ARTICLES

Fall 2005

Dear Friends:

Since our last newsletter, our Firm’s Richard Hein was honored to be invited to present a seminar entitled “Legal Aspects of Starting a Business in the State of Missouri” sponsored by SCORE, the Small Business Administration’s “Counselors to America’s Small Businesses”. SCORE is a non-profit organization sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and consisting of 10,500 volunteers throughout the United States. Mr. Hein presented the seminar in the Spanish language for the benefit of the attendees, who represented a portion of the increasing number of Hispanic entrepreneurs making their way to Missouri.

Additionally, at the beginning of October, 2005, Mr. Hein was also pleased and privileged to serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the Second Annual “Fiesta de la Raza” in St. Charles, Missouri, in honor of the discovery of the Americas. The purpose of the Fiesta was to raise funds and awareness for several local St. Louis metropolitan area charities benefiting the Hispanic community. On hand for the event were the Mayor of St. Charles, the Honorable Patricia York, as well as the President and Vice President of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and other community leaders from the St. Louis metropolitan area.

The International Law Firms (www.ilflaw.com), a cooperating, international organization comprised of highly regarded law firms with member firms in more than 70 cities and 40 countries throughout the world, and of which our Firm is a proud member, celebrates its Regional Meeting of the Americas in Miami, Florida in the Fall of 2005, and its next Annual World Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey in May, 2006. This organization is poised to expand its ranks and reach even further. Mr. Hein represents Missouri and the United States at such meetings.

We were also pleased to be joined by legal assistant Lorena Santa Cruz. A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mrs. Santa Cruz recently moved to St. Louis with her husband, Gabriel. She will be with the Firm until at least the end of 2005, lending a hand.

Our Firm, one of the few, if not the only, fully bilingual, full service law firms in the State of Missouri, was founded in May, 2003. Mr. Hein earned his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1994. He also received his undergraduate degree in History, cum laude, from Saint Louis University in 1991. Mr. Hein was born and raised in St. Louis, and graduated from the St. Louis Priory High School. While in law school, Mr. Hein studied at Madrid’s Centro de Estudios Universitarios at the Colegio de San Pablo, and served as a law clerk to one of the leading law firms in Europe, J. & B. Cremades & Associates, also in Madrid. He is a member of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, the Eighth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Missouri and the United States Supreme Court.

Our Firm’s Isabel J. Siedband (neé Fernández) heads up the Immigration Department for The Law Office of Richard B. Hein. She is the former interim head attorney for the Catholic Immigration Law Project (CILP), a non-profit legal service for low-income individuals who require immigration legal assistance. Mrs. Siedband earned her law degree (Licenciatura) from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain). Mrs. Siedband thereafter received her LL.M. degree (Master of Laws) from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a member of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and the Supreme Court of Missouri. A St. Louis native and alumna of Nerinx High School, Mrs. Siedband grew up speaking French, Spanish, and English as her mother was from Cherbourg, France and her father was from Madrid, Spain. As a daughter of immigrants, Mrs. Siedband is much attuned to the needs of the immigrant community and provides an invaluable service to our Firm’s diverse and international clients. While the Firm has always prided itself on being a full service, bilingual law firm (Spanish/English), Mrs. Siedband has opened our doors even wider to include French-speaking clients. Please feel free to call us for all your immigration needs.

IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT MS. YVONNE AVILES AT 314.961.1800.