uh, was founded first as a as a agricultural and mechanical school, but it it was also a military school.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And for many years, through World War II and and all of the eras that followed, it commissioned more officers into all four of our branches um than any other institution.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so since when Ricky Bettis went to AM, all it was an all-men school and everyone was in the corps.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: If that's what I was going to pick, by golly, you better be in the corps of cadets, or Ricky Bettis would not be happy with you.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: The other part was um, you know, I didn't really know what to do back then.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I was actually an aerospace engineering major, and I had a fighter pilot slot to fly F-15s for the United States Air Force.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then in between my sophomore and junior year, we bombed Kuwait, and all of a sudden we didn't need as many pilots anymore.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So all of my upperclassmen that had pilot slots started having them yanked, and they were giving them options like you know, intelligence or something.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Man, I don't want to do that, and so that's how I ended up deciding I was going to law school.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, you first became a member of the Texas bar in what year?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: 1996, November.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: And so you're a kid from South Texas, you know, from the border, you're looking around.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like what does the profession look like in terms of, you know, today we call it diversity.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, how how how white or not white or brown or not brown was the bar back then?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it all depends on where you live, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Texas is still very um geographically heavy, except for the metropolitan areas, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: But but the general rule is the further north you are, the more white uh Anglo-Saxon it is.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as you get south of San Antonio, there there's there's still a lot of rural area for farmers, but you you get it's very, very Hispanic as you get on the border and even you know 100 miles north of the border.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So if you look at the bar in Austin, which is where I was in law school, you know, it's pretty diverse.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: You start going south to San Antonio, a little bit more Hispanic, but but not so much.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: You go to Corpus Christi where Watts is from, believe it or not, very Anglo.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for some reason Nueces County and Corpus Christi was different.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: But every single other South Texas venue was predominantly all Hispanic.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Rasa from back home that went back home.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so, like when you where did you first start out?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: What were you doing when you came out of law school?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really interesting because it's really what was I doing when I started law school, which I think started this traject trajectory.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh Paige and I got married after undergrad before law school.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And man, I needed a job.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and um um, you know, but they said you can't work your first year of law student school, but I had to, and there's no way we would make it anyhow.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know anybody, but daddy graduated, this is just interesting fate, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Graduated with a guy, he says, Hey, I know a lawyer.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, let me call to see if he knows in Austin.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um, that lawyer was a guy named Beto Munoz from McCallan, Texas, who was a Harvard guy.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and his partner was a guy named David Hockham.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And David Hockham had said, Hell yeah, I got a book.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Go see an old boy named Dickie Gray.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I walked right south to the law firm back then of Spivey Grig, Kelly, and Nisley.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: And Dickie took me under his wing.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I worked for them all three years.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So when I was graduating, Paige decided, Paige is from Waco, Texas, right?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: She decided, look, man, uh, you have great grades, you interned for the Supreme Court, you work for a great law firm.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're not going back home to South Texas.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what do you mean?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: She goes, look, she goes, we're going to San Antonio.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: I want the kids growing up with both grandparents.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Man, I don't, I don't know anybody in San Antonio.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Are you freaking kidding me?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there was a young kid that was working with us at the law firm.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: He was an undergrad.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Man, dude, can you get me a recommendation for a law firm in San Antonio?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: All I want to do is try cases.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, give me three.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he wrote something down and wrote something down.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And looked at the paper and it said, it said, Plunkett, Gibson, and Allen, Plunkett, Gibson, and Allen, Plunkett, Gibson, and Allen.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Dude you want to give me some choices here?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, nah, the Allen guy's my dad.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: I said, I said, sure.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't know anything about anything other than I wanted a job.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so they were an insurance defense firm with a very strong presence in San Antonio and Austin, but no presence in South Texas.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I said, I'll try all your cases in South Texas.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, dude, are you a glutton?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're a defense firm.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Defense firms get killed down there.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I said, nope, I know how to talk to juries.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so for five years, I worked at a defense firm, um, trying cases almost every Monday in South Texas and just getting my butt kicked until tort reform happened.