Hispanic National Bar Association
Encyclopedia
The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization representing Hispanic
s in the legal profession, including attorneys
, judge
s, law professors, legal assistant and paralegals
, and law students in the United States
and its territories.
The current National President and Chief Executive Officer
is Benny Agosto Jr., a partner with Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Friend of Houston, Texas who was born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico. The Immediate Past National President is Diane Sen of New York, New York. Previous Past National Presidents have included Jimmie V. Reyna
of Washington, D.C., Roman Hernandez, Mari Carmen Aponte
of Washington, D.C., and Ramona Emilia Romero of Delaware
and Pennsylvania
. The Executive Director
/Chief Operating Officer
is Zuraya Tapia-Alfaro, Esq. Previous Executive Directors/Chief Operating Officers have included Antonio Arocho
, Esq., and Carmen Feliciano, Esq.
The organization was founded in California in 1972 as the La Raza National Lawyers Association. It is a nationally recognized professional association that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, law students and paralegals in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National officers are elected by the membership at large, and Regional Presidents are elected by their regional members. Individual attorneys may join, and local Hispanic bar association
s may become affiliated with the HNBA. The HNBA collaborates with the local Hispanic bars in over 100 cities in the United States, as well as with other specialty bars and the American Bar Association.
The HNBA holds an Annual Convention, an Annual Mid-Year Conference and Moot Court Competition, an Annual Legislative Day and an Annual International Conference open to all attorneys and affiliates from around the country. Each year, the HNBA also organizes a variety of events for lawyers and law students throughout its 19 regions, and several community outreach and education initiatives. During the 2008–2009 term, the HNBA's flagship initiatives include:
Project S.A.F.E. is a voter protection initiative undertaken by the HNBA every two years to ensure that the Latino community experiences Safe And Fair Elections when going to the polls during congressional and presidential election years. There is a well documented history of voter suppression tactics aimed at the Hispanic community, and the threat grows greater as Latinos become an increasingly important part of the electorate. To help Hispanic citizens exercise their right to vote, the HNBA conducts voter education, recruits volunteers to provide live assistance to voters who have questions or need to report problems at the polls, and creates teams to monitor polling places. All HNBA election protection activities are strictly non-partisan and are generally undertaken in collaboration with other non-partisan entities, including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
, among others. Project S.A.F.E. is conducted under the auspices of the HNBA's Voting Rights Section.
La Promesa en el Derecho' (The Promise in the Law) is an HNBA community outreach and education initiative designed to instill confidence and trust in the U.S. legal system. The HNBA has published a booklet (a PDF is found at http://www.hnba.com/DocumentUploaded/La%20Promesa_br_web.pdf) that provides one page explanations of ten basic features of the American system of government: (1) The Constitution of the United States; (2) Separation of Powers; (3) The President of the United States; (4) The Congress of the United States; (5) The Supreme Court of the United States; (6) The Courts; (7) The Jury Process; (8) Basics Rights in a Criminal Proceeding; (9) The Freedom to Engage in Civic Activities; and (10) Voting. The booklet is written in both English and Spanish at the 9th grade reading level. While the program targets the Latino community because so many of its members are recent immigrants, it is a wonderful civics education tool for all Americans regardless of ethnic background or national origin. In addition to being a community education tool, La Promesa is intended to foster interest in the law among Latino students, and thus is another HNBA effort to promote the growth of the Hispanic pipeline. La Promesa is distributed through a variety of avenues, including Bar associations, community service organizations, HNBA events and the Mexican consulates in the United States. Stage 2 of the La Promesa program will involve the creation of a DVD featuring Latino leaders explaining the concepts discussed in the booklet.
Recognizing that an informed citizenry is vital to a viable democracy, in May 2009 the HNBA will launch its first national HNBA Law Day program throughout its 19 Regions. This program will target elementary, middle school, and high school students and have as its educational center piece La Promesa en el Derecho. We believe the time for this initiative is now. Civics education has been on the decline since the 1960s. SeeCenter for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, The Civic Mission of Schools (New York: Carnegie Corporation, 2003). Without passing judgment on its merits, it is clear that No Child Left Behind has further aggravated this decline. As noted in a recent study, “The movement for high-stakes testing . . . has had a huge impact on education nationally: schools are under unprecedented pressure to raise student achievement, which is now measured by standardized examinations of reading and mathematics.” Id. As the Latino population increases, its civic engagement is ever more important to the future of our community and our Nation. HNBA Law Day is designed to provide the tools that enable and promote such engagement.
