What are some of your proudest recent achievements? What I am most proud of is the continued reaching out to other affinity Bar Associations to work towards common goals. So often our organizations retreat to our own corners trying to corner the market on certain goals for fear of being co-opted. It takes a level of trust building and honest brokering to get competing organizations to see they are not really competitors but are working toward common goals. Not every joint venture brings about guaranteed change but the very act of getting different groups together prepares us for the next challenge, which as time has taught me is always waiting around the corner. An example is the recent coalition we formed to address the appallingly low numbers of Latino judges in the Court of Claims. After having met with the governor’s representative, we feel positive that change will be forthcoming, but if it doesn’t, we have formed bonds among us that will bear fruit in the future,

Name a lawyer or mentor whose leadership inspired you. I will name two for the similar reasons. They are the Hon. Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Associate Justice of the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department, and the Hon. Carmen R. Velasquez, Supreme Court of the State of New York, Queens County-Civil Term Part 38. Both are relentless pursuers of truth and advancing the cause of the underrepresented. I met Sallie as we were both entering Hofstra Law School together. She was the first president of the Latino Law Student Association at Hofstra and I was the first vice-president. I got a front row seat to her brand of promoting causes. Carmen is a past president of the LLAQ, of which I am the current president. Her continued counsel on sensitive matters has helped guide me and the organization through difficult times.

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