Message from the President

HNBA President Román Hernández

HNBA National President Román D. Hernández’s Remarks Delivered at the 2009 HNBA National Convention (Albuquerque, New Mexico) on September 5, 2009.

Thank you, Justice Smith for that kind introduction. It means a lot to me to have Justice Smith swear me in because he is the epitome of professionalism, and is someone who I have known for a considerable amount of time and is someone who I deeply respect. Some of you may not know that Justice Smith is one of the co-founders of the HNBA’s Judicial Council, a vibrant and active group that is indispensable to the HNBA.

The HNBA’s Judicial Council, until yesterday, was led by Co-Chairs Judges Cathy Torres-Stahl and Francisca Cota. After many years, Judge Cathy Torres-Stahl has relinquished leadership of this important group to Judge Carmen Velazquez who is now Co-Chair along with Judge Francisca Cota. I would like to recognize them and all of the members of the Judiciary who are present this evening…will you please stand and be recognized.

To my Dear Friend Ramona Romero, we are indebted to you and your leadership for the sacrifices that you have made this year as our fearless leader. You have served us well, but do not stray too far because I will call upon you for your advice from time to time, just as I will to other former presidents of the HNBA….individuals who also sacrificed a lot to lead our association, and the HNBA is better off because of their leadership.

This year was an excellent example of the leadership of past presidents being summoned to assist the HNBA in achieving its goals when several past presidents assisted us with our preparation for the HNBA’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation and their leadership and participation in the HNBA’s Commission on Latinas in the Legal Profession……former national Presidents like Mari Carmen Aponte, Dolores Atencio, Mary Hernandez, Lillian Apodaca, Jimmie Reyna, and Carlos Ortiz. Please expect this type of collaboration between my administration and former presidents to continue because I can learn a lot from other past presidents who have valuable experiences and sage advice to pass on so that the learning curve is not too steep. I welcome the opportunity to work with them.

When one decides to seek the position of National President of the HNBA, there is a lot of soul searching involved, and one asks him or herself a lot of questions, questions like….do I have the time, am I ready to lead, am I ready to make this kind of commitment knowing the sacrifices that will come with the position. Doing what any intelligent husband would do, I first talked it over with my wife, Marisa, and asked her what she thought about me running for President-Elect. I was very pleased but not surprised, to hear her say that she was supportive, and that she would always be my biggest fan, win or lose. Gracias Marisita for being there for me. I know that I can always count on you to be by my side.

Next, I spoke with my law firm’s leadership to ensure that I had the firm’s buy-in of my endeavor. Without hesitation, my firm’s leadership rallied to support me, and they continue to be supportive of me and of my involvement with the HNBA. Members of my law firm’s leadership are here today, and it means a lot to me that they would make the trek from Portland, Oregon, including Mark Long my firm’s Managing Shareholder and Elizabeth Schleuning who is the head of my law firm’s Labor and Employment department. Thank you for your support of me and my involvement with the HNBA.

The membership of the HNBA has bestowed upon me a great honor and the privilege of allowing me the opportunity to lead the association, but I will have you know that it is not one that I aspired to….at least not until very recently. To understand that statement, you should know a little bit more about me, and perhaps a few of you already know this story, but I will share it with those of you who don’t.

My parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico over 50 years ago and were migrant farm workers who traveled between Texas and Michigan, then Ohio, picking crops, until someone told them about good job opportunities in a place called “ORE—GON.” So, they traveled there with my oldest brother and settled there to raise their family. My father eventually got a job with the Union Pacific Railroad driving spikes and replacing worn railroad ties and rails. However, times were tough and all family members worked in the fields to supplement the family’s income; I am the youngest of 8 children, so you can imagine that there were a lot of mouths to feed.

I used to labor in the fields until two weeks before I started college; I harvested cebolla for 16 cents a bushel. Then a financial aid award letter changed my life. It provided me with the financial means to pursue a college education. I wasn’t going to be able to afford college without it, and I had planned to enlist in the military. I had an older brother who had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. However, I didn’t go into the military right away. I graduated from Oregon State University and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. My first assignment was to Cannon Air Force Base located right here in New Mexico, and it was there that I met, for the first time, a Latino lawyer who also happened to be an Air Force JAG Officer. He told me, “Hey Ese, you should go to law school.” I didn’t give his statement too much weight, at least not initially.

You see, I remember when I took my high school senior picture, and my mom and dad were sure to have me dressed up in a suit and tie, one that I wore to church, and my father told me, “Mijo, te pareces como un abogado.” Translated to English, he said, “You look like a lawyer.” I said, “No Dad, I can’t be a lawyer…that is for those rich, kids, the rich Anglo kids.” He said you can be a lawyer, if you apply yourself. That is what my friend, Capt. Jaime Sampayo, said to me too.

I heeded their advice, and eventually, I served my 5 years in the military, received and honorable discharge and left the military at the rank of Captain to attend law school. Having served as an officer in the military is part of the reason why I have a deep appreciation and respect for the men and women in uniform who put themselves in harm’s way on our behalf and answer our Nation’s call to duty. At this time, I would like to ask that the men and women in uniform who are here this evening to please stand and be recognized.

My father passed away before he could witness this occasion, but I know that he would have been very proud to see me sworn in as the national leader of our bar association. As I stand here before you this evening, I remember the sacrifices that he and my mother made to provide for me and my family with a better life, a better life than they experienced in Mexico.

