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Advocating for Justice: A Latina Lawyer's Path to Change · 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.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome everyone to the Latino podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Bienvenido, bienvenida to the Latino podcast.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm John Gomez, your host.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a nationally recognized trial lawyer and civil rights leader.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Our podcast addresses the connection between law and the uh Latino or Latinx community.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have thought leaders, lawyers, judges, legislators on here to talk about that topic and how things uh have happened in the past, how they happen today, and how they will be happening in the future.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is brought to you by your sponsor, Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Gomez Trial Attorneys is a nationally recognized uh consumer rights law firm that specializes in personal injury, mass torts, employment litigation, and class action litigation on behalf of consumers exclusively.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Gomez Trial Attorneys prides itself in providing uh language uh and cultural sensitivity, especially to our Latino clients.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I'm super pleased uh uh uh to introduce our guest today.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be hearing a lot from her, seeing a lot of her because uh she will at times be hosting this podcast in my absence and oftentimes will be my co-host, and that's uh Jessica Lujan.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, Miss Lujan, uh, how are you today?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, John.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm great.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So tell our listeners a little bit about you.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I am a trial attorney here at Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: I um help lead a fast-paced litigation trial team made up of four attorneys.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm super honored to be here, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to uh tell everyone about my journey and how I got here.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's hear it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: How how did you get to us, uh Jessica?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a little bit about my background.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in the Ciudad Juatas, El Paso border.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was raised mainly in Juates until fifth grade, and then that's when we came over to El Paso, Texas.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I went to school in El Paso every day.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I was every day in Juanis, and then I'd be in El Paso.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: I had friends at both places.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I grew up in a very traditional conservative Mexican household.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's talking a little bit about it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh kind of brainstorming for this podcast, I was, you know, remembering memories that were making me laugh and at the same time just, you know, be amazed at uh how much they've shaped who I am today.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: So my mom, uh very strong-willed Mexican woman.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: She definitely wears the pants in the household.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: And my dad, just a kind, you know, little Mexican man with his big mustache, um, loves his family.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he's a deacon in the Catholic Church, so religion was always a very important part of us growing up.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, so I, you know, I lived in Florida.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the oldest of three daughters, so always taking care of my sisters.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: Family is of utmost importance to us.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, visits to grandma.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: I remember going over to my grandma's house.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: She lived in El Barrio, and you know, I would hear all the gossip about all her little neighbor friends and the cheese men.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: It was always just a fun thing to do.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I grew up writing the, which is it's called the Ruta, which is the equivalent of, you know, the city bus.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: And but it's nothing like a city bus here.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that'll they break down in the middle of a street, and you know, you don't have seat belts or anything.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: So it was just funny.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: We'd have to wait for it.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember that was always exciting for me though.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not until now that I'm older that I'm like, oh my goodness, you know, I wouldn't have liked that now.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: That was a different kind of excitement.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Very different kind of excitement.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I'm a fiblorico dancer.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: I it's one of my favorite things in the world.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: I love fiblorico dancing.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: I love mariachi.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: I have a Vicente Fernandez Chente playlist on my phone that I, you know, blast sometimes, and it definitely um, you know, brings back memories.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: But I was that kid uh because I said we I went to school in El Paso always.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how my mom came up with that.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: She, you know, one day said, I want my daughters to have a better opportunity.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna cross the border every day.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: It would take, I mean, sometimes it would take an hour.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, everybody's familiar with the bridge here.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was the same in El Paso.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we get in the car, there was no sentry pass or anything like that.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, some I'd be in my pajamas, she would change this at school, and uh, I would get horribly car sick.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I just remember, you know, hours on end of driving and driving.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I always went to school in El Paso, and that's how I learned English.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I vividly remember my first day of school, I didn't understand a word anybody was saying.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: I remember looking up at they had the little alphabet um and looking at the little cards and seeing, like, okay, that's an apple.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember the apple and the kite.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember my teacher standing there and just kind of feeling lost.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: But then one day I guess it was all okay.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: I spoke English and it was fine.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, little things like that.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I did the same to my daughter, so I guess I gotta pay it forward and she went through the same thing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what do you mean by that?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: She went through the same thing.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we, when she was born, we only spoke Spanish to her.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: So she was born in in San Diego, but I spoke Spanish to her.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Her dad speaks mainly Spanish.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: So at her dad's house, she's 100% Spanish speaker.