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Content provided by the American Bar Association Division for Public Education. Visit the Division for Public Education's website to learn more about the law and its role in society (www.abanet.org/publiced). For more profiles of pioneers in the legal profession, visit the Division for Public Education's Raising the Bar: Pioneers in the Legal Profession website at www.abanet.org/publiced/raisingthebar.html.
Adelfa Botello Callejo
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Born in 1923 in the rural town of Millet, Texas, Adelfa Botello Callejo has participated in the struggles of Mexican-Americans every day of her life. In Millet, Mexican parents were required to send their children to segregated schools, which they usually attended only through the primary grades, and later, buried their dead in the segregated cemetery. Today Ms. Callejo is one of Texas's most eminent lawyers, and her efforts have helped people of Hispanic heritage to advance as well. The eldest of five children, she credits her early educational achievements to her parents' firm commitment to education for their children and the efforts of her grade school teacher, who was able to teach students English while at the same time imparting the basics of reading, writing and math. Experiencing the indignities suffered by her family and neighbors encouraged the young Ms. Callejo to learn about government and civics in school and to develop three goals for her life:
After earning her law degree at age 37 from Southern Methodist University, where she was the only Hispanic student and one of only three women in her class, she was admitted in 1961 to the state bar of Texas, and opened her law practice in the areas of personal injury, criminal and family law. Early in her career, she scored notable victories in the appellate courts, winning new trials for criminal defendants who had not had effective assistance of legal counsel in their trials. As a personal injury attorney, she has settled multimillion dollar claims against companies charged with not following safety regulations. Throughout her career, she has been a powerful force in the community. Her success in the courtroom and boardroom has provided the resources she uses to fund educational endeavors and community programs, and also gives her the freedom to represent the low-income clients she has always served. She has won many awards for her years of service in the community and the legal profession, including the Texas Peace Officers Association Humanitarian Award "for dedication to the field of Law Enforcement and for the continuous support for equality under the law for all mankind" and the National Hispanic National Bar Association Lincoln-Juarez Award for "lifelong dedication and commitment to advancing the law and the Latino legal community." She has also won the American Bar Association's Spirit of Excellence Award. She remains fully committed to her belief that advocacy is the most important aspect of lawyers' work. Her practice now involves mostly catastrophic injury, family law, workmen's compensation and immigration cases. She holds workshops in the community to help new residents learn U.S. laws and understand their rights. She also works to educate the non-Hispanic community about the plight of immigrants and the need to change attitudes toward immigration. Reflecting on her early poverty and the lack of role models in her early years as an aspiring attorney, Ms. Callejo urges young people not to dwell on the obstacles they face but rather to focus on their objectives and goals and find a way to achieve them. She advises them not to be afraid of power, and to work hard, as she did, "to gain the arsenal of weapons necessary to make a difference-legal training, grass roots involvement, money and courage!" Adelfa Callejo is a living testament to the achievements and contributions of Hispanic lawyers in the United States. (Originally published in 2001) |