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then I started winning.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: I started winning a lot, and I thought it was because I was a fantastic trial lawyer, right?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's because the state of Texas was, you know, was becoming a little more conservative to include South Texas.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's how I ended up with those guys.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: They they threw me in the water, they let me swim, let me try a bunch of lawsuits on my own, and it was fantastic.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the very first lawsuit I tried was against a guy named none other than Michael Watts.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: No kidding.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so he is he more senior to you in law?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's he got, you know, he's a he's a child prodigy, you know, graduated from high school in two years, law school in undergrad in two years, law school in two years, was clerking for the Supreme Court before he was 21.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so although he looks older, uh and and I think he was only four maybe four years ahead of me in law school.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, four years ahead of me in age, he was like seven years ahead of me of being a lawyer.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: He'd already been a lawyer for seven years by the time I graduated from law school.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: And is the next chapter your um working with him?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: So so what happened was the boss, who big tall guy, right after I graduated, after got my bar license, said, Hey man, Mr.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Badass mock trial guy, Mr.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Neiman Cup guy, it's awards they give for advocacy at UT.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, sir.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Hey, you want to go draw a case with me?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, sure.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, it's a Laredo and it's a double death case.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: I said, so goes, yeah, I'll go try it with you.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Michael Watts on the other side.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: I said, who's Michael Watson?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Why do I give a crap?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we go down there, dude, Michael and I, and I almost get in the fist fight in the first pretrial hearing.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was just blood everywhere, dude.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: We try the case for two and a half weeks.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Bobby tells me the night before you're giving closing argument, um, and I tell the jury to give clear liability, our guys are drunk.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: I tell the jury to give him$2.7 million, five kids, no mom.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And Michael asked him to give him$60 million, and I was certain I was going to lose my job after that trial.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the jury gave him exactly what I told him.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um we went home.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was, I thought I was gonna get fired because I thought I lost.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then that following Monday, Watchi walks into my office and what are you doing here, man?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, hey, dude, there's this guy named Brian Harris.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's with Paula Wyatt.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna leave, and I'm gonna leave my guy, David Perry.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna start our own firm.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: We'd be honored if you'd be our first associate.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, I'm I'm flattered, but these guys are really good to me.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I just started.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, the only thing is I can't pay you a salary.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what do you mean you can't pay me?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's all eat what you kill.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I owe him loyalty.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: So for five years, I stayed with the firm.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um, every time Michael would, you know, pop somebody, I'd call him, and every time I'd pour somebody out, um, he would call me.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: And at year five, Ford Firestone happened.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, it's time.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Okay, I said, I bring my five guys.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Nobody said anything about five guys.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: I said I bring my five guys, and that's when we started in April of 2001, back then, uh Harris and Watts, which then became Watts Law.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, very good.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, obviously, you know, you guys had an amazing, very successful run together.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but now you're kind of you're doing your own thing.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you have I've worked with a bunch of your lawyers pretty closely.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: We continue to have cases together, and you know, my impression is your lawyers are all very, very earnest, very um hardworking, very focused, very dedicated, and really, you know, the top of you know, the tier of you know what they're working on.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, how how how have you been able to cultivate that kind of team at your law firm?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, um back even when Michael started the firm and when my name first went on the door in 2009, it was Watsker at Kraft, Hunter was the craft part.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And for a long time, we didn't hire any associates and we didn't even hire lawyers that didn't have at least five years of experience.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of our lawyers came from uh defense firms, Fulbright and Jaworski and people like that.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because our business model, like yours, Gomi, has always been look, if you're a lawyer in America and you have a case that's too big for you, too expensive to fund, or you don't have the people to work it, or you just don't have the balls to try it, send it to us, right?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: No one was going to do that unless you had a stable of badass trial lawyers.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, ultimately they wanted Michael and I to try the case along with the partner, but the partner's gonna do the workup.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so our model has always been to be that caliber of lawyer, not only ourselves, but also our partners and even our associates.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: When Watsi started doing more uh mass torts, and then when he worked, when he moved to Puerto Rico, although we had a joint practice, we had we didn't do anything together.