Attorney relishes working for kid’s rights

Listen to this article

Attorney Carmen Ortiz-Babilonia deals with a lot of heartbreak in her practice.

As a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee’s Guardian Ad Litem Division in Wauwatosa, she handles protective actions for children and termination of parental rights.

The cases often are emotional roller coasters for the litigants, Ortiz-Babilonia said, but she feels at home in her work.

Prior becoming an attorney in 1999, she worked as a social worker dealing mostly with child protection issues.

Ortiz-Babilonia started her legal career with Centro Legal and joined Legal Aid in 2002. But after two years, she returned to Centro Legal from 2004-06 before returning to Legal Aid for good, where she deals with custody issues, among other things.

As a bilingual attorney and native of Puerto Rico, Ortiz-Babilonia takes cases that involve Spanish-speaking clients.

Though the work can be challenging, there are plenty of rewarding moments, she said, such as when drug or alcohol-addicted parents are able to clean up and regain custody of their children.

Ortiz-Babilonia reflected on her career’s ups and downs in this week’s Asked & Answered.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?
Carmen Ortiz-Babilonia: I think there should be a course on a courtroom script. In law school we are trained on legal theory, not what questions we should ask when we go to court.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?
Ortiz-Babilonia: The biggest pain for me was torts. It was my small group course, but it was very tense.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement to date and why?
Ortiz-Babilonia: Obtaining my law degree, because I came as an adult to a different country and had to learn a different language.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?
Ortiz-Babilonia: As a non-profit attorney, I don’t have too many luxuries. But maybe a latte from Alterra is nice once and a while.

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?
Ortiz-Babilonia: The importance of clerical staff.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?
Ortiz-Babilonia: I saw Cuban musician Pablo Milanes and Silvio Rodriguez in 1981 when I was in college. My first concert in America was Crosby, Stills & Nash at Summerfest in the ’90s.

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
Ortiz-Babilonia: Hillary Clinton. I think she is a very powerful woman in an environment that is very male-dominated and so far she has done an excellent job to my liking. Meeting Bill wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

WLJ: What is your motto?
Ortiz-Babilonia: Pay it forward. I think you have a duty to extend your good fortune to someone else.

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?
Ortiz-Babilonia: On the serious side, “The Pelican Brief,” because it showed how far someone would go to prevent information from coming out in order to win a case. On the fun side, “My Cousin Vinny.” I think it is one of the best movies in terms of explaining how to introduce evidence, even though it is kind of funny.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
Ortiz-Babilonia: I would be a social worker in social service no doubt about that; probably in administration and child welfare.