Email & Share
Abogado is the Spanish word for Lawyer. Before we moved to Mexico, we had spent enough time with American lawyers to last a lifetime. It seems the older you get and/or the more successful you are in America, the more time you get to spend with people in the legal profession. We have several friends who are lawyers. Not a lot… a few. We’re sure there are many nice lawyers out there. But as a profession, they are not our favorite people. They have nice offices, often with big windows and imposing views. They dress well and drive stylish cars, even if they can’t afford these things, because in America it is important to give an impression of wealth and success.
But here in Merida, and we suspect in much of Mexico, things are slightly different. We deal with a family law firm that is fairly prestigious and upper crust, based on the number of times members of their family seem to get their picture in the paper on the society pages. These people are part of what is called the casta divina or divine caste of Merida. The law firm consists of the father, who is the Notario (more on that later), his daughter and son who are both abogados, and another partner. And contrary to how lawyers (and others) act in the States, these people have perfected the art of appearing humble… or maybe they just are.
Their offices are located in a fairly normal-looking house in a residential area of town. There is nothing remarkable about the building or the interior of the office space. The waiting room has decades-old furniture, dusty old law books in the shelves, a very harried assistant behind the front desk who barely has time to answer the phones, and until our last visit, some of the oldest magazines we’ve ever seen. In the past, we’ve looked forward to visiting the office just so we could browse through the 1962 House Beautiful and laugh at the furniture and shag carpeting being advertised.
One thing that isn’t different here is that we always seem to end up waiting a long time in the reception area. But once we’re called into the offices, we always find the difference remarkable. No corner offices and plush furniture for these people. The offices are small and buried under papers. Assitants are constantly walking in and out, fans are whirring, phones are ringing. No hushed tones of success and wealth here, no sir. Just plain old-fashioned work.
Of course, don’t try to reach an abogado between the hours of 1 pm and 5 pm, at least not our abogados. They take their siesta break very seriously. I doubt they are sleeping… but they certainly aren’t available then.
In Mexico, the most prestigious lawyers are called Notarios. There are only so many Notario licenses in each state and city, and so they are highly prized and highly regulated titles. Whenever something is done legally in Mexico, it must have the sello or seal of a Notario. In a way, its like a notary and a senior lawyer all rolled into one. In our lawyers’ office, the father is the Notario and the children work under his roof. And one day, when the father retires, one of the children will probably inherit his Notario license.
There are two other interesting things about the law that we have learned living here. First of all, there are very different laws here. You can forget about personal injury lawsuits. One of the first things we learned was to watch out for ourselves in Mexico. There are holes in the sidewalks, air conditioning units mounted low on walls over the sidewalks, rebar sticking out of buildings for no apparent reason. If you fall into a hole or hit your head or break your leg, that was your fault for not watching where you were going. Personal injury lawsuits are so rare, they may as well not exist.
The second interesting thing is that Mexico’s legal system was inherited from Napoleanonic Law. That means that everything that is legal is copied down into big books that are kept somewhere official. If you buy a house, all the information about that purchase is typed into a big book (and you are given an official copy with a sello). These things are not in computers. And this is one reason why it takes longer to get things done sometimes. There is a lot more time consuming work involved in doing it.
In general, the law here seems more civil, less burdensome… and definitely less invasive into our lives. It’s the kind of libertarian climate there used to be more of in the States. And our lawyers are probably just as successful and wealthy as the lawyers back home… but they wouldn’t dream of making that obvious.
(Please rate this article)
Loading ...
Only those who have experienced the Yucatecan abogado visit can truly appreciate what you’ve caught here. It is a world away from the 21st century stateside legal experience. Somehow this must have been what it was like for our grandparents with small-town lawyers long before the “corporate” aura descended upon all U.S. attorneys.
My favorite part of the abogado experience is when the “official translator” presence is noted in documents to show how those of us gringos who are not fluent in Spanish are accomodated in the Mexican legal process.
“Notario” titles aren’t inherited. The children will have to take an exam to be able to get the title, as anyone can. They’ll probably get the client roster though.
Do you have a list of Notarios in Merida you can suggest? Yellow Pages? - How do we know that someone who SAYS he or she is a Notario hasn’t just gotten out of prison, and just made up an official-looking certificate? We do not speak much Spanish.
Thank you
Daniel and Delores,
There is a Yellow Pages here in Merida, actually, with a section for Notarios. All notarios have a number associated with their office, as there are only a certain number of notarios per state. In general, though, it’s best to go with someone who speaks English or has an English-speaker in the office. It’s nice to understand what you are signing
If you look on the left about halfway down the front page of this website, you’ll see a link for something called Community Resources. There are a few lawyers in Merida listed in that publication, and we can recommend them as all being legitimate notarios.
Hello,
We planned to move to Merida in the next year. I just want to ask if it is necessary to have a lawyer to purchase a home there.
In fact we don’t know about the professionalism of the real estate agencies… can we trust them?
Thank you anyway for your site is so interesting.
Working Gringos,
Again the bad sayings beside the good comments, First no one can be “Notario Publico” in Mexico if they are not lawyers, as you well said it is very hard to get a Notario Publico License, another requirement is that the lawyers need to have an office or a lawyer firm, and the third and most important is to be a well known and respectuful person.
Here in US anyone can be a “Notaric Public” you only need to pass the exam and get the license that’s it. So talking about legally there is way to much chances to do something fraudulent in the US.
About the personal injury lawsuits I think is better the way it is manage in Mexico, here in the states people have learned the way to get money from other people.
Well there are many thing I can tell you about differences here and there, take a look about getting birth certificates, in Yucatan you can get your birth certificate by internet and they can mail it to you any where in the world, getting a birth certificate in the states? My god that is a pain and somehow ridiculous what they ask you to get it done.