Last week, the La Raza Lawyers Association hosted a Holiday party at THE LOT in Liberty Station, where over 200 professionals came together for a night of celebration, networking, food, drinks, and most importantly, award acknowledgments for several professionals who have made an impact on the La Raza Lawyers Association.
The non-profit organization is based in San Diego, and it was founded to help law students of the Latino community go to law school and succeed through graduation, and have them become successful attorneys in the long run.
Agustin Peña is the current president of San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, and he spoke with ChulaVistaToday about the importance of holding these type of events in the law industry where they uplift each other with a mix of students and mentors.
Peña says one of the organization’s main purposes is to help underprivileged Latinos who perhaps did not grow up with role models by their side, having been raised as first-generation American students or first-generation immigrants.
“We have lawyers here, elected officials, we have someone who’s running for Chula Vista City Attorney,” Peña told ChulaVistaToday. “It’s a great event to get together and get to know people and really understand where they are from, and support each other. A Latino community has to be united, because that’s how we strive together.”
Arcelia Magaña is La Raza’s previous president of the 2022-23 term, and she recognizes the importance of putting together these type of events in the community so that Latinos can gather and remind each other that they are family, professionally-speaking.
Magaña, who was also given an award for her past work as President of SDLRA, says that it’s important to not only create networking while being a law student, but also making sure that everyone feels supported after officially becoming attorneys in the legal field.
“A main focus is to increase representation in the Latino community, whether it’s Latino lawyers and judges,” Magaña told ChulaVistaToday. “And it’s also focused on providing support to students so that once they become attorneys, they feel supported in the legal community and succeed as attorneys. Creating family, building support, and building each other up.”
Vice President of La Raza Lawyers Association, Marco Garcia, says that only six percent of lawyers in California are Latinos. The association’s Vice President told ChulaVistaToday that one of the objectives of hosting these events is to increase those types of numbers every year, with the help of the network connections being created in special occasions such as last week’s Holiday party.
“We as a Latino community are not just attorneys. We are Real Estate, we are bankers, we are much more than what many people think we are. We are not just Mexican-Americans, but we also have folks from Colombia and other Latin-American communities, and so coming together from diverse backgrounds becomes even more significant to us.”