To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 2022, the CBA’s YLS D&I committee is shining a spotlight on local Hispanic/Latinx attorneys in the Greater Cincinnati legal community. CBA members nominated Hispanic/Latinx attorneys for recognition, and members of the YLS D&I committee conducted interviews to learn more about them.
Meet David Lopez-Kurtz, an associate at Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP.
David’s area of practice is business acquisitions and securities (BAS), and is primarily focused on Web3 – a catch-all that involves the metaverse, NFT (non-fungible tokens) cryptocurrency, and other digital assets. David received his undergraduate degree from Ohio University and graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is a member of the CBA and the American Bar Association, and teaches business associations at his alma mater, UC Law. Of Guatemalan descent on his paternal side, David is married to wife Amanda and has a three-year-old son.
1. What is the best way in your opinion to enhance diversity and inclusion in the Cincinnati legal community?
The answer varies greatly depending on what context you are talking about. Academia has done a much better job than other areas– look at the administration, faculty at different law schools– there is a much better and stronger progression towards diversity, equity and inclusion than you are in large law firms. In the big law context, they are doing a very good job of recruiting diverse talent and doing a poor job of retaining diverse talent. The equity and inclusion pieces are missing in a vast majority of large law firms, even the ones that are doing good work there is still a lot to be done. You are talking about power structures, you are talking about legacy, you are talking about history – some of this is not changed proactively, it is changed by the passage of time.
2. How has being Hispanic/Latinx impacted your practice?
I have a lot of clients that are either from Latin America or from Spain. Feeling comfortable segwaying in between spanish and english with different clients. One of the strengths of being multifaceted is being able to navigate and meet different people in different ways from different angles–there are different ways you can connect.
3. Why do you believe it’s important to celebrate Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month?
One of the things I think is really important is the acknowledgement and treating people with dignity and equal access to justice does not amount to erasure of people’s differences and different backgrounds and perspectives; that is why I think things like Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month give us opportunities to focus on and relish in our differences–it is important because being different is not a bad thing; it is part of who we are as a society, as a species; it is what makes us strong and makes a better team.
4. If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self in law school, what would it be?
Relax. Do the work but stressing yourself out about it does not do yourself any favors. Be kinder to yourself.
5. What is your favorite activity to relax/unwind after a stressful day/week at the office?
Playing with my kid because it helps to have that context that he could care less about the tensions of navigating through the legal world and instead just wants to talk about Encanto and dinosaurs.