Joaquin Avila (lawyer)
{{short description|American lawyer}}
{{For|the financier|Joaquin Avila}}
Joaquin Guadalupe Avila (June 23, 1948 – March 9, 2018) was an American voting rights attorney and activist. Avila spent more than two decades using the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 to increase election fairness for minority voters. But as several court precedents weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, Avila conceived of state voting rights acts as a way to again strengthen minority voting rights. Thus Avila crafted the California Voting Rights Act that was enacted in 2001.
Avila brought lawsuits that set important voting rights precedents. He also served as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and directed the National Voting Rights Advocacy Initiative at Seattle University School of Law. Among the many honors he received recognizing his work, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1996.
Early life and education
Joaquin Guadalupe Avila was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in Compton.{{cite news|last1=Silverman|first1=Ellie|title=Joaquin Avila, civil rights lawyer involved in significant court victories for Hispanics, dies at 69|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/joaquin-avila-civil-rights-lawyer-involved-in-significant-court-victories-for-hispanics-dies-at-69/2018/03/13/7db6d532-26c7-11e8-874b-d517e912f125_story.html|access-date=29 May 2018|newspaper=Washington Post|date=13 March 2018}} His father was a foundry worker. He earned his B.A. in political science at Yale University in 1970 and received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1973. He was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Career
After law school, Avila worked briefly on voting rights litigation in California before relocating to Texas.{{cite web|last1=Rubin|first1=Sara|title=Meet voting rights champ and genius Joaquin Avila|url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/meet-voting-rights-champ-and-genius-joaquin-avila/article_b9c30bee-4854-11e5-b03b-77584fe8beb7.html|website=Montery County Now|access-date=March 10, 2018|ref=MeetAvila|date=August 22, 2015}} There, Avila worked as a staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and quickly rose in the organization, eventually becoming its president and general counsel.{{cite web|title=Joaquin G. Avila|url=https://equaljusticesociety.org/joaquinavila/|website=Equal Justice Society|date=9 September 2015 |access-date=March 10, 2018}} He served as president and general counsel of MALDEF from 1982 to 1985, during which he had a hand in over 70 voting rights cases.
After leaving MALDEF, Avila moved to Fremont, California where he successfully argued important voting right cases, including Gomez v. the City of Watsonville, in which the city's at-large elections for city council diluted the voting power of the city's Latino residents in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.{{cite news|last1=Alejo|first1=Luis|title=Luis Alejo: Reflections on a landmark voting case|url=http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/ZZ/20080824/NEWS/808249872|access-date=March 10, 2018|publisher=Santa Cruz Sentinel News|ref=Reflections}} He successfully argued two voting rights cases before the United States Supreme Court.{{cite news|title=Joaquin Avila Leads National Voting Rights Advocacy Initiative|url=https://www.courts.wa.gov/committee/pdf/mjcNewsLetters/Volume13Number1August2009.pdf|access-date=March 10, 2018|work=Equal Justice|issue=1|publisher=Washington State Minority and Justice Commission|date=August 2009|volume=13}}
Avila drafted the 2001 California Voting Rights Act (CVRA),{{cite news|title=Voting rights law pays off for its authors|url=https://www.presstelegram.com/2009/11/15/voting-rights-law-pays-off-for-its-authors|access-date=March 10, 2018|work=Long Beach Press Telegram|agency=Associated Press|date=November 15, 2009}} which made it easier for plaintiffs to challenge at-large election systems by eliminating one of the criteria required to challenge such systems under the federal Voting Rights Act.{{cite news|title=A glance at the California Voting Rights Act|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-a-glance-at-the-california-voting-rights-act-2009nov15-story.html|access-date=March 10, 2018|agency=Associated Press|date=November 15, 2009}}
The law also required the government to pay the legal fees of plaintiffs who successfully challenge an election system under the law.{{cite news|last1=Hanken|first1=Jon|title=Ione Could Face California Voting Rights Lawsuit|url=http://www.ledger.news/news/local_news/ione-could-face-california-voting-rights-lawsuit/article_c25a7e74-20b8-11e8-90c3-4f2b9d917f43.html|access-date=March 10, 2018|work=Ledger Dispatch|date=March 7, 2018}}
In 2003 he authored a UCLA law school report which called for the amendment of the state constitution to allow millions of non-citizen adults to vote in local elections.{{cite news|title=Civil rights lawyer Joaquin Avila dead at 69|url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/mar/12/civil-rights-lawyer-joaquin-avila-dead-at-69/|access-date=29 May 2018|work=The Spokesman-Review|date=12 March 2018|language=en}}
Avila later served as practitioner in residence and director of the National Voting Rights Advocacy Initiative at the Seattle University School of Law.
Awards and honors
Avila's work has been recognized by awards that include:
- MacArthur Foundation Fellowship "Genius Grant" (1996){{cite web|title=Joaquin Avila|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/528/|website=MacArthur Fellows Program|access-date=March 10, 2018}}
- State Bar of California Loren Miller Legal Services Award (2001){{cite news|title=Activist for Latino community cited by State Bar|url=http://archive.calbar.ca.gov/archive/calbar/2cbj/01sep/index.htm|access-date=March 10, 2018|work=California Bar Journal|publisher=State Bar of California|date=September 2001}}
- Vanguard Public Foundation Social Justice Sabbatical
- League of United Latin American Citizens President's Award (2012){{cite web|title=LULAC Celebrates its 83rd Anniversary with Legislative Conference and Awards Gala|url=https://lulac.org/news/pr/LULAC_Celebrates_its_83rd_Anniversary_with_Legislative_Conference_and_Awards_Gala/|access-date=March 10, 2018|date=February 15, 2012}}
- Mexican government Ohtli Award (2011){{cite web|title=List of Winners|url=http://www.ime.gob.mx/images/stories/ime/reconocimiento_ohtli/othli_lista.pdf|website=Ohtli Award|publisher=Government of Mexico|access-date=March 10, 2018|page=85|language=Spanish|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428055209/http://www.ime.gob.mx/images/stories/ime/reconocimiento_ohtli/othli_lista.pdf|archive-date=April 28, 2019|url-status=dead}}
- Harvard Law School Association Award (2012){{cite web|last1=Wright|first1=Kim|title=Voting Rights Activist Joaquin Avila '73 Receives HLSA Award|url=https://today.law.harvard.edu/voting-rights-activist-joaquin-avila-73-receives-hlsa-award/|access-date=March 10, 2018|date=October 11, 2012}}
- Seattle University School of Law Latino Amicus Award (2012){{cite web|title=Law school to honor Joaquin Avila with Latino Amicus Award|url=https://law.seattleu.edu/newsroom/2012-news/law-school-honors-joaquin-avila-with-latino-amicus-award|access-date=March 10, 2018|date=March 21, 2012|archive-date=March 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311021415/https://law.seattleu.edu/newsroom/2012-news/law-school-honors-joaquin-avila-with-latino-amicus-award|url-status=dead}}
Personal life
Avila was married to Sally Cabaruvias, and lived in Compton, California, with whom he had three children, Joaquin Jr., Salvador and Angelique. He died of cancer at his home in Shoreline, Washington.
References
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Category:Lawyers from Los Angeles
Category:People from Compton, California
Category:People from Shoreline, Washington
Category:American legal scholars
Category:American civil rights lawyers
Category:Harvard Law School alumni
Category:Seattle University faculty
Category:American lawyers of Mexican descent
Category:Deaths from cancer in Washington (state)