As immigrants, they left friends and family behind in Mexico; they moved to a country where they did not speak the language, did not understand the culture, ate different foods, and had never experienced an Eastern Oregon winter which is harsh for the unprepared, which they were. They would often reminisce about how things were back in Mexico, and I knew that they missed it, even though they did not openly say so.

And it is because of life experiences like those that help shape an individual, that help to create his or her value system and identify his or her life goals. I suppose that is why I cringe when I hear the anti-immigrant slanders and calls for “take them all back” “build a higher fence” “they are taking our jobs.” I cringe because I know personally of the benefits of immigrants here in the U.S. and the better life that immigrants seek for their families. Immigrants are the lifeblood of America, and the immigrant story is an American Story. That is why we, the HNBA, must take leadership of this important issue during my term as HNBA National President.

I know that there are calls that our borders and doors to our country to become closed to immigrants and that “they” get sent “back”. But that is not realistic because the reality is that 12 million people live here in our country, which has become their country too through hard work and sacrifice. Immigrants provide a much needed labor force. For example, they pick our crops, build our homes, cook our meals, serve our food, clean our hotels and convention centers, and care for our children.

The solution is not the return of 12 million people to countries abroad. No, instead there must be a compromise, and we as Latino lawyers cannot overlook the disenfranchised and those who do not think that they have a voice in our system of government. We must be their voice, and we must openly advocate for the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform. The time is now!

This is not a Mexican American Issue, not a Dominican Issue, it is not a Central American Issue, instead it is an “American Issue.” Accordingly, we all must work together to ensure that we gain legal status for those who do not have it today. The naysayers are out there, and one can’t turn on the television or listen to talk radio without hearing the anti-immigrant agenda. Nevertheless, we will meet this challenge head on under my term as HNBA President.

We must not lose sight of the opportunities to collaborate with other national Latino organizations on issues of national importance to the Latino community such as this one. We will work with MALDEF, the NCLR, LULAC and others and will seek to take the lead of this issue through the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, which is group of 29 national Latino organizations, including the HNBA.

While we have had great successes this year, we must not lose momentum. We must still advocate for greater diversity on state and federal courts—-our work on judicial advocacy does not end with the service of Justice Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. We must continue with that important work which still lays ahead of us so that we ensure that our judiciary reflects the community that it serves.

During my term as National President, I would like to ensure that we continue to develop as a bar association, and that we develop our members and the benefits that we provide to them.

For example, this year we are going to ensure that we continue to have regional events to develop ourselves professionally….as my good friend and former HNBA President Jimmie Reyna has stated, “It is about lawyers and lawyering.” To this end, we will ensure that we have a substantive CLE program in each of the HNBA’s 19 regions, so that we grow professionally and that we can learn from one another and enhance our legal skills and knowledge. These programs will be called the “Breakfast at the HNBA” CLE series, and will ensure that in this tough job market, that our members have the legal experience and skills to compete.

This year, our HNBA Mid-Year Conference will become the HNBA’s Inaugural Corporate Counsel Conference, which is an idea that I borrowed from our sister organization the National Bar Association whose President is with us this evening….thank you Mavis Thompson for attending our event.

The HNBA Corporate Counsel Conference will develop opportunities for HNBA members to develop relationships with in-house corporate counsel, which will hopefully bear fruit and develop into an attorney client relationships when those corporate in-house counsel find the wealth of talent that exists within our bar association. This is an event that the National Bar Association has been holding successfully for over 20 years, and we hope to emulate that success.

We must also address the pipeline issues that exist within our profession. For example, the HNBA’s National Moot Court Competition is in its 15th year this year, and was renamed the “Uvaldo Herrera National Moot Court Competition” to recognize someone who selflessly dedicated of his time to ensure that the competition has taken on the form that it now enjoys, and someone who secured corporate funding from his employer so that law students would receive scholarships as part of the competition. Thank you, Uvaldo.

This year’s competition will be held in San Diego in early March, and we are pleased to announce that the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Ted Olsen (yes, THE Ted Olsen former U.S. Solicitor General) have agreed to write the competition problem for us which should ensure that we have another outstanding educational experience for our law students.

Also, this year the HNBA will continue to expand its programming by rolling out its Inaugural HNBA National High School Mock Trial Competition this Spring. The competition will be held on one day across the HNBA’s 19 regions and will be an opportunity to reach out to Latino youth by exposing them to the legal system in a very positive manner, so that they get to see what a trial is like, what it is like to make legal arguments, to interact with Latino attorneys and judges…and at the end of the competition, every participant will get a certificate that they can be proud of.

I am not talking about reaching out to the “talented and gifted” schools with this program. Instead, we want to reach out to the Latino youth in the underserved and under privileged communities, ones who perhaps have had no exposure to the Latino lawyers or the law so that they too can develop an interest in the law at an early age…..just as the HNBA’s Youth Symposium has been doing at our annual conventions for years. I pledge that we will continue with this important work during my term as National President.

Those are some of what is part of my vision for my HNBA during my year as national president. However, I can’t do it alone, I need your help…each of you in the audience to be willing to make a commitment of time toward the betterment of our bar association. I know that I can count on you, just as you can count on me. Thank you once again for the privilege to serve.