Spanish-Speaking Attorneys

Cristhian Garcia-Ciceron

Davie, FL

Cristhian Garcia-Ciceron is an Associate Attorney with over 17 years of legal experience. She focuses on helping clients obtain compensation and justice for injuries, having previously worked in immigration and first-party insurance claims. Born in Nicaragua and raised in Hollywood, Florida, she is dedicated to serving her local community. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies from Keiser University and a Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law. She is fluent in Spanish and English.

Erik J. Gerstenfeld has been practicing plaintiff’s personal injury law for over thirty years. He is fluent in Spanish and has obtained substantial awards and settlements in construction-related accidents, automobile negligence, and premises liability. He is involved with the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the Nassau County Bar Association.

Alex Megeredchian is the founder and managing attorney of Megeredchian Law. He is passionate about advocating for his clients, taking cases personally, and has secured millions of dollars in settlements. He also mentors young adolescents interested in law.

Andrew Dhadwal

Woodland Hills, CA

Andrew Dhadwal is a Partner focusing on workers' compensation litigation, primarily for peace officers, firefighters, and their families. He joined the firm in 2011 and became a Partner in 2015. He previously served as a Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice and as Corporate and General Counsel for an insurance firm.

Jesse Westover founded Westover Law Firm in March, 2008. Jesse graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah, with a special focus on International Relations and Political Science. He continued his education at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, where he graduated with his Juris Doctorate and became licensed as an attorney by the Arizona Supreme Court. Jesse was awarded a CALI award while in law school, which designates the student with the highest grade in the class and served as student director of the Immigration Legal Clinic. Prior to founding Westover Law Firm, Jesse worked at a local immigration law firm in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as volunteering at the Florence Immigrant Refugee Rights Program and Immigration Legal Clinic at ASU where he gained valuable experience with all kinds of Immigration cases. Jesse has personally represented thousands of individuals and families with their immigration needs. He has extensive court room experience and has litigated thousands of cases in the Immigration Courts and with the United States and Immigration Services (USCIS). Jesse has extensive knowledge on all areas of Immigration Law and loves to continue to study changes and better strategies to help his clients. He also has extensive experience in appellate work with the Board of Immigration Appeals and Administrative Appeals Office. Jesse has also represented several businesses with their immigration employment needs. He has helped small companies with less than 10 employees to multibillion dollar companies both domestically and internationally with their immigration employment needs. Jesse has experience with H1B, L1, EB, PERM, I-140, TN and other employment visas. Jesse has been a keynote speaker in several conferences and served as an immigration expert in business formations and business growth plans. Jesse was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and settled in Gilbert, AZ in 2004. He is happily married to his best friend Kristi and has 4 awesome children. In his free time, Jesse loves to coach his son’s football, baseball and basketball teams, watch his daughter dance and work out with his two teenage boys. Additionally, Jesse loves to travel and has visited over 40 countries. Jesse is fluent in Spanish, conversational in Portuguese and is currently learning Italian.

Simon Bardizbanian

Richmond Hill, NY

Simon Bardizbanian is the principal of the firm. He graduated from Fordham University's Lincoln Center Campus with a B.A. in Political Science in 1994 and St. John's University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 1997. He began his legal career in 1999 and has tried dozens of cases in New York boroughs and counties. He is a 2024 Honoree for Super Lawyers.

David Packard

San Antonio, TX

David B. Packard was born on November 18, 1966, in Houston, Texas. As a young child, David spent his days playing with his brothers and doing chores on the 32-AC small family farm. When he reached high school, he started to come into his own. He was a good musician, playing the first chair in the trumpet section and composing the senior class song, which was sung at graduation. He was the senior class president and earned his Eagle Scout award. He also joined the debate team and partnered with his brother Dan, where “the Packard debaters” became known as “the team to beat.” (Thirty years later, David and Dan are still together.) After high school, David lived in Argentina for two years. While living in South America, he learned to love the people, the culture, and the Spanish language. He is fluent in Spanish and speaks the language every day here in San Antonio. David excelled in college, where he studied economics. There, he dated and eventually married his lifetime sweetheart, Emmeline Espiritu. David and his wife Emmeline would later go on to have six children. The youngest two children live at home and attend school in San Antonio. During his time in college, David also gained valuable experience working for a computer company, where he built hundreds of custom-made computers for local businesses. After graduating from college, David went on to law school, where he became fascinated with the law and how an attorney could design intelligent computer systems to help analyze and process legal issues. David believed that, with the best tools, a lawyer could focus less on generating the paperwork and more on the people he represented. Remarkably, while David was still a law student, he created a ground-breaking computer program that he would later use to file literally thousands of cases on behalf of his own clients. Although David has found his work as a lawyer intellectually rewarding, he has found practicing law most rewarding when he can help someone who cannot effectively deal with the legal system without meaningful help.

