Litigation

Angel Reyes featured in Latino Leaders Magazine

By Angel L. Reyes, III

There is another star under the Dallas sky, and it is not the one on the State ?ag. The star is young Latino Attorney Angel Reyes, III, who as the Managing Partner of Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson and Bartolomei, has managed to make his ?rm one of Dallas' most prominent and foremost litigation and personal injury practices in the region.

Not content with his remarkable achievements as a powerful attorney, however, Angel Reyes has delved into literature and recently co-authored a book about immigration in America titled: Hispanic Heresy: What is the Impact of America's Largest Population of Immigrants?, written in collaboration with Bradley T. Ewing, Ph.D. and James C. Wetherbe, Ph.D. The book strongly and compellingly details the struggles of immigrants to the United States from the first intrepid travelers to reach U.S. soil in the 1700's to the mass exodus from many countries after the turn of the century, up until the present.

Packed with incredible insights and an outstanding knowledge of the laws and practices that govern immigration into the United States, Hispanic Heresy is a comprehensive and fascinating glimpse into the plight of the immigrant and the transitions necessary for them to begin to assimilate into American society, the educational systems, work forces, society and culture. I said that one of the main reasons for writing the book is that I wanted to reframe the debate that undocumented immigrants were the country's biggest problem to one where we saw them as our biggest opportunity. First generation immigrants rarely, if ever, fully assimilate. Yet, second and third generation immigrants rarely hold on to their first generations' culture, roots, and nationalism. They become Americans.  My parents are Puerto Rican, I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After relocating to Carolina, Puerto Rico, my family then moved to Kansas City, Kansas when I was ten years old. Because of my Hispanic last name, I was automatically placed in remedial classes at school, even though he was able to speak English. My mother, realizing that the placement would cause more harm than benefits, worked diligently to make sure me and my sister were placed in regular classes. I was always close to my mother, father and sister, I weathered the struggles of being ‘different' at school. My name was constantly mispronounced and I wanted to desperately change it to a more Anglo sounding name, but my father gently told me, 'Son, if you want to change your name, do it, but never forget that someday, in the not-toodistant future, this country is going to look a lot more Hispanic and then you will be glad you never changed your name. One day it might be cool to be Hispanic.'

I kept my name. 'I moved back to the United States before I turned 11 years old. It was like landing on the moon. I lived five minutes from the beach in Puerto Rico. There was no beach in Kansas City, Kansas. But I had two things going for me: I spoke some English and I had moved before to another foreign country, Panama. So, for me, assimilating was simply a matter of deciding whether to pronounce my name in English or in Spanish. Of course, I'm oversimplifying things immensely, but in a nutshell, that was my assimilation experience.'

I attended the University of Kansas, where I earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration before attending Texas Tech University to earn an M.B.A, and then the University of Michigan, where I earned a Juris Doctorate in Law before heading to New York to work on the fast-paced Wall Street. When I left the University of Michigan's Law School, I was recruited by both west coast and east coast firms. I decided to go to Wall Street because I got invited, plain and simple. You don't turn down those kinds of opportunities, because you never know where they'll take you. Funny enough, my Wall Street practice took me to Main Street Dallas, which is quite a juxtaposition.

I opened a small private practice that rapidly grew and prospered, I partnered with a team that became known and heralded as the law firm of Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei. On Main Street, I got to see firsthand the dramatic demographic wave of Hispanic immigration to the Dallas area, and as a result I ended up representing over 20,000 Spanish speakers during the 1990's. I am involved with legal transactional and capital structuring, including commercial real estate, tort settlements, etc. and has advised a number of highly successful individuals as well as business owners and executives in both business and all matters involving litigation. My firm practices business litigation and life altering personal injury. We specialize in trial work and have the results to back that up.

I have also been named a Texas Super Lawyer by Law and Politics Magazine and a survey of Texas Monthly readers, one of the highest accolades bestowed upon attorneys in the state. I am known for having a balanced approach to legal matters and the business domains, and is also widely and frequently quoted by journalists in periodicals throughout the United States due to my remarkable and intelligent insight into these arenas.

I still remain humble about my origins, and I maintain a fierce commitment to the Latino community. Without the help of the National Hispanic Foundation scholarships, the LULAC scholarships, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Scholarships I received while I was in college and law school, I may never have been able to financially finish my education. As a result, I can't help but give back to the community that gave so much to me.  As such, I have been awarded many accolades by the Dallas community. In May of 2008, I was unanimously appointed by the Dallas City Council to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors, a 15-member group, comprised of individuals from the member cities, which include Dallas and many other surrounding cities and municipalities. DART plays a fundamental role in helping Dallas and the surrounding communities work better. DART provides ease of mobility, improves the quality of life, and stimulates economic development throughout Dallas. The job of the DART Board of Directors is to govern that process.

As a key player in Dallas, I sit on many boards as a member and is known throughout the area as a hard-working, philanthropic visionary and a perfect example of the rewards that hard work and dedication can reap. I hold fast to my favorite quote by President Theodore Roosevelt, 'Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.'

This wasn't always the case with the immigrants to the United States, however. The earlier Latinos, as well as the Irish, Italian, Asian, Polish, and many other minorities, were persecuted both subtly and outwardly. Confined to small, unsanitary neighborhood housing with only their own people, the immigrants had to work long and hard to overcome not only language barriers, but the prejudice of the school systems, potential employers, poverty, taunts and discrimination by other minorities and the constant threat of danger on the streets as well as in their own homes. Unfortunately, as I noted in my book, this trend has continued as recently as last year. The Preston Hollow School District in Dallas was held liable last year for segregating its student body based on their ethnicity, which was in direct violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

The Hispanic population is booming and is considered the fastest growing demographic group in the United States. Spanish is the second most common language spoken in America. Latino's are the largest of the minority groups, according to the 2000 Census counts. Followed closely by African-Americans, it is estimated that by the year 2050 one out of every four residents of the U.S. will be of Hispanic or of Hispanic descent. Four of the cities most populated by Latino's are in Texas with others being, for the most part, located in California and Florida.

Latino's have been contributing to the economy of the United States since they first began arriving over a century ago. It is widely recognized and detailed throughout my book that the Hispanic population is proactive and recognizes the economic importance of Latinos in this culture. To paraphrase from Hispanic Heresy, 'they will prosper if they do not falter.' It is widely acknowledged that the Hispanic consumer will continue to grow, and the authors deem that the U.S. 'must make a choice to ignore this trend or embrace it.'

The book, which is very thorough in explaining its arguments, does have a variety of political points of views, thanks to the diversity of its authors. Conservative and liberal views dot the book, and they refer to their collaboration as a bipartisan effort. They have also chosen to view the Hispanic immigration phenomenon as a great opportunity to 'continue to lead the world and truly be the land of opportunity.'

I am a firm believer of the idea that 'During this century, race will become harder to categorize and define. By the end of the century, mixed-race Americans will be as common as nonmixed. Hopefully, the best of cultures will remain. And, of course, many Spanish words are already integrated into the American English dialect.'

Detailing affirmative action along with, among many other topics, economics, education and a section including tributes to Latino immigrants that I fondly refers to as 'closing arguments' in favor of Hispanic immigration, Hispanic Heresy is a testament to the incredible, most often difficult plight of immigrants in the U.S.

As for my future aspirations are summed up in a simple, but revealing quote. 'I hope to continue to build a more successful law practice and have fun while I'm doing it. I will also be more involved in business dealings through some of my firm's hedge fund and private equity clients.'

©2009 Angel Reyes
www.ReyesLaw.com

Full post as published by Angel Reyes Blog on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).