Mercedes Native Comes Home To Establish Practice
David Abrego spent years away from his hometown, starting with dreams of being a doctor before earning a law degree and become a practicing lawyer in Texas and Colorado.
Abrego worked for some large law firms in big cities in the two states before he and his wife – both Rio Grande Valley natives – decided to return home in wanting to be closer to family. For Abrego, it meant opening a solo law office on west 2nd Street in Mercedes. His practice focuses on estate planning such as wills, powers-of-attorneys, deeds, and health directives to physicians.
On July 22, Abrego celebrated his office’s grand opening with a festive ribbon-cutting ceremony organized by the Mercedes Chamber of Commerce. It was good to be home again after being away more than two decades.
“You could feel the warmth of the community,” Abrego said. “It’s a feeling I had lost being away so long.”
Reaching High
Abrego grew up the son of letter carrier on Garcia Street in Mercedes.
He is one of five children of Tony and Gloria Abrego and the lawyer says his parents “set the bar” high in reaching for success. Each of the Abrego children finished in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes at Mercedes High School. Two of the Abrego children were valedictorians at Mercedes High. Abrego spoke fondly of his favorite high school teacher – Don Derryberry – and how he “treated all of us like we were college material.”
“His influence on me was huge and more than he could ever know,” Abrego said of Derryberry, who was also the Mercedes High baseball coach.
Coming out of high school in 1991, he was ambitious and set out to show what he could do in earning a bachelor’s of science degree with a pre-med emphasis from then-University of Texas Pan American.
“I felt like I needed to prove it,” Abrego said of coming from a smaller community.
He got through one year of medical school before some challenges in his personal life made continuing on that track difficult. Abrego would get what he called “a fresh start” in changing his path to law school. He would be accepted to the Oklahoma City University School of Law and go on to pass his bar exam. He practiced law in Houston before moving to Colorado and doing the same there.
Abrego also spent a stint working, full-time, as a musician and director for Christian music programming at churches in Colorado. When the yearning for home and law came calling, he knew where that would likely take him.
Where People Know Your Name
“I felt like it was time to open up my own office,” Abrego said. “I thought, ‘where do I go where people know me and could trust me as an attorney?’ ”
By then, he knew estate planning would be the focal point of his solo practice. Abrego says less than 20 percent of Americans have wills and transfer of death deeds. In the Hispanic community, that percentage is below 10 percent nationally, he said. Abrego saw the educational aspect of spreading the word about having wills and property deeds in order as topics that appealed to him in serving his community.
The decision to open a law practice in his hometown made the most sense to him professionally and personally. A visit to Texas National Bank to set up a business account confirmed he had made the right choice.
“Everyone at the bank was so helpful,” Abrego said. “It felt great to feel that sense of community again.”
On a recent morning, Abrego welcomed a client with a warm, “buenos dias, como estas?”
It felt good to be home again.
The law office of David Abrego is located at 528 W. 2nd Street, Suite B, in Mercedes and can be reached by phone at (719) 821-1922.
- By Ric Cavazos