Susan Rice

Dallas, TX

Suzy Rice, Esq. is a trial attorney and Founding Partner of the Law Firm of RICE & RICE. She brings over 35 years of trusted complex Commercial Litigation experience to the State and Federal courts. She has an AV peer review of “Preeminent”, the highest attorney rating available to legal ability and ethics, and has been named a “Lawyer of Distinction”. Mrs. Rice has been legal counsel in 27 counties across Texas in multiple disciplines of the law, and for hundreds of Homeowner Associations and Commercial Properties. She is also co-author of Chapter 204 and sections of Chapter 209 of the Texas Property Code regarding HOA Law.

Emily J. Barry was admitted to the bar in Indiana in 2010 and has been selected by SuperLawyers as a Rising Star in the area of Family Law in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Ms. Barry obtained her undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Connecticut College with a double major in International Relations and Hispanic Studies. She obtained her law degree from Michigan State University College of Law in 2010 with a focus on Alternative Dispute Resolution. Emily has practiced law from offices in Indianapolis since 2010. She is a Registered Domestic Relations Mediator, Collaborative Law Professional and Parenting Coordinator. She also represents children as a Guardian Ad Litem. Ms. Barry provides legal advice to clients in both Spanish and English.

Jonfranco Esimio

Philadelphia, PA

Jonfranco Esimio is a member of our team of lawyers focusing on immigration law. Coming from a family of immigrants, Mr. Esimio has seen and experienced the immigration process in the United States from a young age. He is a dedicated, hardworking, and knowledgeable attorney who works tirelessly to fight for his clients’ rights under the law.

Jonathan D. Woods

Santa Fe, NM

Jonathan D. Woods is a native New Mexican from Santa Fe. He graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2015. After graduation, Jonathan rapidly established himself as an experienced litigator and trial attorney, successfully advocating for clients in a variety of cases in both state and federal courts. His expertise spans a broad spectrum of practice areas, including: personal injury; motor vehicle and trucking accidents; medical malpractice; premises liability; nursing home negligence; civil rights violations; products liability; employment law; Title IX gender discrimination; consumer protection; and insurance company bad faith.

Michael L. Chambers, Jr.

Hartford, CT

Attorney Michael L. Chambers, Jr. founded his firm to provide high-level advocacy and personal attention to clients. A Hartford native and son of Jamaican immigrants, he graduated from Trinity College and earned his law degree from Quinnipiac in 2004. He passed the New York and Connecticut bars and has over 20 years of trial experience, guiding clients through complex legal matters with clarity, compassion, and a relentless pursuit of justice.

R. Julio Aleman

Rockville, MD

R. Julio Aleman is an attorney primarily focused on criminal defense, with experience defending against serious traffic offenses, peace and protective orders, and administrative hearings in Maryland. He obtained his law degree from Penn State's Dickinson Law in 2008 and an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2003. He is a native of El Salvador and fluent in Spanish. Mr. Aleman has received multiple awards including Super Lawyers Rising Star (2018), Super Lawyer (2021-2026), and Best Lawyer - Criminal Defense (2024).

Jasmine Rios

Killeen, TX

Jasmine Rios is the Managing Attorney of the Rios Law Group. She is a native of Belton, Texas, and obtained her undergraduate degree from Texas A&M Central Texas in Killeen, Texas. She graduated with her law degree from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, in the top 10 of her class and went on to obtain one of the top scores on the Texas Bar Exam that same year. She is fluent in Spanish and a Certified Mediator and Arbitrator.

