Leadership In Law Podcast

38 Obstacles as an Attorney with a Strong Accent with Peterson Tavil

• Marilyn Jenkins • Season 1 • Episode 38

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What if the language you spoke and the accent you carried were seen as barriers to your success? Join us on the Leadership in Law podcast as we host the extraordinary Peterson Tavil, a licensed attorney in Florida, whose journey from Haiti to the U.S. is a testament to resilience. Faced with the task of learning English and navigating a new culture, Peterson's unwavering drive toward justice shines through. His educational pursuits took him from law school in Puerto Rico to the hallowed halls of Oxford. Despite encountering discrimination and skepticism, Peterson's story is a compelling reminder that determination can overcome any hurdle.

Through the lens of his personal experiences, Peterson offers invaluable guidance for aspiring lawyers grappling with strong accents. He emphasizes the power of self-belief and persistence in conquering language barriers, alongside a discussion on effective marketing strategies for law firms. Should firms focus on specific communities or cater to a diverse clientele? Peterson shares his philosophy of embracing diversity in his Orlando practice. Tune in for his inspiring narrative and insights, and connect with him on social media to follow his impactful journey as a law firm owner.

Reach Peterson here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterson-tavil-m-s-jd-17496a4b/
IG: @thehaitianesquire
https://www.facebook.com/roch.roch.3939
https://tavillawpa.com

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https://checkout.lawmarketingzone.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leadership in Law podcast with host Marilyn Jenkins. Cut through the noise, get actionable insights and inspiring stories delivered straight to your ears your ultimate podcast for navigating the ever-changing world of law firm ownership. In each episode, we dive deep into the critical topics that matter most to you, from unlocking explosive growth to building a thriving team. We connect you with successful firm leaders and industry experts who share their proven strategies and hard-won wisdom. So, whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey as a law firm owner, the Leadership in Law podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. I'm your host, Marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, Peterson Table, to the show today. Peterson is a licensed attorney in the state of Florida. He graduated magna cum laude from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico School of Law in 2019. He studied Roman law and international law from the University of Oxford in 2018. He obtained both his bachelor in legal studies and specialization in criminal law and individual liberties in 2013 and a master in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida in 2021. After passing the bar, Mr Table worked as a prosecutor for the 9th Judicial Circuit of Florida, where he handled misdemeanor, juvenile and felony cases. Currently, he's a staff counsel for Geico General Insurance Company, where he handles personal injury protection suits against Geico. I'm excited to have you here, Petey, so welcome.

Speaker 3:

Welcome, Marilyn. How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing great. I'm really great. Thank you so much for your time today. Tell us a bit about how you got started. I mean, that's a great list of places that you studied and graduated from.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so after I left Haiti in 2009, I wanted to come to the United States to pursue my education, and my family is big on education. Everybody has to go to school. That's pretty much like my family motto and when I came, my mom told me you don't have to go to work, but you have to go to school. At that age, I was 22. At that time, I was 22. So I took the time to go back to school and learn English, and at that moment, I didn't speak English.

Speaker 3:

I went to Orlando Tech where I learned English for a year, then started college at Valencia College, Studied for about two years, then go to UCF and earned my bachelor in legal studies and a specialization in criminal law and individual liberties. I also did a minor in criminal justice. Then I started mingling with people I knew I wanted to be a lawyer because of my background in Haiti seeing how lawyers take advantage of other people and also how people cannot get access to justice. I wanted to do that and that's kind of like the reason why I love criminal law, because I always see it on that side. And, yeah, that's pretty much how I started. It started and, after getting my bachelor's, took the LSAT didn't score high enough and I took it again and I ended up in Puerto Rico where I studied law.

Speaker 2:

I ended up in Puerto Rico, where I studied law. And here I am right now Fantastic. So you wanted to become a lawyer to make a difference. I love that.

Speaker 3:

Exactly, and that's always been my passion is making a difference in the community. Help people.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic. I love that. I talk to a lot of attorneys that something that happened in their childhood made them want to be attorneys as an adult, so that's inspiring. I love to hear that we talked a little bit about you. You studied English before you went to law school. Have you found any difficulty with having a strong accent and being in the law profession?