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I put her in preschool in English, and so she didn't know what anybody was saying, but she, you know, didn't stop her.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: And um now she's fully bilingual.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: And she does there was one point where she didn't even realize it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I remember someone was talking to her and they said, What did she say?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then she translated, and to her, English and Spanish was the same thing, like she didn't realize that there was a difference between the two languages, so it was very interesting to see.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, there's a lot of, as we know, families.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's people that cross every day to work.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's a ton of kids that cross, you know, to attend school.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, you know, was it your mom mainly driving you?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was my mom.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, you got an hour wait, right?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then drop you off.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Would she stay up in uh El Paso or would she go back home and then come back?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I was part of our daily life was listening on the radio to see how the line was.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: So sometimes if it was like, okay, today's gonna be a good day, there's not much traffic, she would go back, she would prepare dinner, do whatever she had to do, and then she would drive back.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: And there's actually a funny story about that.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Not knowing American holidays, I must have been in kinder or first grade, and my dad um dropped me off that day.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: So normally his mom, but you know, dad tries to help out, and then of course it doesn't he dressed me off and it was an American holiday, and we didn't know, we had no idea, and I guess he didn't really celebrate uh Memorial Day and Massive Day.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, so my dad goes and he's, you know, I'm gonna do what I'm told to do.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna drop off Jessica at school today, and he must have not realized there were no other cars, so he drops me off, leaves me there.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: The school was closed, and it was a tiny little school, but it was outdoors.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I just I remember and like banged on the door of the principal's office and nobody was answering.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: And finally the janitor opens the door and he, you know, he called my mom.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: It took her two hours to get to where I was to give you a she she'll tell the story too.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: She says, My heart just dropped to my stomach and she couldn't get there fast enough, but she was in Quentus.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: She could have just, you know, couldn't go to the front of the line and say, hey, let me through.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a funny story.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: We still give my dad trouble about it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I've heard about what is and it has kind of a reputation, a little bit of a tough place.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um how did you see any of that growing up, or did you have a sense of that, or you know, how did it impact your family, if at all?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I definitely had a sense of it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I when I lived in Juarez before coming to the United States in fifth grade, my dad was a prominent architect.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so he uh designed a lot of the houses for some of the richest families in Juarez.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, some of the richest families in Flores, you know, are tied to drug cartels um and drugs.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: And my dad didn't have involvement in that, but you know, once you start dealing with those people, then um you're just involved, I guess.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, there was there were times when he had to deal with, you know, litigation.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that's actually what led us to flee to El Paso.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I say flee because I was in fifth grade and my mom picked me up from school one day, and she said, we're living in the United States now.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: And we moved from our, you know, country club, six-bedroom house, you know, why does where our backyard was just a huge, you know, boulder uh wall.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: It was I don't know how many feet, at least 20 feet.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it was it had barbed wire on top and glass.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I wasn't allowed to ever go outside.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: There was a park right in front, but I was never allowed to go out to the park.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it everything happened indoors.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so we had a you know a play like a play set, and I remember chasing butterflies in my backyard, but never allowed to go outside.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so when we ultimately came to the United States, it was because you know, one of these clients told my dad, I want you to be my exclusive architect, and I have these plans, and you can't say no to them, right?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so that that definitely later on I understood that that's the reason why we came to the United States.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: I do remember driving under a bridge once, and I did see, you know, bodies.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: I remember crossing uh, because it takes forever to cross uh the bridge, um, the border by car.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: So sometimes you just walk across, it's a lot faster.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: I remember walking across and you know, seeing the soldiers, and then this man was carrying, I think it was like a bazooka or some big weapon, just putting it in the back of the truck.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: So things like that back then didn't really phase me.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: And now I kind of think of them and I'm like, wow, you know, that's my daughter, hopefully knock on wood, we'll never have to say things like that.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, once we moved to El Paso, later on we actually had to have family stay with us because same thing, my uncle was fleeing, and um, he's a politician though, so you know that's dangerous in and of itself.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: And um, we got threats at my house, you know, things like that because he was staying with us.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I definitely experienced a lot of it, uh, but thankfully my parents were always protective.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: We always kept strong in our faith and ultimately, you know, didn't affect me long term, I would say.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, your dad, um, you know, something special about him is that he actually painted the mural that we have here in our podcast room.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can kind of see uh part of it behind me.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have him in to kind of walk us through that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's an architect in Mexico, yes, and then he has to flee because he's kind of getting heavied by these you know, people that you don't want to say no to.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, when did he become an artist?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he actually uh he got licensed as an architect, and then my dad is a free spirit, so he was an architect when he was way younger, but then he decided I want to travel through Italy for a couple years.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: So he kind of backpacked through Italy, and my dad is the kind of man who could sleep wherever.