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: He did all the mass torts with very few exceptions.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: I did the class actions and the antitrust stuff, but my folks still did what we always did.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I needed to have the Mark vassals of the world and the Jorge Mates's and Shalomar Wallace's that I could say, take this case and run.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you at trial.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's just the model that we have here.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And these young associates that are getting to try the smaller cases, you know, the$500,000 ones, they know your job is to get in there and throw punches and let me figure out the rest.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, you're in a very particular market, you know, especially as you've described kind of the geographical segregation within your state.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know, do you find that, and and you guys have like a very strong bench of basically Mexican-American trial lawyers, you know, from Texas?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, do you find that that kind of cultural background and you know, familiarity with how things work, does that help you in terms of being lawyers or getting clients?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely, Gumi.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um especially in South Texas, but even, you know, in in in the main markets, um, you know, folks that are in the business of getting cases and referring them, right?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh have to have a certain level of trust that the person that they're referring the case to will, first of all, not do something stupid like steal the fee.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: But also their reputation is with the clients, man, that that the client is going to feel like they were treated like kings and queens.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And the referral lawyer or the joint venture partner is going to feel that way too.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: So Hispanic people are very cultural, and you know that, right?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've got, you know, some guy or girl from Laredo, Webb County, and they have a great big case, the last thing they want to do is send it to somebody who they believe will look at them as lesser people, right?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as not as accomplished.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: You went to some law school versus Harvard versus UT versus something else.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so the cultural part of that transcends that stuff, especially if you're a kid from the value like me, right?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: If if you sell humility, if you sell, I'm just the same botto I've always been to people back home and you prove it, they're always going to be more comfortable sending you a case versus Thomas J.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Henry or the Maloneys or some of those guys that they just don't perceive the same.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and by the same token, there's their clients are Spanish speakers, right?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: They want to walk in and instead of needing a translator, they want to walk in and say, or you know, anything.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely it's an advantage.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, historically, we've kind of heard, you know, maybe from some populations, hey, you know, I've got to be better than everybody else, or I have these, you know, ceilings or limitations on me because of who I am or where I'm from.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like in your state and in your market, I mean, is it actually, do you believe an advantage, you know, to come from that background and have that cultural and language capability?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: So two things, right?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: If if you feel like, if you're asking me, do we feel like we have to work harder and better and almost a chip on our shoulder from where we came from?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's one question you're asking.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Or second, you're at you may be asking me whether being from that background has helped me identify with clients more.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Which one of those two are you asking me, or both?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do both, because I like them both.
• 20:15
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, so, so I think without a doubt, you know, you know, there's that mantra.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think Emmett Smith said it at one point, all men are created equal.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Some men just work harder, right?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you don't have that chip on your shoulder thinking you have to do it better because people may think lesser of you.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: People may think, you know what, you know, remember when I first went to law school, um, you know, someone said, and I've never really faced discrimination, thankfully, Gumi, but someone said, Oh, well, did you get here through affirmative action?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even know what that was, right?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you said, you know, Blood.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: I said, no, dipshit, I got your gazales evaluator in my class and graduated with top grades from Texas AM University.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't know that, right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: But but if you don't have that chip on your shoulder, then you're you're you're gonna lose your edge, right?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can never take anything for granted.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that helps you work harder.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: But number two, I think that when it comes to what we do, you know, the second you lose empathy for your clients, then that's when you lose passion, man.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's when you lose the ability to just give every ounce of everything you have when you have nothing left to give.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: And when you come from a nothing background, right?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: When you come from a trailer house where you grew up in, where you had to work in the fields, right?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you had to have free lunch, you didn't know why it was free.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: You learn later, it's because you were a migrant, then you see that family sitting across that just lost their daddy and have no other source of even making a living.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that makes you fight harder.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: No doubt.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: Let me let me veer off topic because I was um I was laid up a little bit sick this weekend, so I was watching a lot of Netflix and one documentary that came up was uh the story of uh uh Johnny Manzel.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm wondering, did you ever get to see him play live at Texas AM?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: I did get to see him play live as a friend.