Most practicing attorneys have the ability to focus on one or two areas of law. However, if your desire is to work with a small immigrant community, you may not have that luxury. Here is a story of an attorney whose niche is not his area of practice, but the ability to serve his community.
Ty Ho was born in Vietnam. He and his family left Vietnam in 1988 as part of the second wave of “boat people” that comprised the mass departure of Vietnamese refugees following the Vietnam War. Ho and his family lived in the immigration detention center in Hong Kong and then the Philippines, before settling in Seattle in 1992 when Ho was 13 years old.
He grew up in an immigrant community in southeast Seattle. Overcoming social and economic obstacles, Ho received his B.S. in economics from the University of Washington as a Gates Millennium Scholar.
Ho gave up his Gates Millennium Scholarship to attend law school because he wanted to enhance the quality and quantity of legal representation in the Vietnamese community in Seattle. Ho recognizes that accessing justice is hard; but it is even harder for people in his community because of the language and cultural barriers, and unfamiliarity with the legal system. Ho obtained his law degree from Seattle University School of Law in 2004.
While in law school, Ho worked for the Washington Attorney General’s Office and Safeco Insurance. As a law student, Ho was actively involved in the school’s Access to Justice Institute. Ho headed the Access to Justice International District Legal Clinic, which provided pro -bono legal services to Chinese and Vietnamese communities. That opportunity renewed Ho’s passion for serving the Vietnamese community.
Ho continued to work for Safeco after graduation. However, Ho always remembered that he was drawn to the law to assist the Vietnamese community. Ho then opened his own practice, Ho & Associates, in 2005, where he focuses on contract litigation, family law and immigration law with 95% of his clients being from the Vietnamese community.
Ho has found comfort in knowing that his original goals of servicing and being connected to the Vietnamese community are being met. Ho’s background, appreciation of his culture and fluency in Vietnamese have given him a perfect niche for providing legal services to our local Vietnamese community.
When asked what his most rewarding experience is in practicing law, Ho responds, “It is the confirmation that our office is sometimes the only means for members of the Vietnamese immigrant community to access the judicial system. While it is unfortunate that members of the Vietnamese community do not have many choices when they look for an attorney, I am a little relieved knowing that we are here and they have us as one of their choices.”
The Seattle Vietnamese community is a fairly new immigrant community. A noticeable first wave of Vietnamese immigrants came in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, but the majority of the Vietnamese community came during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Ho said, “I cannot imagine where people like my parents would turn to if they needed to access the judicial system or needed legal advice if there weren’t lawyers like us. My parents speak very limited English, have no knowledge about the U.S. legal system and totally lack the cultural familiarity to put their concerns in context. We have many clients who have these burdens. Knowing that we can help them — those who otherwise would not have the ability to have their stories heard — is one of the most rewarding experiences.”
Ho also notes that many clients receive additional benefits from attorneys who are bilingual and have a particular niche in servicing immigrant communities. “Sure, they can go to a non-Vietnamese-speaking law firm,” Ho says. “However, these clients have very limited financial resources and additional fees for interpretation services is a huge concern. They generally have to pay twice the amount of attorney’s fees simply because of the additional time the attorney must spend to communicate through an interpreter. … Further, their attorneys sometimes do not have full understanding of their culture, so some cultural contexts are lost in translation. And sometimes clients simply do not feel comfortable with non-native speaking attorneys.”
Ho’s fluency in Vietnamese — aside from helping him better understand and appreciate his clients — makes him a better advocate for them. At Ho & Associates, all but one of the attorneys and support staff speak Vietnamese.
Ho explains: “Our court system has interpreter services when you request them. However, when there is an attorney who does not speak Vietnamese, a client who does not speak English, and the judge or the jury does not understand Vietnamese, who can ensure that the interpretation is correct?
“Our system can ensure that we have well-qualified interpreters, but having an attorney who can understand the client in his/her native tongue can create the extra assurance that the client’s story is effectively communicated. People make mistakes. Interpreters make mistakes.”
To service his clients better, Ho also specifically sought out office space in the Little Saigon area of the International District. Ho’s marketing is also geared toward the Vietnamese community, with articles and ads placed in Northwest Vietnamese Newspaper with the contact information and description of legal services his firm offers translated into Vietnamese.
Yen Banh, who also is a Seattle University School of Law graduate and fluent in Vietnamese, joined Ho in his practice at Ho & Associates. Yen handles immigration and real estate issues.
Ho is also a board member of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington. VABAW was formed in 2005 to provide mutual support for attorneys in the advancement of their careers; be a trusted guide and resource for students who aspire toward the legal profession; serve as a voice for the local Vietnamese American community; and represent Vietnamese American attorneys within the state bar. Ho also chairs VABAW’s Mentorship Program, which was created to provide law students and new attorneys an opportunity to interact with practicing lawyers. The Mentorship Program currently has approximately 20 law student mentees matched with Vietnamese American practicing attorneys.
Thuy Nguyen-Leeper is assistant corporate counsel at Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., where she focuses on commercial transactions and employment. She was formerly an associate at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, where her practice was commercial, securities and antitrust litigation. She is also president of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington and is a trustee of the KCBA Young Lawyers Division.
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