ARTICLES

July 2005

Dear Friends:

Since our last newsletter, our Firm was pleased to be invited to present a seminar regarding immigration and legal issues in the workplace at the “Catching the Latino Wave” educational conference held at the Adam’s Mark Hotel on March 16, 2005. Mrs. Isabel J. Siedband, head of our Firm’s Immigration Department, along with Richard B. Hein, led the discussion. In attendance were representatives from local and national banks, the St. Louis Rams Football Team, and other distinguished members of the Missouri business community. Mrs. Siedband will be traveling to Caracas, Venezuela in August, 2005, and will be meeting with our Firm’s International Law Firms affiliate there, Attorney Orlando Viera Blanco, in order to discuss how our Firm may assist Mr. Viera Blanco’s clients with their immigration issues.

Additionally, in May, 2005, Mr. Hein traveled to Vienna, Austria, to attend the Annual World Meeting of the International Law Firms (www.ilflaw.com). Mr. Hein was chosen to serve on the ILF Marketing Committee. Thereafter, Mr. Hein visited the Monereo Meyer & Marinel-Lo law firm in Madrid, Spain, where he met with that firm’s partner, Mr. Calvin Hamilton, to discuss furthering the firms’ relationships. The International Law Firms will be celebrating its Regional Meetings in Miami, Florida and Nicosia, Cyprus in late-October, 2005, while its next Annual World Meeting will take place in Istanbul, Turkey in May, 2006. The International Law Firms is a cooperating, international organization comprised of highly regarded law firms with member firms in more than 70 cities and 40 countries throughout the world.

Since our last newsletter, we were also pleased to be joined by legal assistant, Bonnie C. Robinson. A Texas native, Ms. Robinson grew up in Brownsville and spent substantial time in San Antonio. She will be enrolling in the fall semester at the St. Louis Community College with an eye toward a degree in Business Administration, while maintaining a full work load with our Firm.

We are proud of our Office Manager, Yvonne Aviles, who was recently awarded one of only three available Hacemos Scholarships by Southwestern Bell in the amount of $3,500.00. Ms. Aviles is currently maintaining a 3.7 average in her sophomore year at St. Louis Community College, while keeping her five children (and our office) under control.

Finally, we were recently able to spare a client from a ten year sentence in a criminal case in St. Louis County Circuit Court, winning his freedom after a probation revocation hearing.

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.

Immigration attorney 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.