Nick Garzia, a lawyer at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, has been named secretary of the first St. Louis Hispanic Bar Association. The Association is newly formed and is now accepting membership applications from all lawyers and non-lawyers in the metropolitan area. Individuals do not have to be Hispanic to join.
The HBAstl hopes to work with the other major bar associations in St. Louis and Southern Illinois to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and also intends to coordinate with the St. Louis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to work directly with its members, and the Hispanic community generally, to coordinate providing legal services to this large, diverse, and fast-growing minority population.
Officers and founders of the Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis ("HBAstl") are: President, Patrick Chavez of Williams Venker & Sanders; President-Elect, Joseph Lambson of Hais, Hais, Goldberger & Coyne; Vice-President, Jessica Mendez of Brown & James; Secretary, Nicholas Garzia of Armstrong Teasdale; Treasurer, Angela Alvarez-Simmons of State Farm Insurance; and Community Service Committee Chair, Sandra Zambrana of the St. Louis City Counselor’s Office.
The organization’s founding Members-At-Large are Constantino "Tino" Ochoa of Bryan Cave (who also serves as the group’s Assistant Treasurer); Salim Awad of McQueen Awad, LLC; and Deborah C.M. Henry of Stewart, Mittleman, Heggie, Henry & Albin, LLC.
As a member of the firm’s Construction and Design practice group, Garzia represents owners, lenders, contractors and architects and engineers in the construction, mining and manufacturing industries. Garzia, who is fluent in Spanish, conducts negotiations and reviews contracts on a national and international basis.
Garzia received his J.D. in 2002 from the Washington University School of Law, where he was an articles editor for the Washington University Law Quarterly. He received undergraduate degrees in journalism, Spanish and linguistics in 1998 from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He also attended the Autonomous University of Madrid in 1996-1997.
About HBAstl: The goals of HBAstl are to: promote Hispanics and Hispanic involvement in the legal profession, both in the public and private sector; serve the Hispanic and greater community of St. Louis; promote Hispanic leadership in public and private life; and to promote full, fair and equal opportunities and participation for minorities in the legal community of the Saint Louis Metropolitan Area.