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Hispanic attorneys form bar association

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published December 18, 2006

TAMPA - In a city built on Cuban cigar factories and Latin tradition, where women and African-Americans have legal organizations to call their own, there has until recently been something missing:

A bar association for lawyers of Hispanic heritage.

That revelation shocked Hispanic attorneys who, in places like Orlando and Jacksonville, already had formed such organizations.

"My god," said Hyram Montero, president of the 17-year-old Broward County Hispanic Bar Association. "The Hispanic history in Tampa is older than any other community. If there was any area I would have expected to have a Hispanic bar association, it would be Tampa."

The city is left out no longer. In late October, 90 lawyers and judges crammed into the University Club downtown for the inaugural dinner of the Tampa Bay Hispanic Bar Association.

Its members, about 50 so far, pledge to mentor Hispanic students, improve citizen access to Spanish-speaking attorneys and strengthen pro bono outreach.

Luis "Tony" Cabassa spearheaded the effort and will serve as the voluntary association's first president. Fluency in Spanish is not a membership requirement. Cabassa, a labor and employment lawyer, admits his is lacking.

Those included under the umbrella term "Hispanic" likely will represent a broader group of individuals than in Hispanic bar associations elsewhere in the state. The reason has a lot to do with the city's traditional Latin society, which blends Italians, Afro-Cubans, Cubans and Spaniards. Here, for instance, it is not uncommon for someone with an Italian surname to also be of Spanish heritage.

The focus may be slightly different as well. In Orlando, the Hispanic bar is working to bulk up its presence on the local bench. With the Hispanic community already well-represented on the Hillsborough bench (including the chief circuit judge, Manuel Menendez), the local bar will gear its energies toward empowering young people.

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at (813) 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 18, 2006, 00:35:32]