OMLO was recently featured in Shane Nelson’s Daily Journal article “Practice What You Preach: The municipal law specialists at the OMLO firm celebrate diversity and inclusion in practice.” Nelson’s piece details how OMLO’s powerhouse team of municipal lawyers draw from their own diverse backgrounds and experiences as they help guide cities across California while making incredible strides in diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplace and beyond.
Stephanie Vasquez, Paloma Perez-McEvoy, Stephanie Arechiga, Christine K. Hsu, and Rick Olivarez all spoke to the Daily Journal about what giving back to their own communities by working in the legal field means to them.
“Working with the communities in this region and working with minority population communities – it really hits home with me,” Vasquez told the Daily Journal. “It makes me feel like I’m not just helping the cities, but I’m also helping my family and friends. Having grown up here and seeing the changes, it’s nice to know I’m contributing.”
Perez-McEvoy echoed Vasquez, explaining that “The work we do for these public entities – it’s to the benefit of the city’s residents. And what I find fulfilling is the work I’m doing is intended to improve or help out the very people that we live amongst and walk with and shop with and dine with at the end of the day.”
Arechiga delved into the ways representation within the workplace makes her feel included in her own identity as a Latina woman. “I’m Latina, and the [Cudahy] council currently has three Latina women serving, so I feel at home,” she told the Daily Journal. “It feels very inclusive, and I feel like it’s somewhere where I belong. I don’t feel like I’m the odd woman out, and I really like that. Honestly, the fact that we have a woman majority is probably one of my favorite things.”
Hsu expands on Arechiga’s point, adding that the firm mirrors many of the clients and populations of cities they represent. “I think it’s great when students come to a board member meeting, and they can see an Asian female at the dais,” she added. “That’s not always a prevalent thing, and so I think it’s great that we really practice what we preach.”
OMLO’s managing partner Rick Olivarez noted that offering these opportunities to young women is especially important given the lack of female city attorneys in California. “I think once people see how competent these women are and how good they are at their craft and their jobs, I think what’s going to happen is their practice is just going to continue to grow.”
Read the full article in the Daily Journal below.