Nicolas Hurtado

Syracuse, NY

Nicolas is an associate at CDH Law, where he leads the firm’s federal criminal defense practice while also utilizing his vast experience litigating white collar criminal cases. Fluent in Spanish and English, Nicolas is the firm’s lead counsel on cases for our Spanish-speaking clients. Nicolas Hurtado is a native Spanish-speaking attorney licensed to practice law in Colombia and New York. He has an LLM from James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson, Arizona, and a Colombian law degree from one of Bogota’s most prestigious universities. During his time in Arizona, Nicolas was the first LLM student to reach the final round of the Richard Grand, a closing argument competition, where he earned second place. Before arriving to CDH, Nicolas worked on criminal law and white-collar cases where he represented Colombian and foreign companies in national courts. Also, he defended a former congressman charged as a co-conspirator of one of Colombia’s ex-presidents, he argued before the Supreme Court, and he was a defense attorney in a case the press called the biggest corruption case in Colombia, to name only a few. Finally, Nicolas has a vast amount of trial experience in both simple and complex cases. In 2023, he was recognized on the Legal 500’s Shortlist as “Rising Star of the Year” in Compliance.

Raymond Maceira

New York, NY

Raymond Maceira has been a trial attorney with Dansker & Aspromonte Associates LLP since 1995. Fluent in Spanish, he leads the firm's lead paint poisoning department and has secured significant compensation for injured clients. He graduated from St. John's University in 1992 and Brooklyn Law School in 1995. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.

Catharina Vastbinder

Thibodaux, LA

Catharina Vastbinder, also known as Cathy, joined Zeringue Law Group as an associate attorney in 2014. She earned her BS in Nursing from Nicholls State University and worked as a registered nurse while attending Loyola Law School. She has experience in commercial litigation, insurance defense, wills and successions, personal injury, and medical malpractice. Her nursing background enhances her work with personal injury and medical malpractice clients. Cathy is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, allowing her to serve a diverse client base.

Michael D. Elbert

Hauppauge, NY

After receiving his Bachelor’s degree from the University at Buffalo, Michael attended St. John’s University School of Law on an academic scholarship. He began his legal career at the Bronx County District Attorney’s office where he investigated and prosecuted hundreds of criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to homicide. Since entering private practice in 2001, Michael has earned a reputation throughout Long Island as an aggressive trial attorney. He has won acquittals for clients on charges ranging from drug possession, robbery, burglary, bank robbery, assault, obstructing governmental administration, home invasion, resisting arrest, possession of stolen property, weapons possession, vehicular crimes and murder. Through his success in the courtroom, Michael has earned a reputation with local judges and prosecutors that has allowed him to obtain favorable plea bargains and non-criminal dispositions for hundreds of satisfied clients. Michael has lectured for the New York State Bar Association, Iona College and recently co-authored “A Consideration of the Repugnant Verdict for the Criminal Practitioner” (Nassau Lawyer, 2012). Michael is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association and serves on the Board of Directors for the Nassau County Criminal Courts Bar Association.

Amanda Rodriguez

Austin, TX

Amanda “Mandy” Rodriguez was raised in Eagle Pass, Texas. She attended Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth. Mandy has practiced personal injury law since 2012 and is fluent in Spanish. She lives in South Austin with her husband and two dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys frequenting local coffee shops and all things CrossFit.

Benjamin A. Parker

North Charleston, SC

Benjamin A. Parker graduated from the College of Charleston with a B.A. in English and Spanish, and from Charleston School of Law with a J.D. He was inspired to become a lawyer to help those in need and has been practicing for 6 years. He is proficient in Spanish and has been named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers from 2017-present. He is also on the board of Backpack Buddies Seabrook Island.

Thomas C. Loepp was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1990 and has over 30 years of experience. He is a graduate of the University of Akron School of Law (J.D. Summa Cum Laude, 1990) and Indiana University (B.A., 1984). His professional affiliations include the Akron Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association. He has also served as a Staff Attorney/Law Clerk for the Ninth District Court of Appeals (State of Ohio) and worked at Roetzel & Andress.

Travis B. Hamilton

Plano, TX

Travis B. Hamilton graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2004 and St. Mary’s School of Law, becoming licensed in 2009. He is a member of several bar associations and speaks Spanish.

Katy A. Reichert

Scottsbluff, NE

Katy A. Reichert has been practicing law in Nebraska since 2013, licensed in October 2012 after graduating from the University of Nebraska College of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Creighton University. She is an approved Parenting Act mediator and serves on multiple community boards, including the Scottsbluff/Gering Rotary Club and Twin Cities Development. She is also a Nebraska State Bar Foundation Fellow.