Profile:

Marlon Hill

By Lareena Phillips, Esq.

Marlon Hill, Esq., is a founding partner of the law firm delancyhill, P.A. in Miami, Florida. Born in Kingston Jamaica, Mr. Hill is managing his law practice and making sure the voice of the Caribbean Community is heard.

Mr. Hill moved to Miami, Florida at the age of 14. While his Caribbean background did not necessarily shape his decision to go into law, Mr. Hill feels the entrepreneurial culture of Jamaica fostered his desire to be an entrepreneur. Mr. Hill was encouraged to practice law by a law professor from Barbados who helped him realize that law opens up many doors. As one of the managing partners of his firm, he manages the firm’s strategic planning and client relations. He practices corporate law, managing the firm’s business transactions, as well as intellectual property law, real estate law, and immigration law. His practice also includes work in government affairs, which allows him to assist clients who have needs before governmental bodies.

At a time of economic downturn in the United States, with resulting ramifications abroad, Mr. Hill devotes some of his practice to helping clients understand the economic recovery bill and how their business may be impacted. Mr. Hill has noticed from his immigration work that due to the economy, some of his clients are limited in their access to cash flow and in their ability to make prudent decisions on what they are able to do and not do. Businesses may choose not to sponsor a particular employee or a family member may not pursue a petition for a family member. Someone may not pursue a divorce or a particular litigation because they do not have disposable income. Like the rest of America, the Caribbean Diaspora is affected by the recession. Mr. Hill notes the effects are far reaching in the sense that when the U.S. is stressed, the families in the Caribbean are stressed as well. Caribbean Americans ability to travel to visit with family may be limited and their ability to send resources or funds to help family members is also limited. This collectively and exponentially puts a strain on the economies from which they are from.

In addition to using his voice, experience, and expertise to assist his clients in his law practice, Mr. Hill is a commentator on the radio program Caribbean Riddims on 880AM - www.880thebiz.com. He appears every Saturday at 4 pm for the segment entitled “The Peoples Politics.” He uses the show as a platform to discuss political issues, civic issues, the benefits and obligations of citizenship, key legal issues that may be of importance to the Caribbean Diaspora, family, and community engagement. The show invites guest speakers, including local elected officials and business leaders, to share things that may impact the quality of life of the Caribbean community.

One of the biggest issues Mr. Hill sees facing the Caribbean community is in acknowledging in itself that it has a powerful self existence. Mr. Hill believes the community needs to recognize that it is a community of note and personal power, whether English speaking, Spanish speaking, Creole speaking or Dutch speaking. Mr. Hill notes that the Caribbean community is one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the United States, and once it recognizes it has a collective synergy it has to tap into that synergy on various local levels across the country. The second challenge that the Caribbean community has is to become more civically engaged. Mr. Hill believes the community must make demands of their elected officials to recognize the collective synergy of the community. Mr. Hill believes the advances made by the community during the election of 2004 were significant. It was one of the first times he saw proactive participation from the community, which he notes was good to see. A lot of people learned a great deal from that experience which he thinks will bode well for their future civic engagement. Mr. Hill believes the community learned the importance of contributing, volunteering, and voting.

In addition to his participation with the political community, Mr. Hill is also a patron of the arts and culture. He supports the Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami Florida which showcases emerging Caribbean artists. Although Mr. Hill couldn’t make it to Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago this year, he regularly travels to the Caribbean to attend festivals and events. Mr. Hill is truly a “Renaissance Man” and a stalwart for the Caribbean-American community.

(Lareena Phillips, Esq. is a contributor to Island Vibes Magazine and writes about politics. For comments, please feel free to contact her at lareena@islandvibesmag.com.)