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: He he doesn't have any material possessions that he cares about, so he penfucked through Italy and taught himself art.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, although there's stories that supposedly his grandma and some other people in our family are just artistic.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so backpacked through Italy, then he came back for a cousin's wedding, met my mom, and then he ended up staying.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: So he pursued his architecture career.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Once we moved to El Paso, he couldn't be a licensed architect and he was illegal, he couldn't work.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: So he started picking up odd jobs, and one of which was painting murals, and that's kind of how his mural career, if you want to say it, call it that, took off.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: So he would do that, he would do like full finishes on houses.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: He also uh placed a lot of cantera stone, so it's very heavy stone, um, kind of like that Tuscany look.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: So for you know, facades and houses, uh, but it all started once we came to El Paso and he had no other options for work.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so you come up here or over to El Paso in fifth grade.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like how was you know, junior high school, high school, you know, how how was that all for you?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: So luckily, I luckily, like I said, I I feel like I was sheltered in a way, but I think a lot of it has to do with just my parents and their support.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why I was so motivated.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: I just always remember what my parents would tell me, and my mom would always say, you know, we came to El Paso to give you a better life.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: So you want to repay us back, you just need to be better than us.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you need to be better than us.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: You need to um yeah, take advantage of the opportunities we're giving you.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I was always super motivated.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it was just out of a sense of duty to my parents and being taught, you know, I need to be grateful.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do I show gratitude to my parents?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: I need to be a good student, do well.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I became very involved.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I was a missionary, I went missionarying in Mexico to some of the poorest communities.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: I saw, you know, hunger and starvation and like I had never seen before.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Even living in El Paso, which is very different from San Diego, the border.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, in El Paso and Fuarez, there's a highway and a river that separates the two.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not like here in San Diego where it's kind of far away.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: There you're living right next to each other.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I could see the cardboard houses because the part of Ciudad Flores of the closest to El Paso is called Anacra.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where the poorest people in Ciudad Flores live.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when I went missionary, it was people who were poorer than that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: So people who hadn't eaten in days, you know, little kids with their blown-up bellies.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: So um, I just became super involved and motivated.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think that was definitely a very important experience.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then I became uh active as Lulac, so it's the League of United Latin American Citizens, and it's it's an organization that also promotes Latinos through a wide variety of community events, and that was that became super important to me.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: I participated in a pageant and I was the youngest participant, but I won uh the pageant that year, it's uh called Fiesta de Nastrores.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I was um You were a pageant queen.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was a pageant queen.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like a local pageant in El Paso, but it meant so much to me.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then I just being around, so I I went to high school at Coronado High School, which my parents we had to move, you know, we had to move to another part of the city so I could go to that school.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: And because that school had the IP program, international baccalaureate.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so then I met a bunch of students who ended up, you know, they they were into academics like me.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: They went to Harvard, Stanford.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I was just surrounded by like Mended students, and so that was super helpful.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I was involved in my church and just motivated.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, um, did you have a quinceanera?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: I did.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Was it a big tell us about that?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: It was huge.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was a quiziniera with 150 people.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: We had, you know, 20 padrinos and madrinas, and you pay for the dress, and you pay for the alcohol, and you pay for this.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I had it even bigger first holy communion with I look at the pictures and it's funny.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's a huge dress and you know, big thing on my hand, but everything was big, right?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: Everything is big, everything's a celebration.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I definitely did, and that's another thing, even though we stru I know now that we struggled financially.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, after we came to the United States, you know, we went from living, like I said, in a big country club, six-bedroom house to a two-bedroom apartment in a shady part of town.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I wasn't really aware of it.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm very thankful for that because I feel that my heart wasn't hardened.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I was just grateful.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: It was a lot of uh gratitude.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm very thankful for that.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, you at some point, I guess you're being doing all the things your parents asked you to do.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're achieving at this high level, you're a superstar, pageant queen, uh, you know, going on missions.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so at some point, are you looking at colleges?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I, like I said, everybody else in my in the Ivy program was also looking at colleges, and it was a very competitive sort of environment.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so I applied to 15 different schools, and you know, I had all my applications, very organized.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then I think applications start maybe open up in August or September.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: And being, you know, very involved in the Catholic Church, my the the pastor, not a pastor, but priest um of our church, he told my dad, you know, you should tell Jessica to apply to this school called Notre Dame.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think she would do great there.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, okay, well, why not?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I ended up applying.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: That was the last school I applied to, and I applied right before the deadline.