Sean Reyes ’97 has been named 2006 Young Lawyer of the Year by the Utah State Bar Association in recognition of his efforts to diversify the profession. A partner handling billion-dollar cases at Utah’s largest law firm, Parsons Behle & Latimer, Reyes is a strong voice for Latino businesses in the state. Reyes currently serves on the board of directors for the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and actively mentors law students of color, bringing judges and attorneys to meet individually with students and providing one-on-one tutoring.
As president of the Utah Minority Bar Association, Reyes helped the group flourish, persuading many of Utah’s law firms to sign a pledge to diversity and honoring the first 50 minority lawyers in Utah. Around 3 percent of Utah’s bar members are minorities and more than 90 percent of Utah’s judges are white- while 15 percent of Utah’s residents are minorities.
While at Boalt, Reyes was an editor and executive board member of the Asian Law Journal, the nation’s first published journal dedicated to legal issues involving the Asian/Pacific Island community.
The 35-year old attorney is a partner in the Litigation and Employment Law Departments at Parsons Behle & Latimer, one of the oldest firms in the intermountain law region. Reyes also serves as a small claims judge pro tempore in the 3rd District Court of Utah.