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Language, legal terms challenging in Hmong representation

By: dmc-admin//January 21, 2008//

Language, legal terms challenging in Hmong representation

By: dmc-admin//January 21, 2008//

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Your client is Hmong. How do you best represent his interests, if you know very little about his culture?

Amoun Sayaovong is one of 10 Hmong lawyers in Wisconsin. He and others who frequently represent Hmong clients recently shared their advice with Wisconsin Law Journal about representing Hmong clients in a variety of contexts: civil, criminal and family law.

Sayaovong, a sole practitioner with the Law Office of Amoun Sayaovong LLC in Milwaukee, who handles all of the above, reminds that stereotypes can be dangerous. But by the same token, for those who know nothing about Hmong culture, ignorance can be equally risky. Some Hmong clients will be highly educated and sophisticated about the law, whereas some will have little education and are completely baffled by the American legal system. This holds true for the general public, too.

Therefore, job one for the attorney representing a Hmong client is to ascertain where he or she falls in that spectrum, and adjust the advocacy accordingly.

Age is an important factor, he adds. Many Hmong refugees immigrated to Wisconsin in the 1980s. Their children were likely educated in public schools, know English and have a higher level of assimilation into American culture. This probably does not hold true for the immigrants themselves.

Communication Complications

This is probably the biggest roadblock.

Sayaovong explains that interpreting with Hmong clients can be very difficult because many legal terms have no equivalent in the Hmong language, and the translator must explain the concept. Thus, if you have a substandard interpreter, who doesn’t understand the legal term, there’s essentially no communication.

Quality interpretation is “a huge problem and a statewide issue,” agrees Keith A. Belzer, with Devanie & Belzer S.C. in La Crosse. Some of the terms that might be challenging to convey, he says, are burden of proof and reasonable doubt, negligence and recklessness, jury instructions, the elements of a crime and the effects of a felony record.

Jason M. Mishelow, the managing attorney of Centro Legal por Derechos Humanos Inc. in Milwaukee, says that Hmong clients are often referred to his organization by the Hmong American Friendship Association, whose interpreters are very good. However, the interpreters used in the Milwaukee court system are not as effective, and this can slow down court proceedings considerably.

In addition, Belzer says that Hmong culture is patriarchal. Many Hmongs have been raised to respect, and defer to, men in authority.

“A lot of my Hmong clients show … too much deference to someone they consider to be in leadership, such as myself as their lawyer, so that they’ll do anything I say. And that’s not a good attorney-client relationship,” he says.

Sayaovong agrees. Because Hmong clients tend to be very timid, they might not be forthcoming about certain facts, especially those that are embarrassing. Mental illness, for example, is not looked upon favorably in Hmong culture, and a client might not be willing to discuss it. So, a personal injury client who has suffered emotional distress might not be willing to make that claim, or the criminal defendant might not be willing to pursue an NGI defense.

Thus the attorney needs to reiterate that their communications are privileged, to get to the truth. “You need to be aggressive in asking questions, and you have to be willing to make some assessments about competence, or mental illness. That might make representing a Hmong client more demanding,” Sayaovong says.

Non-verbal communication can be problematic as well. Even when he or she doesn’t understand, a Hmong client might nod as if agreeing. Sayaovong advises, “It’s important for attorneys to say things two ways, to make sure they really understand. Say it one way, then say it a little differently.”

Hmong Cultural Values

Hmong culture traditionally values the family and the extended community. A man who cheats on his wife might be shunned by the extended family, or can be forced into mediation with his and her relatives by his wife, says Sayaovong.

Moreover, it is not uncommon in the family law context to encounter community ownership, says Mishelow, such as a brother’s name on the title of a marital home.

Family involvement can work to a criminal defendant’s advantage, says Belzer. When extended family, including elders of the clan, are in court, this undoubtedly helps a defendant, and the judge can see that he or she has support.

And, it is a culture that values hard work and saving money. In the divorce context, it’s rare, especially with older clients, to be allocating debt. He has additionally observed that with older Hmong clients, they tend to distrust banks. Disputes might arise over the $5,000 that was kept under the mattress.

On this note, the good news for lawyers is that Hmong clients honor their debts (legal fees, too). “Honor is very important in the Hmong community, much more so than any other ethnic group I’ve ever worked with,” says Belzer.

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