The course will be taught by 1981 Thomas Jefferson alumnus Ruben Arizmendi, a San Diego attorney who practices business and estate law with and has a 95% Spanish speaking clientele.

During his years in practice, Arizmendi has found that many of his Spanish-speaking clients, and even other Spanish-speaking attorneys, might not be able to understand him during legal conversations because English and Latin legal terms don’t readily translate into Spanish.

As a result, Arizmendi thinks a kind of “mish-mash of Spanish legalese” has developed in Southern California, which further complicates matters. He says verbatim translations “are often meaningless or absurd.” Words that are spelled or sound the same in two languages (cognates) are often false or misleading. For example, if you say deposition, a Spanish-speaker might think you mean “deposicion” -- that you want to depose a ruler. Even the term “corte” for court is not entirely accurate since the more commonly accepted terms among Spanish-speakers is “tribunal” or “juzgado”.

Arizmendi says he used to get blank stares because there is not a word for “probate” in Spanish legal terminology. Probate comes from the Latin “probare,” to prove. Even though the Spanish word “probar” can mean “to taste” or “to test” or “to prove” -- it has no legal meaning in an estate planning context. The proper legal term in Spanish would be “juicio sucesorio.”

To help attorneys and other legal professionals avoid these misunderstandings, Arizmendi decided to teach the course, which he hopes will help develop “a new culture of legal Spanish in Southern California,” in which attorneys and their Spanish-speaking clients can understand each other more easily.

Teaching the Spanish that a lawyer needs to represent the Spanish speaking population in San Diego is something that this community really needs,” said Thomas Jefferson Associate Dean Steve Semeraro. “It's what Thomas Jefferson Law School is all about -- identifying needs in the legal community and finding innovative ways to fulfill them.”

Arizmendi’s class starts on Wednesday night (August 30) and runs from 8:00 p.m. to 9:50 p.m.

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