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More Than Lawyer Podcast Episode 34 with Nathan Harris: Becoming a Community Changemaker
In Episode 34 of More Than A Lawyer, host Christy Crow sits down with a longtime friend, Nathan Harris, Founder and Managing Attorney at Abogados Centro Legal. The Birmingham-area firm has seven lawyers based in Alabama, along with attorneys in Puerto Rico and Colombia. It represents undocumented immigrants who have been catastrophically injured, handling cases in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and takes on immigration matters across the country.
Nathan's message throughout the conversation is simple: it isn't enough to support a community from the outside. To truly serve people, you have to be part of their community.
Helping Clients Navigate an Unfamiliar System
Nathan describes his clients as a "high-calamity" group. They experience serious hardships at higher rates than families who have lived in Alabama for generations, and they often face those hardships without understanding how the American legal system works.
He gives an example. In a country like Honduras, a bus crash quickly becomes a criminal matter, and police may arrest whoever they believe is at fault on the spot. A civil injury case in the United States works very differently. That's why Nathan believes immigrant clients need someone who can walk them through each step of the process, from filing through trial and appeal. Just as importantly, that guidance needs to come in their own language and in a way that respects their culture.
This need is also why his firm has expanded beyond Alabama. Spanish-speaking lawyers are hard to find in the state, and larger immigrant communities live in places like Nashville and Atlanta.
Strengthening Families Through HICA
Outside his practice, Nathan serves on the board of directors of HICA, the Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama, and also does policy work with the organization in Montgomery. HICA supports immigrant families in several ways:
English as a second language (ESL) classes
A pro bono immigration clinic
A Strong Families program that provides food and housing assistance during hard times
Workforce development and job training
Nathan points out that donating isn't the only way to help. Volunteers can train to become ESL teachers. Community events are another way in, and they bring Alabama and Latino neighbors together. Recent examples include a Lotería night, a junior board pig roast, and Del Rio, a Mexican lager HICA created with Cahaba Brewing.
Celebrating Culture and Funding Futures with Fiesta
Nathan is also deeply involved with Fiesta, which he calls the largest Hispanic heritage celebration in Alabama. The eight-hour festival features bands from other countries, food trucks from across the Southeast, and Lucha Libre wrestling. It's a celebration of Birmingham and Hispanic cultures coming together.
The celebration also serves a bigger purpose: Fiesta funds college scholarships. Last year, the organization awarded more than $25,000, and each scholarship is at least $5,000 to keep pace with the rising cost of education. Around 80 Fiesta Scholars have gone on to universities across the country and into fields like medicine and law.
Living in the Community You Serve
Why would a young lawyer starting his own firm take on so much? For Nathan, it's personal. His mother is from Ecuador and his father is from Cullman County, and he wants to live in community on both sides of that heritage. In his view, a lawyer shouldn't just be a benefactor. A lawyer should be fully involved in the community he serves.
When Christy asks how he balances a busy practice, family, and service, Nathan admits the scales rarely balance perfectly in any given week. His solution is to bring his family along to as much as he can. He takes a similar approach with his team. Some team members attend events reluctantly at first, but they usually end up enjoying the experience and seeing the good it does. Choosing causes that are both meaningful and fun makes it easier to get people involved.
Preventing Problems Before They Start
Nathan and Christy also share a commitment to the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation (ACJF), where Nathan serves on the board and Christy currently serves as chair. Nathan notes that ACJF helped establish one of the early programs that led to Head Start in Alabama, which has become a national model for early childhood education.
What draws him to ACJF is its focus on addressing community needs before they turn into legal emergencies. As Christy puts it, preventing problems is better for everyone, and far less costly for the community, than trying to fix them afterward.
"Pick Something That Looks a Little Bit Fun, and Then Dive In"
For anyone who wants to get involved but isn't sure where to begin, Nathan's advice is simple: pick something that looks a little bit fun, then show up and keep showing up. He says that's how you get involved, and that's how you stay involved.
Asked what it means to be more than a lawyer, Nathan says the title can come with baggage. Lawyers have a chance to show their communities who they really are: changemakers who work to fix what needs fixing and carry the good things forward. "We wanna make a positive change," he says, "and I think that that's what being more than a lawyer is."
Listen to the Full Episode
Watch or listen to Episode 34 of More Than A Lawyer on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music.
Learn more about Nathan Harris:
More Than A Lawyer highlights the acts of service lawyers perform all over the country. Host Christy Crow is Managing Attorney at Jinks Crow, PC, a woman-owned personal injury law firm with offices in Union Springs and Montgomery, Alabama.
