Our Founding
The Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association (MHBA) was founded in 1991 to organize Hispanic attorneys, judges, law students and other concerned members of the Hispanic community into a force for professional and community benefit.
Our Mission
The MHBA mission is to unify and organize all members of the Hispanic legal community, to promote legal professionals, and to serve as an advocate for the Hispanic community in Minnesota. The MHBA strives to promote professional growth and opportunity for Latino law students and attorneys, to provide community service and to ensure access to justice for all.
Our Endowment Fund
In 1993, the MHBA began a scholarship fund with contributions from members and a matching gift from Mr. Cliff Whitehall, former President of the General Mills Foundation. In 1998, the MHBA established an endowment fund in partnership with El Fondo de Nuestra Comunidad and under the administration of The St. Paul Foundation. The MHBA Endowment Fund serves as a source of funding for law student interns working at non-profit organizations serving the Latino/a community. Each year MHBA hosts a fundraising gala event to continue to grow the fund to benefit the Latino/a community.
Our Mentoring Program
In 2004, the MHBA began its Law Student Mentorship Program to mentor the next generation of attorneys in Minnesota. Every year the program kicks off with a reception, where law students are matched with attorneys to provide guidance and an introduction into the legal community in Minnesota.
Today
Today, the MHBA has approximately 400 members representing all sectors of the legal community. MHBA’s members are leaders in the state judiciary, local and state government, private law firms, multinational corporations, public interest organizations and more. In addition, some of MHBA’s members are active on the Board of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) based in Washington, DC, which serves as the national voice of the Hispanic legal community, representing the interests of more than 100,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law students in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories. The MHBA is also affiliated with the HNBA, and has voting representation on the HNBA Board of Directors.
2025-2026 Board of Directors
Andrea is a commercial litigation attorney at Sapientia Law Group, who also advises her clients on corporate, commercial, and transactional matters. She is licensed in Colombia and Minnesota.
Andrea C. Mejia Narvaez - President
Delmar is a Mexican-Argentine immigrant, growing up in Texas, California and Illinois. She attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and received her law degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Delmar and her husband relocated to Minnesota in 2013.
Delmar is a partner at Fiddler Osband Flynn LLC, a small powerhouse firm litigating adoption and family law at the trial court and appellate levels and even advocating for children’s best interests before the Supreme Court of the United States. Delmar enjoys advocating for families and children and is humbled to serve Spanish speaking families in their native language – it is the most rewarding!
Delmar is President-Elect of the MHBA board and has served as a Director since 2020. She has also co-chaired the Community Outreach Committee since 2021.
Delmar Flynn -President-Elect
Paola Maldonado is an Associate Attorney at Ogletree Deakins practicing labor and employment defense. She is originally from Chihuahua, Mexico but now calls Minnesota home.
In addition to serving as the MHBA Secretary, Paola co-chairs the Public Relations Committee.
Outside of the law, Paola enjoys traveling, baseball, and spending time with her family.
Paola K. Maldonado - Vice President
Reen is a Guatemalan adoptee raised in the Twin Cities West Metro area of Minnesota. She attended Hamline University as a 3+3 Legal Studies student, eventually going to Mitchell Hamline School of Law for her J.D. and Certificate in Native American Law and Sovereignty. There, Reen served on the MHBA Board as a student representative for MHSL.
Since graduating in 2024, Reen has been working with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Legislative Branch as its Revisor of Statutes. She also continued her commitment to the MHBA, serving as a Director and co-chairing the Membership Relations Committee prior to taking on her current role as Treasurer.
Reen Reinhardt - Treasurer
Marina is a recent graduate of the University of Saint Thomas.
Marina Cruz - Secretary
Kelvin Collado - Immediate Past President
Yastril Nañez - Director
Kathy Santamaria Mendez - Director
Bibeane ("Bibi") Metsch-Garcia is a litigator at Ciresi Conlin LLP where she practices in the business litigation group and represents plaintiffs in mass tort and class action matters. Bibi was previously a criminal Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Before becoming a federal prosecutor, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Cathy Seibel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She is licensed to practice in Minnesota, New York, and the District of Columbia.
Bibi Metsch-Garcia - Director
Inti founded Ceiba Fôrte Law Firm right out of law school in 2016. The firm helps Hispanics protect their assets, businesses, and jobs by litigating business, civil, and employment cases. Inti is licensed to practice law in Minnesota, New York, and the Republic of Honduras. He and his wife Ofelia co-own Abogados Café, the first Latina-owned coffee shop in the Twin Cities, and the first law-themed one in the United States.
Inti Martínez-Alemán - Director
Graciela is an employment and higher education attorney at Lathrop GPM. In addition to helping employers navigate a wide range of employment matters, she advises higher education institutions on legal compliance issues, including Title IX. She also investigates allegations of sexual misconduct, discrimination, and harassment. Graciela originally is from Gainesville, FL but considers herself a Minnesota transplant.
Graciela Quintana - Director
Cesar is a rising 2L at the University of Minnesota Law School pursuing a career as a union-side labor attorney. Born and raised in California, he is a second-generation Mexican- and Guatemalan-American. Before law school, Cesar earned a BA in History & Political Science from San Francisco State University and an MA in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University; and has worked as an research intern at the American Federation of Teachers, an 11th grade teacher in Oakland, CA, and an organizer at the California Faculty Association. He was selected as a Peggy Browning Fellow and will be spending his summer with United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America in Pittsburgh, PA.
Cesar J. Plascencia - Student Representative
A Venezuelan immigrant and first generation immigrant. Born and raised in Wisconsin, moved to Minnesota for undergrad where she graduated with a BA in Sociology of Law, Criminology and Deviance. Particularly passionate about public interest and bridging the gap between our community and the legal field. She will be spending the summer at the Hennepin County Attorneys Office in the Adult Prosecution Division.
Maria Garcia-Moya - Student Representative
Nathaly is a rising second-year law student and a proud first-generation Mexican-American, born and raised in Houston, Texas. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Houston. Prior to law school, she worked at a non-profit law firm where she focused on immigration law and provided support to unaccompanied minors. Outside the law school, she enjoys running and spending time with her dog, Kai.