Speaker 3:

Yes, I've found a lot. Absolutely the first obstacles that I faced were from my own people, my Haitian people, and I remember one time I was playing soccer, yeah, and after playing soccer, we all sat down and talking about our goals in the United States, because we were all newcomers, and I stated that I want to be a lawyer, and one of my fellow Haitian men told me people who speak English cannot be lawyers and you think you can't be a lawyer. So that shocked me, but it never left my mind Because I wanted to use that as a motivator so that I can keep pushing. So that I can keep pushing and after I become a lawyer, I face not even become. Let me backtrack a little bit.

Speaker 3:

When I was in law school, I also faced, you know, a bit of discrimination too, based on my accent, and some people misjudge me because my accent, and some people think that if you don't speak English, english you're probably sometimes stupid and they don't understand. Language is just a way of communicating with people. It's just a vehicle to communicate, it's nothing more. Yes, somebody can make it, you know, in music to make a living, but basically it's communicating with people, and so, because I have the accent and sometimes it's difficult for me to pronounce some words and because of that, you know and I never let that put me down I use it as a strength because when people say I cannot do something, I try to do it, not to put the sentence wrong.

Speaker 3:

Wrong, but to better myself and fast forward to me having my first job I had. It wasn't openly, let me. Let me explain. It wasn't really openly discrimination, but it's kind of subtle discrimination where you kind of like you see how the person treat you and speak on to you, but not openly. And at this era when, if you're black, you know people tend to not say you know things to you because they think that, oh, if they say that, they're probably going to get in trouble. So they don't really say things out loud, get in trouble. So they don't really say things out loud, but the action, the treatment that I give sometimes make me feel not welcome in certain, in certain setting. So because of that, I tend to try to better myself and work on myself and I will say that it's been like I face that everywhere I go. And now, by the way, I left Geico and I have my own firm right now, which is Staten Law. I'm doing good.

Speaker 3:

So it's better, because I have somebody to really look down on me or treat me a certain way and yeah.

Speaker 2:

Congratulations on opening your own firm. That's great.

Speaker 3:

Thank you.

Speaker 2:

But going back to your point about people kind of thinking that maybe you're not as smart because you don't have the full grasp of the language, I find, having done travel and lived in other countries, that's universal right. Yes, language is how we communicate with each other, but I find that it's the same in every country. If you don't speak their local language, they don't Some I can't do with a broad brushstroke, but it does happen. They just kind of, you know, talk very simply to you or don't have big expectations. But I do love that you took those criticisms in the beginning as challenges and you rose above those. Talk a little bit about so. You're no longer in the corporate environment. You started your own firm. What did you learn in the corporate environment that helped you prepare for and then move out and become your own firm?

Speaker 3:

So the first thing I learned is that you're just a piece of the puzzle, and if you are not there anymore, yes, you will be missed, but there will be another piece that will replace you. Therefore, you're not as valuable as you think you might be. For example, I remember I started at GEICO December 2021, and I left GEICO September of this year. That's about a little bit over three years, no, yeah, a little bit under three years. So when I left Geico, I didn't receive even a thank you for being part of the team. So it really taught me that if you don't do for yourself, nobody will do for you.

Speaker 3:

And growing up, my mom always teach us we have to do for ourselves, not let people do for us. So she raised us in a way that we are independent, and my dad as well. It just we have to create our own opportunity, and because of that, I was able to. Since I become a lawyer, I start preparing for today. It's just connection with people and learn the work that I'm doing so that today, I can manage my own firm. And that's the way I was able to do it. It's by learning what I'm doing and also preparing myself for today.

Speaker 2:

So your parents helped you and mold your leadership ability? Basically, yes, Would you agree basically?

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Would you agree with that?

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So when you were working in corporate, I think good leaders, when they are in a corporate environment, realize that that's not where they're happiest. And I think it's eye-opening whenever you realize that you are a piece of the puzzle. You know having a job, you can be replaced and they're not going to remember you in two weeks right, it's someone else's doing it. They've moved on, so that's exciting. So you're doing, are you doing a criminal law firm right now?

