Law students ‘connect beyond language’ in new class about representing Spanish-speaking clients
Fernando Flores. Photo courtesy of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
A new class at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law about representing Spanish-speaking clients is focusing on both verbal and nonverbal communication.
According to Fernando Flores, a lecturer at the law school, “I’ve been working with low-income immigrant communities where most of the people don’t speak English. They speak Spanish, Hindi, Tagalog or Chinese, and you have to learn to connect beyond language,” he said in a news release.
“You are going to trial arguing on behalf of your client, and you have to have the best information to do things right. In this class, I don’t want to just teach you language. I want to help you effectively represent some of the most vulnerable communities in California,” he said.
He previously was a staff attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza, a California legal services agency, and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
The course is called “Representing Spanish-Speaking Clients: Language, Culture and Emotional Intelligence,” and it is taught in Spanish. Students must have an understanding of the language to take the class, he said.
Flores, who was born in Chicago but lived in Mexico until he was 8 years old, told the law school that he’s more comfortable speaking English, but in his experience representing the low-income immigrant community, many don’t speak English.
This is not the first course taught in Spanish at Berkeley Law. But it’s novel in its focus on exploring how to connect with clients who don’t speak English, associate dean Molly Van Houweling said in the news release.
“He had ideas for teaching having to do with emotional intelligence, making sure the clients are comfortable with the legal system and get past having anxiety,” she said of Flores, who also does high-performance coaching for lawyers, according to the release.