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Or a sophomore, or both?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: As a sophomore.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: The year he won the Heisman.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he um he was a pretty good football player.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Man, dude, it was like watching a video game.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: It it was the craziest thing ever to see him out on the field.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, look, he when he played for Kerrville, I got to see him play a little bit too because Alamo Heights, my boys, my boys' high school did real well and they were in our district.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, is that right?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you saw him in high school.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw him and I saw film of him in high school because he was always in the highlights, right?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: He was Mr.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Texas football.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: But even back then, he seemed to have a level of speed different than every other player on the field.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, like I said, he was on expert level and the rest were at beginner.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: But so but never in your life did you think that that would translate to collegiate level?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: But man, it did.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that dude was just crazy, crazy skilled.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Fast as hell, too.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so when they beat Alabama their first year in the SEC, were you a happy guy that day?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, dude, I was beside myself.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was at a select baseball game playing the championship for my for my middle son who was on the mound and watching that game and listening to that game at the same time.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I thought I was going to implode just because I was so nervous, right?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: As a daddy, dude, you know, you never put me get me a CEO of the Ford Motor Company or anybody, I'll cross-examine them on the stand.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I won't even blink.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: But man, your kid on the mound, that that's nerves.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And very close to that is is Johnny Manzel and Alabama football and Texas AM.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I was on, I was about to have a heart attack.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's a it's a good story.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's um he was a really remarkable presence.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so, like, how many boys you got?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: Three boys.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: All right, any of them have legal aspirations?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I get asked this a lot.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my older boy um went to Texas in Kingsville, which is one of the it's a very agricultural school.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: He's always wanted to be outside, you know, owns a bunch of machinery, drives a flatbed dually pickup, you know, has a handlebar mustache.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: That kid is going to work on a ranch, run a ranch, own a company all his life.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: The middle one, um I kind of always wanted to, I thought, be a lawyer, even um registered for the LSAT or an LSAT class, then decided maybe MBA.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: He graduated last December from undergrad, AM, and he decided now he wants to commercial real estate.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: The the baby is a sophomore at AM, and man, that dude just wants to sit in my chair now.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I think he will probably go to law school.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, very good.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's got a long way to go.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so um I've got it's funny because I've got um three older kids.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: I got four kids, one very young, but two of my four uh worked in the law firm this summer and continue working in the law firm.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: And they really came to it, you know, they're they're still in high school, so they're not that old, but they came to it, you know, in my mind somewhat late, you know, because prior to this they had absolutely zero interest, interest in everything but law.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: And all of a sudden they seem to be somewhat interested.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: So it's kind of fun.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Gumi, I you know, you always think that um you work really, really hard to do what we did, right?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: And rise to the level that we've risen.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and to the kids, I think that's almost a turnoff when it comes to the MPs, right?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard stuff like, well, dad, I don't want them to think that I am where I am just because of your name.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've got a I've got an intern program here called the Grasshoppers.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I run about 20 interns every year, all year.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, half of them are in law school, half of them aren't.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I've offered to the boys to come do it, and they don't want to.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: All of their friends have done it, and six of them have ended up in law school, but the boys just have this thing about them that they don't want to feel like they got an edge just because of me, just because of my name.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's really interesting.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then I tell them to me, I've worked my entire life to get you that edge.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Don't take it as anything other than you're just you're just going through the door that I opened.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: What you do with it is up to you.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, 100%.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: And and I don't expect that if if your boys showed up in your grasshopper program that you go super easy on them where they get special privileges.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: Hell no.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they should certainly know that.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know the staff certainly knows that, that they they're expected to not only be treated exactly the same as anybody else, but the standard is even higher.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Don't screw up.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and so, you know, where you're out in Texas and kind of looking nationally, you know, what would you describe as maybe some important places where you know law and our Latino culture and heritage and people might intersect in a in an important way, like in the coming years or now, or how do you see it?