Alex and Orlando De Castroverde are managing partners of De Castroverde Law Group, which was founded by their father, Waldo De Castroverde. The firm started with one lawyer and one secretary — Waldo’s daughter — and has grown to more than 40 employees. Having outgrown its downtown Las Vegas office, the firm expanded to Tivoli Village in the western valley, and the brothers aim next to open an office in Reno.
De Castroverde Law Group recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. To what do you owe your success?
Alex: We have been fortunate to surround ourselves with exceptional staff and attorneys who expect more out of themselves than we expect of them. We all try to come to work in the morning with the goal of being better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today. That mindset, and an office culture where we strive to treat each other and each of our clients like family, has allowed us to grow into what we have become.
De Castroverde Law Group was one of the first firms in Nevada to have Spanish-speaking lawyers. Why was this important for you?
Orlando: Alex and I would work at our father’s office during the summers while we were in college. I saw how the clients really were comforted by the fact that their attorney could talk to them in their native language. These experiences at a young age reinforced the importance of attorneys communicating with clients in Spanish. There is no substitute.
Most all of our attorneys speak Spanish and can communicate directly with our clients just as our dad did.
What inspired you to follow your father’s path?
Alex: As kids, we saw our father work tremendously hard to achieve his dream of becoming an attorney. Once he became an attorney and opened his law office, we saw the pride and joy he had in being able to help people. For me, there was nothing else I wanted be when I grew up.
Orlando: Although I always thought I might follow in my dad’s footsteps, I wasn’t 100 percent certain, and didn’t decide to go to law school until my last year of college.
After being accepted to Ole Miss Law School, I returned to Las Vegas and clerked for Judge Lee Gates for a little over a year. That was the best experience I could’ve had as a young attorney. After finishing my clerkship with the judge, I went to work with my father and knew right away that this is what I want to do.
What is the best part about working with your brother?
Orlando: My brother and I are two years apart in age and have always been very close. We can talk freely. Even if we disagree with each other or make each other upset, at the end of the day we are brothers and we will get over it.
Alex: I feel extremely lucky to be able to work with my brother and best friend each day. Just as when we were kids, we spend a considerable amount of time together. Instead of hanging out and playing sports, now it’s doing what we love, practicing law.
What is the most frequent type of case your law firm deals with?
Alex: Our biggest area of practice is personal injury. We help those who are injured as a result of someone else’s negligence.
What sets your law firm apart from other firms in Las Vegas?
Alex: When we started practicing law, we were fortunate to be able to work with family. My dad, brother and I were all lawyers at the same office working to help people. It was ingrained in us to also treat clients like family, and we have a family environment at our law office. While we will aggressively fight to help each of our clients, we have never lost sight of our family work environment and the way we treat our clients.
Orlando: We also pride ourselves on providing great customer service. We understand that the attorney market is highly competitive and that our clients have several other options to choose from, so we focus on seizing the opportunity to enhance that client experience so we can have a client for life.
Do you foresee any legal issues arising with recreational marijuana is passed in Nevada?
Alex: Carlos Blumberg, an attorney at our office, was one of the first in Nevada to help a client obtain its dispensary and cultivation license.
All of us are in agreement that marijuana-related DUIs will increase. Unlike alcohol that passes through your system, you can test positive for marijuana days later.
With your firm specializing in immigration and your father being from Cuba, what are your thoughts about immigration in Nevada?
Orlando: Immigration reform is certainly a must for Nevada. At DLG, we were able to help hundreds of teenage Nevadans get an immigration status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — high school kids who have lived in Nevada basically all their lives, but who were not citizens and had no status because they were born outside of the U.S. and brought here at an early age by their parents.
DACA gave these kids hope and a path to continue to be positive members of the community. Helping these kids seize this great opportunity was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at DLG.
What is something that people might not know about you?
Alex: I have three young daughters who I would love to become attorneys someday. If they are able to follow in the footsteps of their father, grandfather and great-grandfather, I would be ecstatic.
Orlando: I’m married and have six kids. My wife, Marca, is the former coach of the UNLV Rebel Girls, the two-time NCAA Hip Hop champions.
I was a competitive wrestler in high school and college, a state champion in high school and a junior college all-American, among other honors. I’m also proud to have scored the highest MBE score in Nevada for the 2000 Bar exam.