Q&A with HALO Co-Chair Juanita Hernandez

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the SEC is spotlighting Juanita Hernandez, a member of the SEC’s Diversity Council and Co-Chair of the SEC’s Hispanic and Latino Opportunity, Leadership and Advocacy Committee (HALO). Let’s learn more about Juanita’s story, her role as Senior Counsel in the Office of General Counsel and her insights on the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Q: You’ve been with the SEC’s Office of General Counsel since you started at the agency in 2005. Can you share a little bit about your background and what drew you to the SEC?

A: I am a seasoned trial attorney with over 35 years in my career focused on litigation matters for both federal and state governments and in private practice. I am originally from the San Antonio, Texas, area and went to Harvard to earn my undergraduate and law school degrees. After graduation, I clerked for a federal district court judge in Texas and worked as a litigator at a large firm in San Antonio practicing general civil litigation and business law.

After a few years in the private sector, I moved to Austin to serve as a Special Assistant Attorney General handling high impact litigation matters. I then served in the Clinton administration in Washington, where I became counsel to the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ). After that, I returned to Texas and became an Assistant United States Attorney first in criminal law and then the civil division. I returned to private practice as a litigator at another large law firm in San Antonio, where I practiced for a few years. One of my former Texas clients, Roel Campos, was an SEC Commissioner at the time, and he reached out and asked me to apply to the Commission given my strong litigation background and previous experience in the federal government. That is how I came to the SEC.

I have always been attracted to public service. Even when I was in private practice, I volunteered for various civic, political and community activities.

When I was in law school, I wanted to do public service and learn about securities law. Instructive in my interests was my securities law professor, Louis Loss, who joined the SEC in 1937 as a young lawyer and was the preeminent expert in interpreting the 1933 and 1934 Securities Acts. He went on to write the ''Securities Regulation,'' the first and still most comprehensive securities treatise bringing together the laws and court decisions. I loved hearing his war stories about the SEC in my classes with him. I was intrigued by the work of the SEC and the DOJ, but I first needed to repay law school loans and help my family. I was delighted to see the professor’s portrait hanging in the SEC library shortly after I joined the Commission since the library is named after him.

Q: At the SEC, we emphasize the importance of mentorship, sponsorship and internships as conduits for creating personal and professional opportunities. Is there a person, experience or event that was pivotal to helping you get to where you are today?

A: I am the proud third daughter of four daughters born to my Mexican immigrant parents in south Texas. My parents have always been my inspiration. Both instilled in my sisters and me the values of hard work and obtaining a higher education. They also expected us to give back to our community and to our family.

Growing up during the heyday of the civil rights movement, I yearned to be part of the legal system that brought justice equally to everyone in this country. That was my original inspiration to be a lawyer. I came to see government as helpful to that cause in a variety of settings, including as a prosecutor, regulator and law enforcer on behalf of the community.

Q: What unique perspectives do you bring to your role as HALO Co-Chair that you may draw upon to help enhance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) both internally at the agency and externally in the community that we serve?

A: I am a big proponent of mentoring both on the receiving end and serving as a mentor. I regularly mentor young lawyers and law/pre-law students. Some of the advice I share with them is to find a mentor or more. Some mentors will help with work and professional advice in your career. Other mentors will provide guidance of a more personal or social nature. Be open-minded about the mentors you select. Not all should be of your same background, race or gender. You should hear other perspectives. Choose mentors that have your best interests at heart.

I also recommend to my mentees that they should “pay it back” since none of us got to where we are today on our own. There were many good mentors, professors and friends along the way. You should try to mentor younger friends coming up behind you. Pay it back. It is only then that you will appreciate and realize how blessed you are in your own life and career. Serving as a mentor yourself is a very rewarding role.

I also like to collaborate with other employee affinity groups to help one another as underrepresented populations in our agency. It is only through mutual assistance and community that we can truly make our workplace the most welcoming and foster a community for all employees. I would like to encourage more applicants from underrepresented groups to apply to our agency to diversify our workforce and to do well once they are here. For instance, during the pandemic, I set up the HALO Buddy Program to mentor new employees who started at the SEC during our full-time telework status. We pair up these new HALO members with current HALO members as buddies or mentors. It has been successful to welcome and orient new employees into our agency during the pandemic.

Q: What has been most rewarding in your role as HALO Co-Chair?

A: I like to help our HALO members feel there is a community of persons with shared common and similar backgrounds who work at the Commission. HALO stands for Hispanic and Latino Opportunity, Leadership and Advocacy Committee. HALO’s mission is to raise awareness and appreciation of the value of increased participation of Hispanics and Latinos in the SEC workforce. HALO aims to promote the hiring, retention and promotion of a diverse workforce at the SEC. HALO sponsors networking and mentoring activities among SEC employees and supports outreach and cultural interaction within the SEC community and in the community at large. HALO helps our members feel that they belong at the SEC, and its members support each other.

For instance, I recently attended a national Latino lawyer conference on behalf of the Commission. Some outside younger lawyer attendees were favorably surprised to see the SEC had Latino professionals and were sending employees to do outreach and recruitment to the Latino legal community. That is why I stay involved and keep flying the SEC/HALO banner to recruit more diverse talent to this agency. I have been involved with DEI issues at the Commission since I started working here, not just with HALO but also with the Diversity Council and the Women’s Committee.

Q: What barriers have you encountered on your career path, and what advice might you give to help others overcome similar barriers?

A: We do not have enough time or space here to cover the many barriers and obstacles I have faced throughout my career as a Latina lawyer. “A good captain is not made from calm seas.” (Proverb) Suffice it to say, I am still working hard and will continue to do so to help others in their professional development and career success, particularly those who come from underrepresented backgrounds in the legal profession. As I stated earlier, mentoring other young lawyers is a very important component of that work.

Q: What hobbies/interests do you enjoy outside of work?

A: I like to garden, cook/create recipes and stay involved in a variety of bar associations as well as professional, diversity and alumni organizations.