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, Gomi, if you'd have asked me this 10 years ago, um my answer probably would have sounded like we're seeing more and more Latinos everywhere, you know, in in Minnesota and Chicago, in places that are traditionally really white, like Phoenix.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and because as in the judiciary, federal and state, uh, and so I think over time, any potential biases that would have existed because of our ethnicity are going away, just like everything else.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're earning it and we're earning it the right way.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then about maybe seven years ago, I tried a case in Phoenix, maybe 10 years ago, when when that crazy sheriff was in trying to.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and dude, it's the first time I ever felt that a jury was looking at me differently because I was Hispanic, even though my club my client was a quadriplegic who's the whitest dude on the face of the earth.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: And now I have to admit, but even in San Antonio, um, you know, the thing that's happened since COVID, since social media, since Trump one and Trump two, where people are now taught that it's okay to openly hate somebody just because they disagree with you, is that jurors are getting real smart, man, and they know what not to say.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I can look out in the audience, and in spite of my success, my ability to speak clearly, I know there are jurors, even here in Bear County and even in South Texas, who are thinking you're a very part of the immigration process of the crisis that we're fighting right now.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that whole deal has given us a different problem.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that is that I think they they subconsciously, you know, confirmation bias, if you will, are getting more resentful.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: The ones that are, right?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the ones that aren't, aren't.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a problem.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: But the ones that are so anti-immigration because they've convinced themselves that that is the root of all evil in America, will look at you differently.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: If your name is Francisco Guerra IV or John Gomez, in spite of John being a Harvard guy, they won't care.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that is something that I'm very acutely aware of when I'm picking juries in the rural counties, dude.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: I just picked a jury in the 20 miles north here, where you know, 90% of those folks are white German people, they'll look at you funny.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's really um telling.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and it's funny because we are currently we're working with a company that's doing our um recording for when people call in and they're on hold for a period of time.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: And we have a Spanish version, we have an English version, you know, because we do get a, you know, probably like you guys, a pretty large number of Spanish, you know, intakes and clients.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: And um they were giving they were showing me the scripts, one English, one Spanish.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_03: And for new clients, they have for both English and Spanish, you know, immigration status is, you know, you don't have to worry about it.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know, under the law, you're protected.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone has rights.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we speak Spanish.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: And just, you know, exactly what you're saying, I said, let's take that out of the English one.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's that's gonna be like a trigger for some of these folks, you know, like they're they they hear that, they're just shutting down.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: And it's unfortunate.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it's even worse for clients, Gumi, right?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you have in some parts of Texas, and I love my state, brother, but it's just our reality.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: You have a non-Spanish speaker, I'm sorry, non-English speaker as a client.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care what happened, dude.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: They're not going to give that person on, they're just not gonna give them money.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: They don't, they don't care that they're even here legally.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're they're thinking, you know what, you're here in this country that my father's fought for, not yours.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and this is an English-speaking country.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: You learn to speak English or you get the hell out.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: And those clients, I mean, it it's difficult for me to take a case like that to trial because they're gonna crucify, regardless of the merits.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's terrible.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have, like, say, you know, you're sitting around with the client and maybe the referring lawyer, and you say, okay, we're set for trial over here, and I don't know what the name of say it's like Greenburg, Texas.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know that's gonna happen because you know, they they don't speak English.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have that conversation and just say, look, you know, here's the reality?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, I do.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I say, look, and I and I take them through phases of stuff, right?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Through through how, you know, I give this speech on closing arguments is called breaking the golden rule.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it has to do with how folks like you and I, although we know we can't violate the golden rule and tell a juror, you know, how would you feel if you were my client?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: You and I get as close to the edge as possible, right?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so getting the process of explaining that to a to a non-English speaker sounds something like how do I get folks that are supposed to be a jury of your peers that don't look like you, that can't empathize with any part of your being, not your color, not how you got here, not why you've been here for 30 years working in a field and can't speak English to any of those things, to somehow be sympathetic with you and think, how would I feel if that was me?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what you have to look, and and I and I weigh pros and cons and I inform them and I say, but that is a very real thing.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And to tell you the truth, I don't even know what your chances are until I look at what the Venar looks like.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: And some of these counties, Gummy, I'll be, you know, they're they're counties that have Hispanic people, but they don't vote, right?
