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HNBA President-Elect
Christina Sarchio with HNBA awardees Mari Carmen
Aponte, Linda Madrid, Brigida Benitez, Sonia
Sotomayor, Patricia Madrid, Martiza Ryan, and
Margaret Montoya |
As a Judge Advocate (essentially,
a lawyer responsible for maintaining the rule of law
in the U.S. armed forces), Ryan had to learn to work
in stressful situations. When she was deployed to
Operation Desert Storm for four months, she left her
husband and 14-month-old baby in order to serve as a
lawyer for the American troops there. “We’re
soldiers as well as lawyers—so I lived in a hole in
the ground, and then in a tent,” she recalls
cheerfully. That grace under pressure served her
well when, a few years ago, she battled—and survived—a
life-threatening bout with cancer.
Today, Ryan is a professor and the incoming head of
the law department at the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point. There, she confers her patriotism and
her respect for the American legal tradition to
future generations of military officers. “[We] teach
constitutional law to every cadet that graduates,”
she explains. “Every cadet takes an oath to support
the constitution and the rights that every American
has.”
One Latina who is working on the ground to support
individual rights is Nina Perales. As the regional
counsel in the San Antonio office of the Mexican
American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), she directs
the organization’s litigation, advocacy and public
education in several states. Recently, Perales
argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of Latino
plaintiffs opposed to congressional redistricting in
Texas.
As a law student at Columbia University, Perales
often felt isolated. “I really didn’t feel much of a
connection to other students, because by then I knew
that I wanted to be a civil rights lawyer, and they
were getting into private sector work,” she says.
“It was the late 1980s, so everyone wanted to go
corporate!” The law school offered her some of the
support she needed, through a loan repayment program
for students who committed to public interest
careers.
As a lawyer, Perales views certain skills as
essential in her line of work. “You have to be
tenacious, and you have to tell yourself that you
have the talent and the ability—otherwise, you’ll
miss your opportunities,” she cautions. She had the
chance to put that advice into practice when she
argued before the Supreme Court in March. “I was
very, very nervous—I kept forgetting my opening
sentences,” she says, laughing. “But once I started,
I forgot about everything else. I felt like I said
everything I came to say—and hopefully we’ve
convinced them.”
Brigida Benitez has also appeared before the Supreme
Court. A partner at the Washington, D.C.’s Wilmer
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, she second-chaired
the oral argument in the landmark victory for the
University of Michigan over affirmative action. “It
was really a tremendous victory, one that affects
our community and really every student going to
college,” she recalls.
While a law student at Boston College in the early
’90s and an officer of the “small but cohesive”
Latino student organization, Benitez made lasting
and important connections. “It was a nice way to
meet others and share our experiences,” she says. As
a lawyer, she has continued to be active in Hispanic
circles, serving as president at the Washington,
D.C., Hispanic Bar Association and establishing,
along with D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Vanessa Ruiz,
a joint program providing free legal aid to the
local Hispanic community. Her achievements were
recognized in 2005, when the Hispanic National Bar
Association selected her as the Latina Lawyer of the
Year.
As a staunch advocate for Latino causes, Benitez
offers encouragement for Latinas considering careers
in law. “Believe in yourself and set high standards
for yourself,” she says. “It will be a decisive
factor in your future. Even if you are the first,
don’t be afraid—you can then open doors for others.”
Christina Sarchio, a partner at Howrey Simon Arnold
and White, has been opening doors ever since she
could talk. The child of Spanish immigrants to New
York City, she served as an informal translator for
her parents’ friends and neighbors. “I remember
negotiating on the phone at 8 or 9 [years old],
trying to prevent someone’s phone service from being
cut off,” she laughs.
Sarchio’s personality has served her well as a
litigator. “I like challenges, and I like adversity,”
she says. “By nature I’m a passionate person—I don’t
know if that’s the Latina in me—and when I argue for
someone, I get passionate about it. I always say,
‘Bring it on!’”
That passion has certainly helped Sarchio in the
business world, and she encourages young Latinas to
follow her. “Latinos tend to focus on government and
public interest work, and there aren’t that many
women representing companies,” she says. “The
business world needs Hispanic lawyers!”
Like Aponte and other Latina lawyers, Sarchio is
aware of the sacrifices that female advocates have
to make—particularly when it comes to balancing work
and family. “I have to budget my time very carefully,
and will often work from home at night after I put
the children to bed,” she says. “But I have worked
very hard to get to where I am today professionally,
and I do not want to give it up.”
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