HNBA’s Best Lawyers Under 40

Carlos Cruz

Carlos Cruz is the owner and managing attorney of the Law Offices of Carlos A. Cruz and Associates. In 1981, at the age of ten, Mr. Cruz fled El Salvador to the United States at the onset of civil war.

By 2001, Mr. Cruz had earned his law degree, started his own practice, and owned his own building. To date, he has represented more than two thousand immigrants at every level of the judicial system in cases involving immigration law. Mr. Cruz has been a speaker on complex immigration law issues at community forums and through various media outlets, including radio and television. He serves on several boards, and has received several awards for his involvement in the community, including Alum of the Year at Loyola Law School.

Ernestina R. Cruz

Ernestina R. Cruz is a partner at the Narvaez Law Firm, P.A., a civil defense firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her practice has concentrated in the areas of employment law, civil rights, education law, and insurance defense. She represents public entities and corporations in New Mexico’s federal and state courts, as well as employers at the administrative level before the New Mexico Human Rights Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the City of Albuquerque’s Human Rights Office. She is a graduate of the University of New Mexico (B.A. in political science/Spanish as well as her J.D.) and the University of Notre Dame (M.A. in government and international relations). Among other activities, she serves as co-chair of the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association’s summer law camp, a week-long program designed to introduce the practice of law to seventh- and eighth-grade students from across the state.

Niza Motola

Niza Motola is an associate in Littler Mendelson’s Miami office. Her practice includes representation of employers in the entire spectrum of employment and labor litigation, appeals, and administrative proceedings. In addition, Ms. Motola regularly provides advice to clients concerning daily personnel issues and compliance with the full range of federal, state, and local laws in all facets of employment-related matters. Prior to joining Littler, Ms. Motola practiced at a national labor and employment firm in Miami and the Labor and Employment Department of Ballard Spahr in Philadelphia. Ms. Motola also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Vanessa Ruiz, District of Columbia Court of Appeals. She earned her B.A. degree from Columbia University, where she served as the president of the Charles Hamilton Pre-Law Association, and her J.D. from George Washington University Law School, where she served as president of the Hispanic Law Students Association.

Monica C. Sanchez

Monica C. Sanchez is the managing partner of The Sanchez Firm, L.L.C., a sister firm to The Cochran Firm – Metairie. Ms. Sanchez was born and raised in the Republic of Panama in 1973. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in three years from Ohio University, with a double major in economics and political Science. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, and obtained an L.L. M. degree in international and comparative law from Tulane University School of Law. Ms. Sanchez has more than twelve years of experience practicing law in the area of personal injury. She has represented victims of automobile accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, premises liability, and other forms of personal injuries. Ms. Sanchez has been recognized as an innovative leader with outstanding energy, ideas, achievements, and commitment to excellence in the New Orleans area. Ms. Sanchez is the vice president of the Louisiana Hispanic Lawyers Association, and serves on the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Language Access Subcommittee.

Luis Felipe Vilarin

Luis Felipe Vilarin is the assistant general counsel for regulatory, commercial and transactions for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Mr. Vilarin is responsible for all aspects of legal counseling relating to the manufacturing operations for his company, which presently includes sixteen manufacturing facilities around the world. He also provides operational expertise to the company’s strategic transactions, including a number of highly complex international outsourcing transactions. Mr. Vilarin serves on his law department’s diversity committee, which sponsors traditionally underrepresented law students each summer and provides them with substantive legal experience as one way to help them refine their educational and career goals. Mr. Vilarin graduated from Duke University with a degree in economics, received his J.D. from Rutgers-Newark Law School, and is currently a master’s degree candidate in biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University.



From the July/August 2010 issue of Diversity & The Bar®

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