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Before you read this, I apologize if I sound naive or like the typical 0L.


I speak fluent Arabic and it seems as though the majority of my fellow Arabs in the US that study past the undergraduate level are either doctors or dentists. The ones that stick with just a BA/BS are usually engineers. This leads me to believe (hope) that Arabic speaking lawyers are uncommon. On the southwest side of my city there is a large concentration of Arab-Americans. My idea is to eventually have my own firm (immigration/real estate/general/not sure what type of law) to cater to the Arab community. I searched the zip code of this area, and surprisingly there aren't any Arab lawyers.

This all stems from a story my father told me about a Greek lawyer who speak English, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. My father told me that both the Arabs and the Jews in the neighborhood preferred him over any other lawyer because they felt more comfortable with someone who speaks their language. The plan would be to network within this community (with members of the local mosque, talk to local Arab business owners and have my business cards there, place ads in Arabic newspapers) to build up a client base.

Is this a realistic idea?

nitr0x99 wrote:Before you read this, I apologize if I sound naive or like the typical 0L.


I speak fluent Arabic and it seems as though the majority of my fellow Arabs in the US that study past the undergraduate level are either doctors or dentists. The ones that stick with just a BA/BS are usually engineers. This leads me to believe (hope) that Arabic speaking lawyers are uncommon. On the southwest side of my city there is a large concentration of Arab-Americans. My idea is to eventually have my own firm (immigration/real estate/general/not sure what type of law) to cater to the Arab community. I searched the zip code of this area, and surprisingly there aren't any Arab lawyers.

This all stems from a story my father told me about a Greek lawyer who speak English, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. My father told me that both the Arabs and the Jews in the neighborhood preferred him over any other lawyer because they felt more comfortable with someone who speaks their language. The plan would be to network within this community (with members of the local mosque, talk to local Arab business owners and have my business cards there, place ads in Arabic newspapers) to build up a client base.

Is this a realistic idea?

I am not sure anyone on TLS can really answer this question for you. You are probably a better judge of your community than we are. Generally speaking it is pretty hard to do a solo practice with no experience.

It actually sounds like a really solid plan to me. There are many such ethnic niche professionals, and if you know of an underserved community, I think it would be relatively easy for you to reach out to them. You'll still probably need to work for someone for a few years to get some tutelage, but I think it's a workable plan.

Renzo wrote:It actually sounds like a really solid plan to me. There are many such ethnic niche professionals, and if you know of an underserved community, I think it would be relatively easy for you to reach out to them. You'll still probably need to work for someone for a few years to get some tutelage, but I think it's a workable plan.

This.