Anabel Rosa is an attorney with the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin in the Personal Injury Department. With more than 20 years of legal experience, Anabel has practiced in the areas of personal injury, civil rights, employment discrimination, and sexual harassment.
She is a member of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) in the Hispanic/Latino Affairs Division. In 2017 and 2018, the organization honored her with an Order of Service award.
In addition to her legal work, Anabel is an active member of the Durham community. She chairs the City of Durham’s Mayor’s Hispanic-Latino Committee and was recently appointed to the Governor’s Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council. Anabel is a 2018 Triangle Business Journal Women in Business Award recipient.
Anabel was first drawn to volunteer in North Carolina as an ESL teacher, a role she has continued to fulfill for over five years. According to Anabel, “Having been an ESL student myself many years ago, I felt led to teach because I connected with my students’ frustrations and needs first hand… By being able to speak and write English well, they will be able to have better opportunities, to feel better about themselves, and to feel more welcome, accepted, and appreciated as newcomers in North Carolina.”
Anabel’s dedication to pro bono work is rooted in a sense of duty and empathy. “I have heard it said that the true test of kindness is when you do something for someone who can’t do anything for you,” says Anabel. Her passion for helping others is contagious. Recently, Anabel recruited a record twenty-one attorneys to volunteer during a day-long citizenship clinic in which pro bono volunteers helped over 50 individuals complete their citizenship applications free of charge.
On top of helping others, Anabel finds that pro bono work enriches her career and strengthens her as an attorney: “By engaging in pro bono work, I have learned areas of the law that I wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to. I gained knowledge that prepared me to help my regular clients better. A welcome and unintended benefit is that I also met many other attorneys and gained exposure to a new pool of possible clients for my own line of work.”
Anabel advises attorneys who have not done a pro bono project to go for it: “Just sign up and show up. If it involves training, see it as a new opportunity for learning or even earning CLE credit. The result is extremely rewarding [and]… the work we do can be life changing.”