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: So they don't make it to the jury pool.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I've I've got 85, 90 percent white, Anglo-Saxon, German folks, good people, good people, but just won't be able to identify with my non-English speaker.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: They just won't.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: And in in Texas, is immigration status admissible?
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's not, but but it's but they know, right?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: They do, right?
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not that they know, they assume, right?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: They they will assume that if your client is dark and doesn't speak English, that they must be illegal.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure, 100%.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, if you were to look back at, you know, there's gonna be like a lot of young Frank Guerrero's like watching this, and you know, the the ideas we're really trying to, you know, build up this community of peers, you know, that do what we do together.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what what advice would you give to the the young Frank Guerra, the young Francisca Guerra, you know, or Francesca Guerra, who's watching this?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like a young, up-and-coming, you know, eager Latino lawyer, you know, what advice would you give them?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that in part because of where I came from, um, which was small, almost 100% Hispanic, almost 100% Catholic, you know, a lot of the adversity that I probably should have faced came from not, I didn't face it because of ignorance.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't know any better, right?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: But when I started knowing better and I learned that maybe people thought things about me because of where I came from or because I was Hispanic, then I kind of created this potential ceiling of where I thought I could go or not go.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: And when I passed that ceiling, often I felt like a like like a poser, right?
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: Imposter syndrome.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And what I learned, Gomi, is that it's it's funny how things happen.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure you feel this way too.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Even when I went into situations that were intimidating because those people weren't like me.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of these places we practice up north, dude.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the I'm the only Hispanic person in the entire courtroom, right?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: But the same thing always happens.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's uncomfortable at the beginning.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: We do what we do, it's we work our tail off harder than anybody else.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: They start respecting us for who we are, and eventually we dominate the entire group every single time.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so the advice I would give to people that are looking at this that are like us is there is no ceiling.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's only hard work, determination, and going forward.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: There is, there is there is no such thing as a place where we cannot go, period.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's as simple as I see it.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: We just may have to modify the way we get there sometimes if obstacles get in the way, but that obstacle is not going to be because we're Hispanic or because we're Spanish speakers or where we came from.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you and I'm brother.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so um I I want to give a pitch.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm on the board of directors of Shades and Masks.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, for those of you that don't know, this is an organization really committed to increasing representation of um diverse lawyers, black and brown lawyers, and you know, litigations of significance.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, the the numbers are pretty startling about you know our place in those big cases.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: And this uh group is uh has been put together to kind of change that.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: But this um year, the annual conference is in in Houston, September 19th to 21st.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: And um like I feel like we need more uh vatos locos over there, you know, holding it down.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so if it's in your text in uh Texas, maybe maybe you could get a little bit of your crew out there and we could catch up.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'll send you an email to up to I'm I've heard of the organization a couple of times, but I don't have any information on what's happening.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: So send me a link and I'll I'll get a bunch of people out there.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that'd be good, man.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_03: It'd be good to hang out and see you.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, well, kind of closing, um, you know, it I we have here an all hands meeting, you know, we have everybody come in for the firm, and then a lot of times with our new people, we'll ask them a significant question.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: Questions such as, you know, um, who is your hero?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: What is your superpower?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if you could have, you know, dinner with anyone in history, who would it be?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: So choose one of those three and and give us an answer.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, so if you ever played 20 questions with people, you always get those types of questions, right?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and always I have found that over time my answers will change to any of those type things, right?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: But but I think that probably the easiest for me to answer that has stayed most consistent is is what is your superpower?
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what what is it about you?