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and actually, he's on the mural, and I'm sure my dad would love to talk about it.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: He was a great friend of uh Cesar Chalvis, and he's a huge advocate in El Paso for immigrant rights, and he does a lot of work by the border.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: But, anyways, he he was involved with me.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: He's in here, he's in here, I'm sure.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: Is he like behind where is he at?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: He's right over there, uh, where he says the latest neutro yo.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what he says.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he would always tell us when we would go missionary, you need to look at these children's faces and understand that they're part of us, right?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: They they're a part of us, they belong, we're all the same people before God, before humanity.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: So he said he was always mentoring and he said, Jessica has to apply to Notre Dame.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, Okay, I applied.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: I ended up going to Notre Dame, and it's funny because I meet people and they always ask, Where should you go to college?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I always sometimes I'll say, you know, I went to college and school in the Midwest, and I had to teach Notre Dame because I had no idea that it was a football school.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: No idea.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: They made all of us sit down and watch Rudy as freshmen, and I'm just like trying to understand, okay.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so anyways, I ended up going there, and that was very formative in my path to becoming an attorney.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I minored in international case studies.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: They have the Kroc Institute there, and um, it's all about transformative uh justice.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh coincidentally, USD also has the Kroc Institute, it's the sister school in the Midwest.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: So um it was very important for me.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I learned a lot there.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I became first acquainted with the concept of mediation and became interested in the way that the law and politics plays a role in uh you know tipping the scales of justice for humanity.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're back there.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever go to a football game while you're there?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: I feel people are gonna kill me when I say I went to maybe four and I had season tickets.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's not too bad.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's not bad.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, when you're there, you have to sit in the student section and you have to stand the whole time.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: Oh it's bitter cold.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was coming from sunny El Paso.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: I was not expecting uh, you know, the the cold.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you stand in games where it's raining and it's maybe snowing and the students just love it.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: But I have gone back now.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: So now I've become a much better You're a better fan.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a better football fan for fighting virus.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so at some point, you know, do you become interested in law school and law?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I think yeah, there's a difference.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think I always was interested and cared a lot about justice, and I think that was because of my upbringing.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I really remember because of the language barriers that my parents experienced, and because my dad was illegal in El Paso, we were definitely afraid of police officers talking to him.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: Or I remember one time, you know, my dad was making payments in cash for a little truck that he had, and that was this little work truck.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: And we were driving in it one time, and then we had to get rid of it, and I didn't understand why.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: And later on, I learned that, you know, he was making payments to wear the truck, but he never asked for receipts.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: There was no contract.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so the guy essentially stole it, I would say, and took it back.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, which, you know, not later on it broke my heart.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Back then I was just confused.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: Or we got burglarized once and we didn't want to call the police because we were afraid, you know, of my dad getting deported.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: So that on top of seeing my mom, and I was constantly, I think from the age of five, maybe, I was translating for my mom.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: So my Mom needed help with, you know, Sally, Texas.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: I was there advocating for her.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: My mom needed, she helped all of my aunts get their citizenship.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: All of my, she, yep, she got my grandpa and my dad.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Eventually, my dad got amnesty through Clinton, but she processed all the paperwork.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I was always helping her.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I think I learned the importance of understanding the law and being informed and uh justice, right?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: To gain access to justice.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then at Notre Dame, you know, I was inspired by professors.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: I had a professor, uh, George Lopez, and he was my favorite professor, and he uh was an attorney, and I worked for the for the uh law school, and I met a lot of attorneys.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: So um also taking classes, I majored in great text, and so you read, you know, everything from Herodotus, you know, the very first history book in the world to you know Martin Luther King's uh letter in jail.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I read the Federalist Papers, I read the Bill of Rights, and all those texts inspired me.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think just naturally I decided, you know, I love reading, I love writing, I love justice, it's important to me.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think I want to be a lawyer.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: And uh once I got that idea in my head, there was some.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Forget about it, no stopping.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's so cool.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, Professor George Lopez, I don't know, is that man still around?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, I think he's still part of the Krapp Institute.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: He's okay.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'll email him hearing there.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right, all you know today, my lamb.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's get uh Professor Lopez.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: He can listen and hear about this transformative effect he had on your life.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what about this uh this priest?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: What is his name?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Father Abduro Benjonez.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is he still with us?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: He's in El Paso.