By Ricardo Vasquez, Esquire
Introduction: “I do solemnly swear that…I will treat all persons whom I encounter through my practice of law with fairness, courtesy, respect, and honesty.” That is part of the oath of admission that I took in Colorado to receive my license to practice law. My practice has focused almost exclusively on family law matters, and so far, the firm that I have spent the longest time at was an immigration-focused firm.
What that meant as a domestic relations practitioner was there were many state court custody orders as a predicate to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status applications. These clients are the family members of children from impoverished nations, many of whom flee gang violence because these gangs extort and threaten these children and their families. In addition to those heart-wrenching cases, of my remaining caseload of divorces and custody cases, I would estimate that at least half were Hispanic clients. Another facet of this is that about 85 to 90 percent of my clients at this firm were not English speakers.
Published in the September/October 2020 issue of The Bencher.