Law Quadrangle Notes Interview
I recently had the privilege of being interviewed for an article in the 2008
issue of the Law Quadrangle Notes published by my alma mater, the University
of Michigan Law School. The article is below:
Law Quadrangle Notes
The University of Michigan Law School
Volume 50, Number 2 | SUMMER 2008
The language of the Law
Diversity, an often elusive goal for many law firms, comes in many forms.
Race, religion, gender, age, education, you name it. One form is preferred
language. Attorneys often must work with a client who speaks something other
than English—or lose that client to someone who speaks his language.
Lawyer-client discussions often expose very personal, deeply held, or seldom
revealed beliefs, thoughts, or actions, and these discussions always are
more fruitful if they can be done without a translator.
Thus, many law firms find it helpful to add multilingual skills to their
repertoire for serving clients. Most commonly in today’s United States, that
other language is Spanish. But it also may be Arabic, Russian, Chinese, or
the languages of other, earlier immigrant groups like German, Italian, or
Polish.
Such a move also can increase a firm’s client roster, as it did for
Dallas-based Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei (Partners Jim Orr,
Angel Reyes III, and Eric Pearson all are 1991 Michigan Law graduates).
“During the early 1990s the firm began representing Spanish speaking
personal injury clients,” explained Reyes, a managing partner.
Today, he reported, “our firm seeks out bilingual attorneys through its
hiring process.” He said he and two others of the firm’s 10 lawyers are
fluent in both English and Spanish (a fact noted on the firm’s website,
www.reyeslaw.com), more than half the firm’s personal injury clients speak
only Spanish, and more than 70 percent of its staff members are bilingual,
“so even if you don’t speak Spanish, you must be comfortable being around
people speaking Spanish in order to thrive at our firm.”
“I use both languages in my practice,” Reyes explained. “Many of my clients
only speak Spanish. This is because of where I practice, Texas, and the kind
of practice I have. I do mostly life altering personal injury cases.
However, the firm also has a substantial commercial and business litigation
practice.”
Language diversity offers a win-win situation, according to Reyes. “We have
settled dozens of life altering personal injury cases for Spanish speaking
clients for multiple millions of dollars. The ability to communicate with
our clients in their native language was critical for the success of those
cases.”
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