Bilingual Legal Assistant Helps Patterson Bridge Language Barrier

Imagine living in a country where you had little to no understanding of the native language. It would be confusing and frustrating until you learned basic words and phrases that could help you communicate. Now imagine getting into an auto accident, receiving a workplace injury or being involved in a medical malpractice situation. Through no fault of your own, you or your loved one is injured, but you can’t fully express your side of the story, nor can you understand the information being relayed to you from the insurance company. At Patterson Legal Group, we’re striving to help this under-served population, particularly the Hispanic community by providing an in-house interpreter.

This past spring, Tina Medrano joined the Patterson team as a legal assistant for attorney, Kent Wirth. Tina is highly experienced. As an added bonus, she is also bilingual in English and Spanish. “When you’ve been injured, life becomes chaotic. We want clients to be able to call our team at any time,” explained attorney, Tyler Patterson. “Having a bilingual employee is a must for any firm that represents Spanish-speaking clients.” Tina is available to translate for any Patterson staff member or attorney, including those handling personal injury (auto accidents) claims.

Serving the Hispanic population with an in-house Spanish-speaking employee is a new area for Patterson Legal Group, but we’re already seeing the number of clients rise because of this added service. Tina’s legal background enables her to simplify complex legal jargon into real-world language that everyone can understand. “I got into this line of work so that I could serve people,” said Tina.

Being able to help is rewarding, and I’m truly grateful to work with good people, both the clients and the employees.

In addition to her busy work life, Tina is raising four children. She says it’s important that her children are also bilingual so she makes a conscious effort to speak to them in English and in Spanish. Tina is enjoying her position with Patterson.

In addition to a Spanish interpreter, Patterson Legal Group also has access to a Vietnamese translator.