Speaker 3:

Now I do criminal defense, I do DUI and I do insurance defense.

Speaker 4:

No, not insurance defense.

Speaker 3:

I do plaintiff work sorry.

Speaker 2:

Okay, great, and where is your new firm?

Speaker 3:

It's in on Kirkman 485 South Kirkman Road, suite 203, orlando, florida 32811.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic, fantastic. We'll definitely put a link to that in the show notes. So do you have any advice for the upcoming attorneys that have strong accidents. What would you advise them to process through?

Speaker 3:

So the first thing I will tell them is to believe in themselves, because nobody will believe in you if you don't. You have to know that while you're learning English, you have to accomplish what you want to accomplish, because pause everything to learn English will not get you anywhere, and you have to learn it in the process of getting where you want to go. And I remember I started college I didn't really understand fully what my professors were teaching me. I had to spend extra hours. I had to spend extra hours learning because I couldn't really understand everything and couldn't really grasp everything. But if somebody you feel like you have a strong accent you're just new to this country just focus on yourself, Don't focus on other people.

Speaker 3:

And one of the things that worked for me is that I was able to turn off the negativity and turn on the positivity. Turn off the negativity and turn on the positivity when people tell me, hey, you cannot speak English, I don't let that put me down. I use it as a vehicle to get me where I want to go, because I'm like okay, I review myself and tell myself yeah, you don't really speak English. Well, for real. So what I do is just make sure that I get to take my books with newspapers and read whatever I can or what shows, anything that can help me to be a better English speaker.

Speaker 3:

So, yes, I understand the person might mean harm, but I dissect that. Remove the negativity and take the positivity. For me, and that's the best way. I think somebody can, you know, be a better person. It's just trying to focus on positivity and mostly for us who are, who have strong accent, we cannot let everything bother us. If we do, we're going to get discouraged and give up. We have to keep pushing and focus on positivity and keep moving, keep moving, never give up.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I love that. You're absolutely right. So, now that you have your own firm in Orlando, what type of marketing are you doing? Are you marketing to your nationality or are you marketing to the area in general for the criminal?

Speaker 3:

So I market in general because I don't limit myself. As a lawyer, I don't limit myself and I'm not working for only the Haitian people. I'm working for everyone who's in this country.

Speaker 2:

So, whether Spanish, american, white American, black American, haitian, asian, wherever you are, because what matters is just me helping, and I ask that question because, yeah, and I ask that question because there's some, especially like when you look at immigration, some attorneys will actually market to a specific section of the community because they have that you know the language there. That's very helpful and it's easier, you know, to get maybe underrepresented people. So that's why I asked that question. So that's very exciting. I'm excited for where you are as we're starting your new firm and all the experience you have and that you're inspiring and bringing up you know the, the leadership, and I hope your, your firm, grows and that you can continue to outreach and and be an inspiration for new attorneys coming into the country thank you it's been wonderful talking to you.

Speaker 2:

I know the listeners may want to reach out to you and follow you online, so where can people reach? Reach you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I have Instagram at the Haitian Esquire they can follow me, and Facebook Peterson Wash, and I have Twitter, peterson Taville. Yeah, that's the only. I'm not a big social media person. I need to get in social media so I can promote the firm, but I'm not a big one. So, yeah, if they follow me on Instagram at the Haitian Esquire, and Facebook Peterson Wash, and LinkedIn Peterson Taville.

Speaker 2:

Okay, perfect, I'll make sure that those links are in the show notes as well, and again, thank you for your time today. This has been great and I wish you great luck.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, marilyn, it was a pleasure.

Speaker 4:

Thanks for joining me today for this episode. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take the next step with a digital strategist to help you grow your law firm, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to lawmarketingzonecom to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, thanks for listening to Leadership in Law Podcast and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. Remember, you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same success. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzonecom. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episodes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.

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Marilyn Jenkins

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