35 Trial Lawyer • Spring 2024 Hon. Angel Lopez By Senior Judge Angel Lopez The Carlos Santana recording “Oye Como Va?” is my signature song. I first heard it when I was seventeen. I immediately related to it as: 1. It was performed by a Mexican. 2. It was sung in Spanish. 3. It was a rare crossover hit from Latin jazz. I grew up in the 60s and 70s in Compton, California. As a Mexican American, I was a minority within a minority, a Mexican kid in an African American community. I felt invisible, often wondering if I could ever make a difference in this world. Through drive and determination, and with some help from Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society’s programs, I was plucked straight out of Compton and given outstanding educational opportunities. I received ample financial aid for college and law school. All I had to do was worry about succeeding in a world of white. Although I went to college in Southern California, diversity was only starting to gain traction. Later, when I entered law school in Oregon, things got tougher from day one. Culture shock Oregon is quite different from So Cal. I experienced crippling culture shock in the small town of Salem. I had to get used to being the only Latino and one of the few minorities on campus. Well-meaning (or maybe not) law professors would sometimes call on me for the Latino perspective. Latinos featured mainly in criminal law cases. No, I never knew Mr. Miranda. I felt untold pressure to succeed. I met my wife and future law partner, Wendy Squires, in agency and partnership class my third year. Apparently, we both took that class very seriously. She did a great job alleviating my feeling of exclusion and my academic performance soared. Once law school and the bar exam were over, I took my first job as the director of the Oregon State Bar’s diversity program. I was 25-years-old and tasked with the herculean job of increasing the number of lawyers of color in Oregon. I had a budget but no road map about how to get this done. I felt like an artist with a blank canvas and every color to choose from. The first order of business was to take a census. There were just over 100 Oregon lawyers of color. Ten were Latino. We had a great steering committee who helped me develop a strong framework that is still in place today, made stronger by additional program opportunities. One day, I struck up a conversation with a practicing attorney. She asked why I was not out practicing law. I said I was here to be a role model. She replied that I’d make a better role model in court. I took this to heart and within a year I was the newest assistant public defender in Oregon. I hated the first day. Loved the next eighty nine. After ninety days, I knew I had found my calling: TRIAL LAWYER! Off and running Two and a half years later I left the public defender to join with Squires to OYE COMO VA?| HEY, WHAT’S UP? Oregon is quite different from So Cal. I experienced crippling culture shock in the small town of Salem. See Oye Como Va p 36
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