{"id":20114,"date":"2025-06-04T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/?p=20114"},"modified":"2025-07-16T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:35:33","slug":"the-baquero-family-and-their-legacy-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/2025\/06\/04\/the-baquero-family-and-their-legacy-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Baquero family and their legacy of law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

(From left) Anthony Baquero ’09, Mary Baquero ’97, and John Baquero ’11<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary Baquero \u201997<\/strong> started the Baquero Law Office in Minneapolis nearly 25 years ago as a solo practitioner specializing in immigration law. That is, until she hired her sons Anthony Baquero \u201909<\/strong> and John Baquero \u201911<\/strong> to join her.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Mary attended Normandale Community College and St. Catherine University. At Normandale, she participated in the study abroad program that took place in Colombia. There, she learned to speak Spanish and fell in love with the culture. She also met and fell in love with Richard, with whom she would marry and have a family.<\/p>\n

Back in Minnesota, Mary worked full-time while attending law school at William Mitchell College of Law. She chose the school because it allowed her to attend classes part-time in the evenings. \u201cWilliam Mitchell not only filled a need for working families, but I also loved learning with people my age,\u201d she claimed.<\/p>\n

Although having a family, working, and going to law school was a challenge, Richard would bring their two boys and daughter Lucy to campus to see their mother and have dinner together in the cafeteria. \u201cI can still smell and taste those French fries,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cThey were delicious.\u201d John seconded that statement.<\/p>\n

After graduating law school, Mary took the bar exam in Florida, where the family had moved for Richard\u2019s career. \u201cIt was my goal to pass the bar before age 40,\u201d she said. And she succeeded.<\/p>\n

Eventually, after discovering that the company Richard worked for would have a position in Minnesota, Mary was determined to pass the Minnesota bar so they could relocate to Minnesota. Mary passed the bar again in Minnesota and worked for a corporation offering legal employee benefit consultations in Spanish. She began to work with the Spanish-speaking community in Minneapolis and soon reduced her hours to part time at the corporation. That\u2019s when Richard encouraged her to start her own firm, realizing she could accomplish something greater by fulfilling her own dreams while helping others fulfill theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Richard\u2019s encouragement and sacrifice that made our family\u2019s legacy of law a reality,\u201d Mary lovingly said. \u201cHe held down the house and kids while I attended law school, encouraged me to start my own practice, and sacrificed his own successful career as an architect to be the firm\u2019s office manager, IT support, and maintenance man. He\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony, the eldest son, would be first to follow his mother\u2019s footsteps into the legal field, but it didn\u2019t happen right away. He completed his undergrad at Carleton College and took a year off to live in Colombia, study for the LSAT, and apply to law school. Having played basketball at Carleton, he wasn\u2019t sure if he wanted to practice immigration law or work in the world of sports. He applied to several out-of-state and in-state schools, including William Mitchell.<\/p>\n

He still remembers opening William Mitchell\u2019s acceptance letter and its generous scholarship offer. In the end, he couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity to study at the very same school where his mother studied over a decade before. He ultimately accepted the generous scholarship and received an extraordinary education. \u201cI especially appreciated the mock trials and externships because they allowed me to use my practical skills in real time. It felt like I was already a lawyer as a student. Looking back, I didn\u2019t know my exact path, but I know now that I\u2019m exactly where I\u2019m meant to be. Our family being able to authentically interact and effectively help our clients and their families is incredibly rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

For John, there was no question what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go after completing his undergrad at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He, too, attended William Mitchell\u2014entering law school while Anthony was a 3L student\u2014and the two played intramural sports together during their shared year. John said, \u201cI wanted to stay local and already knew so many people, including my mother and brother, who went to William Mitchell and were in the legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

John\u2019s favorite experiences in law school had to do with criminal justice and being in the courtroom. Fittingly, he works as a public defender for Scott County in addition to being part of the family\u2019s private practice. \u201cThe day I was sworn in, my dad told me that I had court on Tuesday,\u201d John laughed.<\/p>\n

As for the future, Mary wants to retire soon and spend more time with her six grandchildren (two from each of her children and their spouses) and plans to pass the torch to Anthony.<\/p>\n

The Baqueros are Cornerstone Society members who have consecutively given to Mitchell Hamline for over 26 years. \u201cI give out of deep gratitude,\u201d said Mary. \u201cI would not have been able to attend law school if William Mitchell didn\u2019t provide access, and I want Mitchell Hamline to continue to provide access for others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Baquero \u201997 started the Baquero Law Office in Minneapolis nearly 25 years ago as a solo practitioner specializing in immigration law. That is, until she hired her sons Anthony Baquero \u201909 and John Baquero \u201911 to join her. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Mary attended Normandale Community College and St. Catherine University. At Normandale, … <\/p>\n

The Baquero family and their legacy of law<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":20115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,3,162,165,175,163,1],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-20114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-alumni-spotlight","9":"category-feature","10":"category-features","11":"category-homepage","12":"category-news","13":"category-news-and-events","14":"tag-alumni","15":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}