The HNBA National Mentoring Program was launched in 2006, in collaboration with our sister organization, the Hispanic National Bar Foundation. It was created to address the needs of aspiring Hispanic law students and new lawyers for mentors. The Mentoring Program is a formal system through which Hispanic students at all stages in their education and new attorneys will have the access and opportunity to communicate and learn from HNBA members. Law school students and recent graduates are paired with a practicing attorney-mentors for guidance, information and networking opportunities for professional development. Additionally, college and high schools students are paired with law student and attorney mentors to expose them to the legal profession and provide guidance and support on the road to law school. This model provides several benefits. First, it offers mentors the opportunity to contribute and students the benefit of a mentorship. Second, it addresses the needs of individuals at every level in the pipeline to a successful legal career. Third, the program is coordinated by a National Mentoring Program Committee that functions as a facilitator and a clearinghouse of information on best practices.
Through Breakfast at the HNBA, HNBA Regional Presidents organize Continuing Legal Education programs and discussion forums designed to educate the legal community in their regions about emerging legal and policy issues relevant to the Hispanic community and/or Latino lawyers. The first Breakfast at the HNBA took place in Washington, D.C. in December, 2006 and has served as a model for other programs across the country.
The Presidential Commission on the Status of Latinas in the Legal Profession was established in September 2008 by President Ramona E. Romero to explore and assess the status of Hispanic women in the legal profession. Recent statistics demonstrate that Latinas are severely under-represented in most segments of the profession. For example, according to Diversity & the Bar, in 2007 there were only 2 Hispanic women serving as general counsel of Fortune 1000 companies. The under-representation at major law firms, where Latinas comprise only .39% of partners and 1.8% of associates, is both marked and troublesome, since such law firms serve as talent sources for other segments of the profession, including the judiciary, high level government appointments and corporate legal departments. While much has been written about the status of minorities and women in the profession, there has been little, if any, focus on the particular issues facing Latinas. The Commission is tasked with identifying barriers to the professional development and advancement of Hispanic women attorneys, and with developing and recommending solutions to overcome those challenges. The Commission is also charged with developing both short-term and long-term strategic and programmatic recommendations for implementation by the HNBA.
Information about these events and initiatives is available on the association's website. The HNBA actively works on developing opportunities for Latino lawyers and the Latino pipeline. The HNBA also focuses and conducts advocacy on public policy issues pertinent to the Latino community, including access to justice, a diverse and independent judiciary, immigration reform, and laws that further equal educational and economic opportunities.
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
s in the legal profession, including attorneys
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s, law professors, legal assistant and paralegals
Paralegal
Paralegal is used in most jurisdictions to describe a paraprofessional who assists qualified lawyers in their legal work. This is true in the United States and many other countries. However, in Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, giving paralegals an...
, and law students in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and its territories.
The current National President and Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
is Benny Agosto Jr., a partner with Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Friend of Houston, Texas who was born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico. The Immediate Past National President is Diane Sen of New York, New York. Previous Past National Presidents have included Jimmie V. Reyna
Jimmie V. Reyna
Jimmie V. Reyna is an American lawyer and former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association and is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Reyna was formerly a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Williams Mullen, PC...
of Washington, D.C., Roman Hernandez, Mari Carmen Aponte
Mari Carmen Aponte
Mari Carmen Aponte is a Washington DC-based Puerto Rico-born attorney who serves, due to a recess appointment by President Barack Obama, as ambassador to El Salvador.-Personal life:...
of Washington, D.C., and Ramona Emilia Romero of Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The Executive Director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
/Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
is Zuraya Tapia-Alfaro, Esq. Previous Executive Directors/Chief Operating Officers have included Antonio Arocho
Antonio Arocho
Antonio Arocho , more commonly known as Tony Arocho or Antonio Arocho-Soto, is an attorney, former Chief Operating Officer of the Hispanic National Bar Association , and advocate for civil rights and for the poor. He is the founder and principal attorney of the Arocho Law Office . Arocho is a...
, Esq., and Carmen Feliciano, Esq.
The organization was founded in California in 1972 as the La Raza National Lawyers Association. It is a nationally recognized professional association that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, law students and paralegals in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National officers are elected by the membership at large, and Regional Presidents are elected by their regional members. Individual attorneys may join, and local Hispanic bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
s may become affiliated with the HNBA. The HNBA collaborates with the local Hispanic bars in over 100 cities in the United States, as well as with other specialty bars and the American Bar Association.
The HNBA holds an Annual Convention, an Annual Mid-Year Conference and Moot Court Competition, an Annual Legislative Day and an Annual International Conference open to all attorneys and affiliates from around the country. Each year, the HNBA also organizes a variety of events for lawyers and law students throughout its 19 regions, and several community outreach and education initiatives. During the 2008–2009 term, the HNBA's flagship initiatives include:
Project S.A.F.E. is a voter protection initiative undertaken by the HNBA every two years to ensure that the Latino community experiences Safe And Fair Elections when going to the polls during congressional and presidential election years. There is a well documented history of voter suppression tactics aimed at the Hispanic community, and the threat grows greater as Latinos become an increasingly important part of the electorate. To help Hispanic citizens exercise their right to vote, the HNBA conducts voter education, recruits volunteers to provide live assistance to voters who have questions or need to report problems at the polls, and creates teams to monitor polling places. All HNBA election protection activities are strictly non-partisan and are generally undertaken in collaboration with other non-partisan entities, including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, often simply The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights or Lawyers' Committee, is a civil rights organization that was founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.-Origins: 1963-1973:...
, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States...
, among others. Project S.A.F.E. is conducted under the auspices of the HNBA's Voting Rights Section.
La Promesa en el Derecho' (The Promise in the Law) is an HNBA community outreach and education initiative designed to instill confidence and trust in the U.S. legal system. The HNBA has published a booklet (a PDF is found at http://www.hnba.com/DocumentUploaded/La%20Promesa_br_web.pdf) that provides one page explanations of ten basic features of the American system of government: (1) The Constitution of the United States; (2) Separation of Powers; (3) The President of the United States; (4) The Congress of the United States; (5) The Supreme Court of the United States; (6) The Courts; (7) The Jury Process; (8) Basics Rights in a Criminal Proceeding; (9) The Freedom to Engage in Civic Activities; and (10) Voting. The booklet is written in both English and Spanish at the 9th grade reading level. While the program targets the Latino community because so many of its members are recent immigrants, it is a wonderful civics education tool for all Americans regardless of ethnic background or national origin. In addition to being a community education tool, La Promesa is intended to foster interest in the law among Latino students, and thus is another HNBA effort to promote the growth of the Hispanic pipeline. La Promesa is distributed through a variety of avenues, including Bar associations, community service organizations, HNBA events and the Mexican consulates in the United States. Stage 2 of the La Promesa program will involve the creation of a DVD featuring Latino leaders explaining the concepts discussed in the booklet.
Recognizing that an informed citizenry is vital to a viable democracy, in May 2009 the HNBA will launch its first national HNBA Law Day program throughout its 19 Regions. This program will target elementary, middle school, and high school students and have as its educational center piece La Promesa en el Derecho. We believe the time for this initiative is now. Civics education has been on the decline since the 1960s. SeeCenter for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, The Civic Mission of Schools (New York: Carnegie Corporation, 2003). Without passing judgment on its merits, it is clear that No Child Left Behind has further aggravated this decline. As noted in a recent study, “The movement for high-stakes testing . . . has had a huge impact on education nationally: schools are under unprecedented pressure to raise student achievement, which is now measured by standardized examinations of reading and mathematics.” Id. As the Latino population increases, its civic engagement is ever more important to the future of our community and our Nation. HNBA Law Day is designed to provide the tools that enable and promote such engagement.
The HNBA National Mentoring Program was launched in 2006, in collaboration with our sister organization, the Hispanic National Bar Foundation. It was created to address the needs of aspiring Hispanic law students and new lawyers for mentors. The Mentoring Program is a formal system through which Hispanic students at all stages in their education and new attorneys will have the access and opportunity to communicate and learn from HNBA members. Law school students and recent graduates are paired with a practicing attorney-mentors for guidance, information and networking opportunities for professional development. Additionally, college and high schools students are paired with law student and attorney mentors to expose them to the legal profession and provide guidance and support on the road to law school. This model provides several benefits. First, it offers mentors the opportunity to contribute and students the benefit of a mentorship. Second, it addresses the needs of individuals at every level in the pipeline to a successful legal career. Third, the program is coordinated by a National Mentoring Program Committee that functions as a facilitator and a clearinghouse of information on best practices.
Through Breakfast at the HNBA, HNBA Regional Presidents organize Continuing Legal Education programs and discussion forums designed to educate the legal community in their regions about emerging legal and policy issues relevant to the Hispanic community and/or Latino lawyers. The first Breakfast at the HNBA took place in Washington, D.C. in December, 2006 and has served as a model for other programs across the country.
The Presidential Commission on the Status of Latinas in the Legal Profession was established in September 2008 by President Ramona E. Romero to explore and assess the status of Hispanic women in the legal profession. Recent statistics demonstrate that Latinas are severely under-represented in most segments of the profession. For example, according to Diversity & the Bar, in 2007 there were only 2 Hispanic women serving as general counsel of Fortune 1000 companies. The under-representation at major law firms, where Latinas comprise only .39% of partners and 1.8% of associates, is both marked and troublesome, since such law firms serve as talent sources for other segments of the profession, including the judiciary, high level government appointments and corporate legal departments. While much has been written about the status of minorities and women in the profession, there has been little, if any, focus on the particular issues facing Latinas. The Commission is tasked with identifying barriers to the professional development and advancement of Hispanic women attorneys, and with developing and recommending solutions to overcome those challenges. The Commission is also charged with developing both short-term and long-term strategic and programmatic recommendations for implementation by the HNBA.
Information about these events and initiatives is available on the association's website. The HNBA actively works on developing opportunities for Latino lawyers and the Latino pipeline. The HNBA also focuses and conducts advocacy on public policy issues pertinent to the Latino community, including access to justice, a diverse and independent judiciary, immigration reform, and laws that further equal educational and economic opportunities.