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he I recently I every time I go to El Paso, I you know, I try to say hi, and I don't keep in touch as much as I would like to, but my mom always keeps him informed, and you know, he always will send positive messages and hey, I'm proud of you.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, it's maybe he'll listen to this as well.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: That would be cool.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm sure he would love to, yeah.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, um what about you know, you're a mom.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like how how do you think?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And tell us a little bit about your um little girl and you know what impact or effect that has on you as uh a lawyer and as a Latina leader.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, so I have a loaded question.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: So being a mom is my favorite role in the world.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it's the most meaningful role that I have.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: And my daughter, she's 10, about to be 11.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, whereas I was the very quiet, introvert little girl just doing what my parents told me.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: She's a complete opposite.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: She is loud and she's a leader, she's strong-willed, and she calls herself a master negotiator because I ask her to do something and she's always trying to test the limits.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but I love seeing her personality.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: And as of recently, she started saying, you know, she wants to be a lawyer.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it makes me extremely proud.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it definitely drives, you know, the way that I look at um the role of a Latina in the legal system.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, hopefully, generations like her, right now, I try to pay it forward with law students, with uh, you know, young legal professionals, because I hope that when she becomes a lawyer and um she's practicing, you know, other people will also pay it forward and help her as a young Latina attorney.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but she's super driven and her personality, she loves Triplorico like me.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: She, like I said, she's fully bilingual, um, no problem.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: And she has such a big personality that, you know, I just want to help her achieve her dreams.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I I always feel very proud when she tells people, you know, my mom's a lawyer and she cares a lot about justice too.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: She's the friend who will go and stand up for her other friends.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, when she sees something unfair, she'll say, Mom, we need to sue.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: And she probably says it too much.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: We need to work on that because you can't just go around suing everybody.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: But she definitely is interested in the law.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to help uh pave the way for her, you know, to have a successful and fulfilling career.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I I know her.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, she comes around a lot, she's a real superstar, a big personality, um, and a real go-getter, you know, attitude, really not afraid to tackle anything.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, she loves being here too.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: And she, yeah, she wants to meet everybody and network.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: She thinks she networks with people.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: She's a good networker.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I would love to get her on an early signing, you know, tool.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like almost like a recruit for Notre Dame.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: I could sign her in like what's her 11, like fifth grade or whatever.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can get her right now.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so our podcast is about the intersection of law and the Latino community.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wonder for you, you know, in your own personal life and experience, how does, you know, your background as a Spanish-speaking Latina really impact your work that you do here at Goldman's trial attorneys?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's huge.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm at Gold Menstrual Attorneys now, and I'm a personal injury attorney.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: I used to uh be a defense attorney.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: So Spanish speaking now is absolutely critical.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: I consider myself now, I can truly say I'm an attorney for the people, right?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Now I can say I represent those who need help.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not representing insurance companies anymore, you know, or different interest groups.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: So being able to speak Spanish, and I think more than being bilingual, uh being bicultural.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: And we have several attorneys here at GTA who aren't just bilingual, but they're bicultural.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Lara Dee, Ciro, Rubago.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: We grew up in Hispanic Latino households.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's huge because um, you know, thinking about empathy and the ability to connect with our clients, it goes a long way.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: And empathy is so powerful, in my opinion.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's, you know, I if it goes a lot further than sympathy, for example.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: Sympathy, I don't really like that word too much.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I think it's very related to pity.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: But when you have empathy for someone, you feel their pain in your own heart.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's come in handy.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have had clients who want to say non, but they're grown adults, but they want to ask, you know, get the blessing from their mom first or their grandma.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I understand that.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: I came from that matriarchal uh culture, a society, you know, where the viken de Guadalupe guides us, and she's on here too, in the mural.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that only translates down to the family.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we believe in the vegancita, we believe in the blessing, having the blessing of our mom, of our grandma.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I actually have a candle in my office that says laquefita, and that means the little boss woman.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's what a lot of us call our moms.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: We say here, she's na quefita, she's the little boss mom.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I have it next to the picture of my daughters because that's the role I see myself in their in their life, right?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: So they're having clients who come in and they want to talk to their grandma, and I'll speak to her in Spanish, and they end up signing with us, or they end up, you know, agreeing to the proposed strategy that we have for their litigation because we're able to connect with the mom.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think it's it's so critical.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, there's another example.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there were, I think the largest mediated settlement that I've been a part of was uh a gentleman who just seeing him reminded me so much of my dad.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: He was this, I could tell he was a laborer, you know, he had his dark mustache and um worn-out hands, his he was very injured in a in a vehicle accident.