Cynthia Irvine, a partner with Hanis Irvine Prothero, PLLC, and attorney practicing in immigration law volunteers her time with the Lucy Lopez Community Center in Kent. Lucy Lopez was founded in 2007 by Kent restaurant owner Roberto Gonzalez as a cultural community center dedicated to the Latino immigrant community. The center provides educational, training, social, and cultural needs of the Latino community.
Cynthia is fluent in Spanish and volunteers her time at the center one evening a month to provide free consultations for immigration legal issues. In these tough economic times, Cynthia recognizes that not everyone who needs an attorney can afford one. Cynthia explains that immigration law is complex and immigrants often lose opportunities to fight their cases due to lack of access to the right legal advice. “Deception and erroneous advice from non-attorney ‘immigration consultants’ is a huge problem in the Latino community so the more orientation and information that can get out there, the better,” she continues. “It’s great getting involved with such a wonderful Kent organization serving the needs our community.”