Cristina Rebeil

When a legal services consumer meets Cristina Rebeil, there is an almost instantaneous connection. “I am them,” says Cristina, a solo practitioner in Southeast Los Angeles County who volunteers at Community Lawyers, Inc. (CLI).

Cristina identifies with many of the obstacles legal services consumers face. She was born to undocumented parents and grew up in a home marred with violence. Her father attempted to kill her when she was a toddler. Shortly after the attempt against her life, Cristina and her siblings escaped the abuse when their mother fled with the children to Magdalena, Sonora, a Mexican town near the Arizona border.

Cristina’s migration back to the United States was motivated by a quintessential California event - The Tournament of Roses Parade. Almost every year Cristina watched the parade as it aired live on Tucson television. She learned English by watching Bullwinkle and the Brady Bunch. She remembers, “One year I saw the UCLA Marching Band. It captured my imagination and I said, ‘I want to go to UCLA.’”

In 1988, with only $200 to her name, Cristina challenged her mother’s beliefs, packed her few possessions into her suitcase and moved to California by herself. Her mother believed that a young woman should not move to a place where there is no family. “My mother didn’t talk to me for a year,” Cristina said.

Her relationship with her mother improved when Cristina graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in English from UCLA. Cristina decided to continue her education and received a scholarship to attend law school at the University of Southern California. It took her mother a long while to accept her choice to become a lawyer because it was not the traditional role of a wife and mother. However, Cristina was determined to create her own path.

Cristina has devoted her career to advocating for undocumented workers, immigrants, low-income residents, and victims of domestic violence. She worked with legal aid organizations in California and Virginia before starting her own practice. The practice of law empowers her to rise above her personal story of abuse and “make things right” for others. She confesses that helping others is not just a “one-way street.” She thinks that all the volunteer attorneys get more out of their involvement with CLI than they put in. “I really buy the concept of Community Lawyers,” she says.

Cristina points out that the most obvious example of “getting more than giving” is the interaction between CLI volunteer attorneys. CLI helps novice attorneys build relationships with more experienced attorneys who can help answer questions and guide them. Cristina appreciates the constant exchange of knowledge and enthusiasm among lawyers who share a passion for helping others.

Cristina believes that it is important for the CLI volunteer attorney to treat legal services consumer with respect. She says that treating the consumer as an equal communicates to the consumer that the attorney has a personal stake in the community. CLI’s low-bono model encourages volunteer attorneys to become part of the community and in turn, the community begins to take ownership of CLI. The reciprocity CLI fosters appeals to Cristina.

One legal services consumer she assisted noticed that the CLI office was difficult to locate because there was no outside signage. This man understood the mutual effort that the CLI model promotes and took it upon himself to hand-make the sign that currently hangs outside the office window. Cristina explains, “this is a time where we actually got more than we gave.” “That’s classic CLI,” she says.

What makes Cristina remarkable is not that she has triumphed over hardships and challenges but that she uses her past as fuel to effect change for others. Cristina believes that we reap what we sow and she knows she will look back at her career without regrets. "I don’t want to go through the motions like a hamster on a wheel. When I look back, I want to say that it was a life worth living.”

CLI is lucky to have Cristina as a volunteer attorney. We applaud her commitment and thank her for her service.