Top Lawyers: Cynthia Grande of The Grande Law Firm On The 5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Immigration Law

“Trust yourself. You have so much to offer and you can do anything that you put your mind to.”

The legal field is known to be extremely competitive. Lawyers are often smart, ambitious, and highly educated. That being said, what does it take to stand out and become a “Top Lawyer” in your specific field of law? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Immigration Law”, we are talking to top lawyers who share what it takes to excel and stand out in your industry.

As a part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cynthia Grande.

Cynthia is the founding attorney of The Grande Law Firm where she helps immigrant families live without fear and achieve the American dream. With over a decade of experience in the legal field, Cynthia and The Grande Law Firm team have worked with over 1,500 families to solve their legal concerns through their offices in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. She currently serves as a board member for the Latina Lawyers Bar Association and El Camino College Foundation.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. What is the “backstory” that brought you to this particular career path in Law? Did you want to be an attorney “when you grew up”?

I always knew that making a difference in my community was important to me and growing up as the daughter of immigrants has influenced the way that I want to contribute in the legal field. My parents were born in El Salvador and they, along with the rest of my extended family, had to navigate the complex immigration legal system here. It was not easy to get the right legal support and resources to help make the process go well. I always wished that I could do more to help my family. Now as an adult, I’m so grateful for the opportunities I have been able to have as a result and it’s important for me that I be a resource for immigrants in the United States.

Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

We work primarily with immigrant families and most of our work involves family-based immigration. This type of immigration law focuses on U.S. citizen and lawful permanent residents who want to legalize the status for their family members who are inside and outside the United States. Because filling out forms is a part of this process, people sometimes mistake that to mean that it’s really easy and simple to get lawful status in the United States and the opposite is actually true. Immigration laws can be very complicated and the wrong answer on a form can mean the difference between become a resident or being permanently unable to legalize your status.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I think the three character traits most instrumental to my success are: integrity, compassion, and leadership. They help guide my decisions and interactions with the people I talk to on a daily basis. This really makes a difference when I speak with clients before we go into immigration interview. Many times they’re anxious, fearful and nervous before they speak with an immigration official. I remind them that even though it’s scary, they have a team of people that are there to support and guide them through this stressful process. Additionally, I think that my ability to empathize with what my clients are going through helps me connect with them in a way that others may not. Many times, when I see my clients — I picture what my parents or aunts or uncles have gone through to immigrate to the United States and I do my best to provide the experience that I wish they would have had when they were going through the process.

Do you think you have had luck in your success? Can you explain what you mean?

I don’t know if I would call it luck, but I do know that I’ve had opportunities available to me because of the hard work my parents have put in to ensure I have the resources available to be successful. I am so grateful to them and hope to honor them through the difference I get to make in my clients’ lives.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

I think that it’s a factor to success, but not the only factor or the main factor. More than anything, I think a person’s character, tenaciousness, and determination are the key factors that lead to success.

Based on the lessons you have learned from your experience, if you could go back in time and speak to your twenty-year-old self, what would you say? Would you do anything differently?

I would say: “Trust yourself. You have so much to offer and you can do anything that you put your mind to.” It was around that time period that I started questioning whether I had what it took to go to law school and become a lawyer. While I was in law school, I had professors that told me that I didn’t have what it took to become a lawyer. I took those words to heart and it took me a long time to step into trusting myself and being confident that I had everything I needed to be a successful lawyer.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

My family is my primary motivation, and they represent the communities that I most want to make a difference for through the work that I do. Being able to empower immigrant families and have them have access to quality legal representation is something that I’m incredibly passionate about. This drives me to continually improve and find ways to make a difference for families.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I think that the most exciting projects I’m working on right now involve helping families who have been living here for decades without being able to legalize their immigration status. Thanks to certain court decisions and advocacy work, there are now some small changes that are allowing some families to finally be able to achieve the American dream. So far, the person who has lived here the longest that we’ve been able to help immigrate to the United States has lived here for 38 years and can now finally call themselves lawful permanent residents.

Where do you go from here? Where do you aim to be in the next chapter of your career?

I wish to continue to help as many families as possibility, while maintaining an excellent level of client experience for every person that we work with. I would love to have our firm be the leading law firm in the United States that empowers immigrants and their families to have the resources they need to succeed and thrive in the United States.

Without sharing anything confidential, can you please share your most successful “war story”? Can you share the funniest?

I think one of my most successful “war story” involves a young man who came to the United States when he was 7 years old. Due to mistakes and fraud from previous attorneys and legal document preparers (“notarios”) he had missed out on opportunities to legalize his status and was now in his early forties. His family had lost hope that he would be able to legalize his status in the United States. As I reviewed his paperwork, I noticed a receipt that had been missed previously in consultations with other attorneys. This one piece of document made him eligible to become a lawful permanent resident because of a unique immigration court decision. He’s now a lawful permanent resident and is on his way to becoming a U.S. citizen.

Ok, fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing some advice for aspiring lawyers. Do you work remotely? Onsite? Or Hybrid? What do you think will be the future of how law offices operate? What do you prefer? Can you please explain what you mean?

I work a hybrid model. Some of my clients are not tech savvy and prefer to meet with their legal team in person. We are fortunate to be able to make that available for them and have some team members that work in the office and others that work remotely. I think that the future of law offices will be moving towards remote options, but I believe that there always will be a need to have access to an in-person team. I like having the option to work both in-person and remote and I think it’s important to give that opportunity to my team members. It allows for work-life balance, which I think is important.

How has the legal world changed since COVID? How do you think it might change in the near future? Can you explain what you mean?

Some aspects of the legal world have changed in that now, you can appear in court remotely. I think this is incredibly helpful and makes it so much easier to clients and attorneys in many ways — including time, costs, and stress. However, with people who aren’t as comfortable with remote options like Zoom or conference calls, it can limit what is accessible for those individuals and make it harder for them to represent themselves like they would in person.

Based on your experience, how can attorneys effectively leverage social media to build their practice?

I think social media can be incredibly useful in building their practice. I definitely don’t use it as much as I can, but I think it’s a powerful tool to provide information for people and it helps them get a better sense of who you are and whether you would be a fit for them as their lawyer.

Excellent. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law?” Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Ask for help — When I started working in immigration law, I asked multiple people to serve as my mentors so that I could make sure that I was doing the best work for each of my clients. They have been incredible over the years and I continue to ask them for support to this day.
2. Attend conferences and get involved — There are so many resources available for new attorneys or new attorneys to the field of immigration law. You get to meet really great people and learn the ins and outs of immigration all at the same time.
3. Be compassionate — I have found that with my clients, many times I am the first attorney that they’ve ever interacted with. People wait for years due to a fear of what an attorney will say or do. I always make an effort to get to know each person I speak with and think about the family members that are counting on me to do my best to help them.
4. Communication is key — Whether it’s with clients or team members or opposing counsel, it is so important to be in communication and on the same page. This is what makes or breaks a relationship and I’ve found that regular communication is critical. People are anxious to know what’s happening in their immigration process and even if nothing is happening (which is typical for years in certain situations), it makes a difference for the clients to hear that.
5. Organization matters — There are many critical deadlines in immigration law and it’s important to have a clear way to track those deadlines and stay on top of everything that needs to happen before the deadline arrives. Investing in a strong case management system has made a world of difference for our team and our clients.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

Michelle Obama is my hero! She inspires me with her strength, compassion, and commitment to making the world a better place. I would love to meet her.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!