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um one of my friends in college we were talking about something, and then someone said, Man, what is it about you, Frank?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: And he answered for me, goes, man, dude, he just he just loves people and he cares about others more than himself.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that sounds cliche-ish, right?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the day I lose sight of my humility and my roots and my people, you know, you and I are always kidding, you know, blood in, blood out, raza, my identity of of where I came from is the day I'll stop being Frank Guerra.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been able to, you know, most people do we've got a we've got a WhatsApp group of my entire graduating class in 1988.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: We got we started during COVID.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Every single living member is still on there.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: They call me Canelito, right?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: They know I'm a lawyer, but they've never Googled me.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: They have no idea what we do here, right?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and that to me, Gomi, is is a badge of honor at those folks that I went to school with, we grew up in Mierda, man, right?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we were nobody in anybody's eyes but our own, they still think of me as Frankie.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what they even call me Frankie.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I think my superpower is.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: My ability to still be the kid that graduated from Roma High School, you know, that worked in the fields and worked at the concrete plant, had two grandfathers who taught me how to be a man.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'll always be that kid for everyone.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it is for me.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh, you know, that that just you know, being yourself and being true to yourself is maybe one of the most overlooked but most powerful um super um hero qualities you can have.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I agree, man, you are you are just a real dude.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it's always fun hanging out with you and fun talking to you.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: If our you know listeners or viewers want to find you, like how can we learn more about you or the law firm?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, so obviously on the internet, the law firm is guerra lp.com.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, in today's age, Gummy, and and I, you know, I called you when I had this vision about how it should be.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we started getting your newsletters and I told Watsi, I said, hey man, I we we need to have a website.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's more like Gummies, right?
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: We started doing the bios like you do.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, you had all those bios.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so that girl that started that for me came with me, and she's just fantastic.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so the grasshoppers, the Jedi, and so I've got code names for everybody.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've got the partners, the three board certified appellate guys that are in-house, they're called the Brain Trust.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: All the associates are called the Jedi, and then the interns are called the Grasshoppers, and all of that stuff is all on the website, Gera LLP.com.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, super cool.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, do you and my cells 210-569-3459.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody can call me anytime they want.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: The building is right off of 281.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: You can't miss it.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's just Gera LLP.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and um, it's easy to find me.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: San Antonio is a small town, brother.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a good town, though.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: How do you like it now?
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Now that she talked to you into moving there.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, so for the first five years I spent it in the valley, right?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: But San Antonio has always been a fantastic place to live because it's it's a big city with a small town feeling, but it's also a great place to raise a family, you know.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I was blessed in that the boys, the boys went to a very, very, very white privileged private school.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, public school named Alamo Heights.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason I put them there is because it's surrounded by it can't grow.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a back then the highest level of districts is 5A, so it was a four A high school.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: So my boys could actually play sports, ran varsity track all four years, played baseball, played, played football, but the school did a fantastic job of preparing them for college, right?
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so when it comes to raising a family, dude, this town has been fantastic.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: Our judiciary, you know, if you wonder about Hispanic and Latino influence, our entire judiciary, with the exception of one, are all female Latinas, bro.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh and our court of appeals are all female Latinas.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: And and it is, you know, and if you look at the firm, not only am I growing a bunch of badass Hispanic people, um, and and and we just hired uh our first African-American.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: She's she's badass, but also there's a lot of power females in this firm.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, starting with Shalomar Wallace.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've got, I try and hire people from back home when I can.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a double Ivy named Alexis Garcia.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: She was Miss Edinburgh 2009, but then Cornell undergrad, Columbia Law School, total badass.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so the female judiciary in Bear County knows what I'm doing with the younger female Latina and non-Latina lawyers and throwing them in the water, and they love it, dude.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: So uh great, great place to practice law.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, very, very objective judges, pretty middle of the road.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: Jurors, for the most part, are great because of military city.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we stay pretty consistent.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I've thoroughly enjoyed.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've been here since 1996, and man, I'll I get to go home every other weekend for three hours, work at the ranch, build a fence or two.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, Grandma Nefa spanked me for fun.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's and then same for her parents.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: We get to go up for three hours to Waco, Texas, and um, it's been fantastic, man.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: God has a funny way of putting you where you need to be, verdad.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, definitely.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: You may take you on some side roads and some, you know, some through some mud, and you might get a flat tire or two, but eventually you get to where you need to be.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_03: Amen, brother.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: Amen, man.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I appreciate you spending time with us.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, really look forward to sharing this conversation with you know our brothers and sisters all over this country, and um look forward.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, I get to see you in Houston, man.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: That'd be a lot of fun.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you in about a month and a half ago.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: Me, appreciate you having me over, man.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: All right, brother.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: Appreciate you.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Latino podcast.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.