ImmigrationUndocumented immigrants can now practice law in Florida

On 20 November, Jose Godinez-Samperio took the oath of admission to the Florida Bar, but unlike many lawyers before him, Godinez-Samperio was not a U.S. citizen. Godinez-Samperio’s family, including his father, who is a veterinarian, and his mother, who is a dentist, left economically ravaged Mexico in 1995 for Dover, Florida on tourist visas but remained in the United States for many years as undocumented immigrants. Godinez-Samperi’s path to becoming an attorney became difficult in July 2011, when he passed the bar exam after graduating from Florida State.

Naples Daily Newsreports that Godinez-Samperio never hid his status as an undocumented immigrant, but he failed to include his citizenship status on his application for the Florida Bar. The state Board of Bar Examiners ruled his application incomplete, but Godinez-Samperio could not be deported — he was covered under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “Nothing was clear. It was completely uncharted territory,” Godinez-Samperio said. “Nobody had heard of an undocumented immigrant graduating from law school.”

The state Supreme Court confirmed with the examiners’ board that an undocumented immigrant could not practice law, but the court cited a California case that said a state law could override the federal barrier to illegal immigrants. Chief Justice Jose Labarga urged the Florida legislature to review the issue in support of Godinez-Samperio. “In many respects, Applicant’s life in the United States parallels my own,” Labarga wrote. “He and I were brought to this great nation as young children by our hardworking immigrant parents … We excelled scholastically and graduated from college and law school … Both of us were driven by the opportunities this great nation offered to realize the American dream. Sadly, however, here the similarities end and the perceptions of our accomplishments begin.” Labarga added that “When I arrived in the United States from Cuba in 1963, soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis — the height of the Cold War — my parents and I were perceived as defectors from a tyrannical communist regime. Thus, we were received with open arms, our arrival celebrated, and my path to citizenship and the legal profession unimpeded by public policy decisions. Applicant, however, who is perceived to be a defector from poverty, is viewed negatively because his family sought an opportunity for economic prosperity.”

Godinez-Samperior, and his attorney Sandy D’Alemberte — a former lawmaker — American Bar Association president, and Florida State University president drew support in the state legislature, and although they missed a deadline for filing the necessary bill, they were able to amend an existing family law bill to allow would-be lawyers like Godinez-Samperio to practice law in Florida. “I thought it was the right thing to do,” said Jack Latvala, a Republican lawmaker from Clearwater. “He gets all the way, ready to be a lawyer, and he finds out he can’t be a lawyer. He lived in Florida for a long time. He did everything that a normal person would do to be a member of the bar. It was only fair for him to be allowed in the bar.”

Godinez-Samperio is now a staff attorney at Gulfcoast Legal Services’ Clearwater office, where he recently worked as a paralegal. At his 20 November oath of admission to the Florida Bar, Labarga swore him in.