Want to Be a Better Lawyer For Hispanic and Latino Clients? Get More Familiar With Hispanic Culture

Hispanic Heritage Month Offers Many Chances To Experience Latino Life

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, it is a meaningful opportunity for us to reflect on the rich cultural tapestry that influences our professional and personal lives. In North Carolina, where our vibrant community continues to grow and thrive, it is important to recognize and honor not only our Hispanic/Latino clients but also the community as a whole.

As attorneys we may treat all our clients as regular American clients with the same struggles and ambitions as the regular folk, and that is good because we should not have any presuppositions about anyone, but we must be aware that a lot of our clients may be going through unrelatable traumas and tribulations. Some of these may include struggling with their legal status or having an ongoing immigration case. Or they may be as simple as struggling to understand their case due to the language barrier. Sometimes, as we all can probably relate to, their double-last names makes them impossible to find on databases so we have to try 10 different combinations of names to find them.

Representing Hispanic/Latino clients in legal matters oftentimes imposes additional professional duties which we may not think about or realize, not because we are bad lawyers, but because we have never experienced them ourselves.

Some ways to better relate to our Hispanic/Latino clients may be to attend cultural events, especially during this month. Below are some events happening throughout the state where you can experience the variety of tastes and rhythms of Hispanic culture in your neck of the woods.

• Festival Latino, Garner, Sept. 13
• Fiesta Del Pueblo, Raleigh, Sept. 15
• A Community Gathering Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Durham, Sept. 15
• Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Charlotte, Sept. 21
• Hispanic Heritage Run, Raleigh, Sept. 21
• Hispanic Heritage Fiesta, Pittsboro, Sept. 21
• Cape Fear Latinos Festival, Wilmington, Sept. 21
• Hispanic Heritage Festival, Charlotte, Sept. 28
• Ballet Hispanico, Cullowhee, Oct. 10
• Festival Latino, Wilmington, Nov. 9