BEGUM, HOMETOWN BOY A GIANT IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION

From Maxim Magazine, S.A. Scene Magazine
Huffington Post Platform, Various Sources

It's not often that Brownsville, Texas is often mentioned in the same breath as a place that produces anything of gigantic stature.

But if you ask the leading journals of the legal profession they will tell you that this much-maligned border town has produced one of the leading purveyors of legal prowess today.

His name is Alex Begum, and if it has been your fortune never to have had needed the services of a lawyer, you probably have never heard of him. But you have probably seen his "Law Giant" billboards across South Texas and have seen his television ads.

It is not braggadocio.  It is, according to the leading law journals, a proven fact.

Consider, for example, that Begum - the son of a Russian Jew who fled Nazi oppression and a Mexican immigrant mother living on the U.S-Mexico border - has earned these recognition from his peers:

* Since graduating law school, he has tried over 50 trials to verdict. He has handled thousands of personal injury cases and has tried or settled over $150 million in cases. 

* He has been named as one of the best personal injury lawyers in San Antonio for years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 by SA Scene magazine in a poll voted on only by lawyers. 

* He was also named as a Top Ten personal injury lawyer under 40 in the nation by the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. 

* Begum was also voted Top 10 personal injury attorneys in South Texas by the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. 

* Additionally, he was also voted and named top 10 injury lawyer in the nation by the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys in 2017.

* And the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys having been named one of the Top 10 Personal Injury Lawyers in the nation in 2017 and one of the Top 10 Personal Injury Lawyers under 40 from 2013-2017.

You've got to admit that for even for the fact that he came from the small border town of Brownsville, he has built a powerful law firm with over $175 million in verdicts and settlements. What’s more, he has done it by incorporating a healthy component of pro-bono contributions to help local families in poverty-stricken S. Texas .

And he did that before he reached 40.

“I get to meet people during their worst times as they’ve lost family members or suffered horrible injuries that will forever change their lives. It’s a great responsibility and I’m honored to be chosen to fight for them.” he said recently.

Begum is the son of an immigrant holocaust survivor.

His late father Michael Begum was 17 years old in Minsk Russia when the Nazis invaded his small village in 1942. His entire family was killed during the invasion and others perished in the concentration camps. Michael escaped into the woods eating whatever food he could salvage in the harsh Russian winters for 6 months.

When he was found and despite barely weighing 100 pounds, he joined the Russian Partisans, a group of organized civilian fighters who eventually numbered nearly 100,000 and battled Nazi forces in enemy territory.

Michael Begum’s story is documented by the Shoah Foundation, an institute founded by Steven Spielberg in 1994 to preserve interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust.

Not understanding how people could allow such tyranny to come to power in Germany, Alex began studying political science, obtained a law degree and an MBA. When deciding between offers from corporate law firms, he instead decided to start his own firm focusing on individuals against very powerful entities.

“My father’s family all died due to people not willing to stand up for those in need at a critical moment in history, so I needed a career that let me try to even the scales of justice for those folks facing overwhelming odds," he said

Along the way, his law firm's performance has uprooted and rattled what many established players would describe as a good old boys' socioeconomic network and established a firm foothold.

His civic engagement might be something he also inherited from his mother Yolanda, an unsuccessful  candidate for public office in Brownsville who used that defeat to fund the efforts to eradicate the  politiquera system from the political scene that is blamed for playing a deciding role in her loss.

(Brownsville being Brownsville, a local blogger egged on a woman named Josefina Auten after she was sued for defamation by Yolanda and a visiting judge ruled in her favor. That mistake was corrected by a court of appeals ruling reversing and remanding the case.) https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2015/13-13-00210-cv.html 

And he hasn't forgotten those in need. He practices it so routinely that it has become an integral part of his professional and personal life and  gives freely of his time and expertise to offer pro bono legal services to those that need them. 

As a story on the the Huffington Post platform reported in May  2017, he played a central role in saving a community that was in imminent danger of losing its homes  through no fault of their own. He also serves as a board member for several charitable organizations. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-every-business-should-take-ethics-seriously_us_5909cba7e4b05279d4edc144

But just because his firm is one of the most successful minority-owned law firms in South Texas, Begum has not forgotten that lawyers are often the only defenders of victims who would have no one else to take up their cause.

“Despite a terrible tragedy, each courtroom victory gives a victim or the surviving family a chance at a brighter future. That drives me to continue my work to even the scales of justice for those who have no one to stand up for them.”