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I could tell his back was injured.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: And being a laborer, that's so important for him to be able to sustain himself.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he was he was here illegally, and I just remember how fearful he was every step of the way, because he just thought, you know, it's there, I'm gonna get deported.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember during his deposition, you know, I defended his deposition, and it's we asked strategized, well, how are we gonna deal with proving his lost wages, right?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because his lost wages were significantly impacted.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: This was a man who was working 60 hour weeks prior to being injured so he could support his family, send money back to Mexico.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and how do you prove those when maybe he's using a fake name or a fake ID?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: Not only, you know, but how does that come off to the other side?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: So is the other side not going to trust him?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Is the other side gonna think he's shady?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, one of the most important roles for me uh dealing with this client was the ability for me to see past that because of my own personal experiences and really be able to portray him as who he was, a kind, hardworking, honest individual.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so during his deposition, you know, I had to make sure that I showed defense.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: I believe in his honor.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: I believe in everything he's saying.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, he's a righteous person.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it went great.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: And defense at the end of the deposition and at the end of mediation, I wanted to shake his hand and told him you're a wonderful human being.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: And um, he got a very, very nice result.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I believed so much in him.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: I know one of our assistants who also doubt, she started crying when she, she's also Mexican-American, and um, she started crying when she heard of the result, and it was a very nice feeling, but we all connected with him at a deeper level than just being able to translate.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's awesome.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what about this?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we hear about having a chip on your shoulder.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever have any experiences growing up as a young Latina that kind of put a chip on your shoulder?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and I worked very hard on that chip because, you know, I don't want it, but at the same time, it definitely lights a fire under me.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I was able to, there's two that stand out.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: I remember it was my between my first and second year of law school, I already had a daughter.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: I was single mom, and I had spam emailed a bunch of judges trying to get, you know, clerkship.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: And a judge in El Paso, she's a she's a Latina um Harvard law school grad, single mom as well.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: She took the bar, the California bar exam, uh, because she's licensed in California and Texas.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: She took the bar exam pregnant, passed it.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: She's an amazing woman.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Judge Maria Sandas Mendoza, and I keep in close touch with her.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: She maybe we can get her on one day.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, she would love to.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: She's she's a huge, she's a judge and she's a huge advocate.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: Troubles all over the country.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, she invited me.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: She said, I'll give you a clerkship.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, why not?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I start clerking for her.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was sitting uh in her courtroom and she was going through, it was a criminal docket, and this attorney, you know, kind of a slart man.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: He comes and he's like, Oh, well, tell me a little bit about you.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just talking to him.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I don't know if he was trying to be funny, but he said, Well, you know, he's like, There's no way, no way, let me repeat that, that you're gonna be able to be a mom, get married, have a husband, take care of your husband, and be a successful lawyer.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's impossible.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody can do it.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: So that stuck with me, you know, and I think I tend to be more curious than angry when people say things like that.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: But then I then I then I think a lot about them, and then I start getting, you know, worked up sometimes.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: So that was definitely something that stuck with me, and my response is always okay.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm stubborn as heck, I'm a tourist like you.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so okay, let me let me show you, right?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, another example is you know, a white female from San Diego, and this was a few years ago, so it's recent, you know, made a comment um and said, Yeah, well, you know, Latinas, they just want to get pregnant and have babies.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it's ironic because that woman was actually a um maybe a high school or college dropout and stay-at-home.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: And there's nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: I respect stay-at-home moms.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's very difficult, but it was just ironic.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, she was speaking ill about someone who went in RD, had her law degree, was successfully jumbling being a mom.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so I was like, why tear, why tear me down because I'm Latina?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: Or why throw that in there?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: So little things like that definitely just make me want to prove everybody wrong.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: And they light a fire, and um it, you know, it does give me a little bit of a chip on my shoulder.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I think it serves my clients well.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, I've seen it.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, I know that you are active, you're on the board of directors for um La Rosa lawyers here in San Diego, um, which is really an advocacy, you know, group to promote uh Latinos in law and I think you know, justice in the community.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about you know your role there, you know, the importance of that organization to you.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: So La Rasa Lawyers Association is an organization that aims to promote Latinos through not only legal advocacy but also political um activity.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so important to me, you know, as a law student, La Rasa um, so the scholarship fund gave me scholarships.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of how it all started.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I heard about, you know, you can get a scholarship through La Rasa.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, okay, I need to apply, so let me learn more about the organization.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: I applied.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: And at one point I remember there were actually two years where I got scholarships.