Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights & Responsibilities
The Hispanic Commission focuses on developing and
supporting initiatives and research to educate lawyers on how best to serve,
promote civic responsibility within, and address the key legal challenges
facing Latino community in the United States.
Your Gift Matters
Your gift to the Hispanic
Commission – of $10, $100, $1,000, or more – helps us continue to fight for the
Latino community. These are but a few of
our impactful offerings made possible by donors link you:
- 2024 Report: Latinos in the U.S.—Overcoming Legal Obstacles, Engaging in Civic Life: The Hispanic Commission’s new 2024 report has key findings on pressing legal challenges facing Latinos in education, employment, healthcare, housing, voting, and criminal justice. The report also highlights the importance of civic engagement and community building in addressing language access, immigration matters, and other issues. During the 2024-25 bar year, the Commission is planning three to five in-person events to focus on specific issues raised by the report. Events will be located in places where there are large populations of Latinos, such as Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas.
- Legal Summit of the Americas: The Hispanic Commission developed the concept of an historic gathering of lawyers from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in 2018. Since then, the Commission has hosted the Legal Summit of the Americas three times—in 2019, 2020, and 2023. At these meetings, bar leaders discuss pressing issues affecting Latinos, such as immigration, employment, business, trade, and the environment. The Commission is hosting the next Legal Summit of the Americas at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.
- Impacto Award: The Hispanic Commission’s new Impacto Award seeks to honor an individual or organization that has made and continues to make a wide-ranging impact on efforts to remove the significant legal, socio-economic, linguistic, and other barriers to social justice and civic engagement facing Latinos in the U.S. The honoree’s body of work could be expressed through activism, advocacy, legal services, research and analysis, or other related means and must produce a significant and positive impact for the Hispanic community. The award will be given at the ABA Midyear meeting annually.
- Música y Justicia: Música y Justicia is the Hispanic Commission’s annual virtual fundraising event. Emceed by current and past Commissioners, the event is a celebration of Hispanic culture and heritage and showcases the musical and artistic talents of Latinos in the legal profession, including attorneys, judges, paralegals, and law students. The event helps generate revenue to create much needed awareness to the Hispanic Commission’s critical programs and projects.
The ABA Hispanic Commission helps
protect and advance the rights and liberties of all Latinos and your generosity today is
instrumental to keeping this free service available for those needing legal
assistance.
Our Impact
The Hispanic
Commission has greatly impacted the lives of many individuals since its
creation. The Commission grew out of the ABA’s inaugural 2013 report, Latinos in the United States—Overcoming Obstacles, Engaging in Civil Life. Since then, the Commission has produced over 50 CLEs and free
webinars dealing with the issues raised in the report. The Commission has
sponsored a number of ABA resolutions dealing with voting rights, immigration,
and criminal justice matters. Some of the programs have been offered in
bilingual English-Spanish formats.
In 2019, the Hispanic Commission hosted the first ABA Legal Summit of the Americas, which brought together lawyers from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and beyond. The Commission will hold its fourth Legal Summit of the Americas at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada. Last year the Hispanic Commission created the Impacto Award. The award seeks to honor the wide-ranging impact of efforts by individuals and organizations to remove the significant legal, socio-economic, linguistic, and other barriers to social justice and civic engagement facing Latinos in the United States. The inaugural award will be given out at the ABA Midyear Meeting on Friday, January 31, 2025. If you would like to nominate someone for award the nomination deadline is November 8, 2024. You can find the nomination information and application here.
Volunteer
The Hispanic Commission recognizes that many Latinos rely on leaders in the legal profession to help ensure equal justice and inspire civic involvement. Together, we can ensure that Latinos have genuine access to justice and the ability to participate meaningfully in civic life. Because when Hispanics can contribute their talents and perspectives to communities across the country, all of America benefits. Please help us with this noble mission.
- Louis Lopez, Chair ABA Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities
If you are interested in learning more about the Hispanic Commission and its work, please contact the Commission director Skip Harsch at skip.harsch@americanbar.org.