4.5 How does he use Spanish at work?

As an immigration attorney, how does Carlos use Spanish at work? Here’s what he had to say.

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Transcript: “Spanish, we use it on a daily basis at work. Aside from the documents that we submit to the government, which is, everything is in English, my communications with my clients are in Spanish. My consultations with my clients are in Spanish. I’m often having to explain the complicated legal system to someone in Spanish, to my clients in Spanish, so that’s, we use it on a daily basis. Most of my clients are Mexican nationals, although we do have clients from other Latin American countries. We also have, um, a presence on social media. I like to post news and developments, immigration developments, immigration law developments, on social media, to make sure that people are informed, because sadly, a lot of, uh, developments are first published in English and it takes about two to three days for, for the news to actually relay that message to the Spanish-speaking world, and I, we like to use our social media platforms to inform our clients and our viewers as soon as something comes up. That way they are fully informed of the, of what’s going on in the immigration world. Being able to speak Spanish is so important, uh, not only in the legal world but all, in every other professional setting. Being able to express yourself, being able to communicate with, uh, with people from different countries, it’s extremely important. And it also gives you, potentially, it should give you a pay raise, it should give you a competitive edge where you can potentially land better jobs or obtain better jobs because of, because of being able to speak Spanish and English, being bilingual. I’m an employer, and, uh, I’m only looking for bilingual individuals to cater to my clients, essentially, and I pay them accordingly, because I know it’s challenging to be able to be fully bilingual in a professional setting.”

Carlos’s comments make it clear that Spanish is a crucial skill for an immigration attorney on many fronts. He  notes that he uses oral Spanish every day as a means of communicating with his Spanish-speaking clients (e.g., in consultations and meetings) and to share news and updates about immigration policy via social media. This is a social media post he made to let potential clients know about a governmental change that impacts immigration policies. Clearly, Carlos must have strong oral communication skills to be successful in his line of work.

In fact, the same is true of the members of his team, such as paralegals, legal assistants, case managers, administrative staff, and law clerks or interns. Just like Carlos, these employees interact with clients from different regions and education levels of the Spanish-speaking world, which means they must have a strong understanding of different varieties of Spanish. As Spanish plays such a central role in the Ruvalcaba Hernández Law Firm, PLLC, Carlos only hires competent, bilingual professionals, and, as Carlos says, the job pays accordingly.