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_02: I was just praying, please, you know, help me win the scholarship.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I need it to pay the rent, pay bills.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was that desperate of times.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, to take it a step further, when I received the scholarship and I went to the big event, it's called the Gala event, which is October 18th this year, by the way.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's still October 18th, and we want to buy your tickets.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I went to the event and just met so many people.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I've learned the importance truly of paying it forward.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because I met people who took an interest in helping me simply because they believe in the importance of helping young Latino leaders, you know, grow their career.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and to individuals in particular, say Hiofenia and I verbules.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I know I would tell my mom and say, you know, they're angels sent from God because I don't know why they care so much about me.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why they take the time to guide me.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why they take the time to have coffee with me, you know, promote me.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm very, very thankful.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: So, number one, it's super important because it's a place where young Latino, lostless students, young Latino attorneys can turn to and meet people who truly want to see them rise.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's that's very important.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm happy to say that, you know, back then I was a student hoping for a scholarship.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: This year I'm the president of the scholarship fund.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm putting together the big gala event.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm working behind the scenes to make sure it happens so we can raise money and continue to help students.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: Last year we had a record-breaking um uh scholarship donations.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: This year we just uh donated$30,000 in bar seconds.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's something that things session is a lot.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: Where it started off with$3,000.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, just being a part of that means so much to me.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so important.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's important because we need to promote Latino lawyers so that, you know, the demographics of Latino leaders in our community matches the constituents that we're helping.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I know you, John, are a big supporter.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's actually the first time I ever came across you.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: I remember the gala where I was awarded the scholarship.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: I would just hear about the Strong Gomez.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it was like the time of sponsor and super big supporter, lifetime member of La Vasa.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just curious, well, who is this strong gomez?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_02: And after I got my award, you know, I have to hurry home because I have a baby waiting for me.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a late event, it goes to like 10 at night.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of left early, and you were sitting in a chair, and I just remember looking and being and thinking, oh wow, that's Strom Gomez.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's the real, but I was too shy to go say that.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: How'd my suit look?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: You were wearing your pinstrip suit.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was black with white pinstripes.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: You were looking sharp as always.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I just remember being inspired, you know, motivated.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, the rest is history.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'm I'm still in shock and in awe that I work here.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, so organizations I got us that, you know, not only do we promote justice through political and legal advocacy, but it's also a place where students can get inspired and find true important mentorship opportunities.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you um were just very instrumental in putting together a program uh entitled The Shades of Success Summit, you know, which from what I saw was you know aimed at a lot of the things that you just said, kind of giving back to this next generation.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about that day and what happened and what it meant to you.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it was a great opportunity.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: So the Shades of Success Summit was an event that was put on by Gomez Straneys, and I co-chaired that with uh my other um meta colleague, Lara Dietz, and it was aimed at inviting law students and young attorneys in San Diego to uh it was it was a full-day panel.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we had seminal panels, we had guest speakers, we had uh DA uh Summer Stefan join us, and she was a keynote speaker.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: She talked about her experience coming from a family uh of immigrants, and it was meant to inspire and help students network uh with legal professionals in the community.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: We um had speed networking, and it was a great turnout.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've actually personally received at least 10 emails of students who are on top of it, and I can see the desire that they have to just, you know, get out there and do what they're supposed to do to get more opportunities.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I have coffee scheduled with four of them within the next few weeks.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, we had panelists, we talked about everything from why it is that we do what we do, you know, as attorneys, as legal professionals, we had judges speak.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was a wonderful event.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: It went from eight to eight.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was an all-day thing.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: And just seeing so many young, passionate uh law students and young lawyers wanting opportunities and wanting to get to know other like-minded individuals so they can look up to, so they can seek out for mentorship, uh, meant a lot to me.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm more than happy to, you know, have coffee with them and talk to them and mentor them.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: And once again, to me, it's how I show gratitude to those who did the same for me in the past and how I hope to, you know, pay it forward and hopefully good karma along the way.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Someone will do the same for my daughter.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we can all just help our help each other and um create a more equitable legal society in San Diego and then across the board.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we know that uh Latinos are underrepresented uh as lawyers, you know, in a state like California, you know, or Texas, or you know, we go nationally, you know, there's Hispanic populations all over the country.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we know that this population, this Hispanic population is the fastest growing demographic in the country.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how do you see that growth you know affecting our kind of legal system or system of justice going forward?
