Tamara Cabán-Ramirez is not one to shy away from a challenge. Last fall, just two years out of law school, she opened her own law firm, focusing on the areas of immigration, civil litigation, and entertainment law.
A native of Puerto Rico, Cabán-Ramirez came to the University of Minnesota as a 16-year-old undergraduate, spent a year back in Puerto Rico as an exchange student, and eventually returned to obtain a degree from the University of Minnesota in Latin American studies, Spanish, and political science.
Law always interested Cabán-Ramirez—and her family encouraged that profession because of her gift for debate. She decided to “try out” the field by working as a legal secretary; she moved up to the position of paralegal, and finally enrolled in law school at Hamline University.
As a member of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association and the Latino Law Students Association, Cabán-Ramirez has been working to both recruit Latino law students and retain legal graduates in the Twin Cities legal community.
Eventually, this poet and lawyer hopes to grow her firm into a full-service practice that can handle all the legal needs of Latinos, from family law and real estate to business concerns.
Cabán-Ramirez views her role as a Latina lawyer as an important one.
“When I worked at other firms, I always heard from our clients that we need more attorneys who speak Spanish. So much can be lost in translation,” she says. “When you have someone who is bilingual there, and bicultural too, that’s comforting to clients.”