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, our uh legal system needs to adapt and change because you're right, the the the numbers don't match.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's important because it definitely, in my opinion, creates systemic oppression.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not so much because people some people are you know just uh racist, just they don't care, they're mean, not nice people.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: But for the most part, I think that systemic oppression is created because of tribalism.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: And tribalism is the notion that you're gonna feel more comfortable around people like you.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, if I have to choose between someone who looks and thinks like me and who I can relate to, um I'm probably gonna choose them, have uh a bias, slip unconscious bias to favor them.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: And that's important because honestly, if the majority of attorneys, judges in our community aren't of the same culture as you know, minorities, then more opportunities are gonna be given to um to people who aren't minority.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that creates unfairness and that creates disparity.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that in order to help you know get rid of systemic oppression, um it's Important for us to be fairly represented.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's why organizations like Lulac, like La Rasa are so important because we do need Latinos and other minorities in positions of, I don't want to say power, but in you know, positions where they can help others.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's the whole point.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's all about paying it forward and helping generations after.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's incredibly important for us to recognize that and for us to actively combat that, to help the numbers, you know, even out so we can have more equality in our legal system.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: I and I'm hopeful that you know this podcast and some of the conversations that we have and the connections we make with leaders will help you know accelerate that pacing that change.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's on the agenda for you next, you know, 10 years as you know, um one of our nation's, you know, leading Latina trial lawyers and justice leaders.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: What do you what do you hope to be doing in the coming years?
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's funny, I thought about this and I don't want to say much will change.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm glad that I can say that.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think much will change in terms of me saying, well, I want to move here or move there.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy being uh an attorney for the people.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy uh being a trial attorney.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_02: Eventually, you know, I want to grow in my trial litigation skills.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: But the most important thing to me and where I want to see myself in 10 years is making even a bigger impact on my community.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to grow my reputation within the community and uh be known as someone who, you know, has helped others, has helped students, um, but at the same time with a great reputation as a great child attorney like you, John.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I just want to keep learning.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_02: I want to keep learning from you.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: I want to keep learning from other mentors in Adasa, in the legal community who I admire.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I just want to make a name for myself and the community.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're well on your way.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think a lot of folks out there know who you are and and really look up to you and are grateful to you.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so this is episode one.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: We got a whole bunch of podcasts coming up.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what can our guests look forward to in future episodes of The Latino?
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, definitely amazing guest speaker.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, John and we're talking earlier, and uh you have great ideas.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh we'll talk more about how being, you know, having the ability to connect with our Latino, Hispanic clients uh definitely impacts our cases.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, an interesting case here or there is always fun to listen about.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and just stay tuned.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we'll learn more about who the attorneys are, who these guest speakers are, who doesn't like a little bit of good cheese met?
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody likes cheese.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody loves cheese met.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's gonna do it for us today.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so Jessica, you're gonna be on a whole bunch more of these episodes.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: But if people want to look you up, learn more about you, you know, are you on social media?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where can where can people learn more about Jessica Luhan?
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm on social media, uh Jesse Bell Lujan.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: If you follow Gomez trial attorneys, get Gomez, then you'll find me.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm always posting on there and I'm always linked on there.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm on Facebook, uh, but also the website.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: So uh there's a lot of information about me.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's a video, and uh, I think you did a really good job of uh in our website, and every attorney has a little blurb where people can go and look them up and get to know more about the attorneys.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so just let's have a little preview, a brief preview of our next guest, a very special guest, and what this guest is gonna talk about.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, John was nice enough.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna invite my father, uh, who painted the mural.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_02: His name is Roland Donukan to come and speak with us.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I know what can I tell you about my dad?
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_02: He's just a kind, happy individual.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_02: He's extremely talented.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: I know this mural means so much to him.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: He was very, very honored uh that you gave him the opportunity to put this mural together uh because it has so many symbols that are important to him and us and um you know, us growing up uh cross-culturally.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: So uh he's uh deacon in the Catholic Church, but he's a muralist, and I'm pretty sure you'll you'll enjoy hearing from him.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's funny and he's just very endearing.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna be super cool and a special, I think, day for certainly for me, and I'm sure for you as a proud daughter.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much for being our guest.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: Look forward to a ton of cool episodes in the future.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: And really, you know, the the goal of this uh uh podcast, like you said, is to you know make justice more fair for Latinos uh in our country.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so we're gonna be working on that.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm really uh honored that you're gonna be my partner in that.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Sean.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the opportunity.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and thank you, Anna.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Latino podcast.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you again next time.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: And be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.