Cook, Hugh C.

Gonzalo Fernandez was born in Mendoza, Argentina and moved to the United States as a young child. He grew up in University City, Missouri in a bilingual and bicultural household. He attended St. Louis Priory High School, Boston College and then returned home to St. Louis where he got his J.D. and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1989. After graduate school Gonzalo moved to Chicago, Illinois where he accepted a position in the International Trade Department of Baker & McKenzie, the world's largest law firm with over 1,500 lawyers in offices in 150 countries. As a young attorney Gonzalo wanted to pursue his passion for trial work and he left Baker & McKenzie in 1991 to take a position as an assistant prosecuting attorney with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office. By the time he left the prosecutor's office he had been named to the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit and Special Victims Panel and had tried over 100 cases. Gonzalo then took a position as Associate General Counsel with Anheuser Busch Companies where he worked closely with the company's sales and marketing teams. Two years later he founded the law firm of Mullen & Fernandez until his partner, Michael Mullen, was appointed to the bench of the Missouri Associate Circuit Court. In July of 2000 Gonzalo merged his law practice with the law firm of Devereaux, Stokes & Nolan, a long standing firm that focuses on plaintiff's medical malpractice and personal injury litigation. Gonzalo is now a partner at the firm of Devereaux, Stokes, Nolan Fernandez & Leonard. He is a member of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, the American Association for Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Hispanic Bar Association, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and the St. Louis Lawyers Association. He is licensed to practice law in the states of Missouri, Illinois and Colorado.

Gonzalo's fluency in Spanish has resulted in his building up a practice in which he represents a large number of Hispanics. Due to the varied needs of this client base his practice includes not only civil trial work but also immigration and criminal defense. Gonzalo has been a member of the Federal Court's Lead Panel of criminal defense attorneys in which he accepts appointments to defend mostly non English speaking Hispanics charged with Federal crimes in the Eastern District of Missouri. Gonzalo has represented the Government of Mexico for many years through its Consular Office and has worked with the local Mexican consulate in setting up a fund to provide free legal services to Mexican nationals in the St. Louis area who could not otherwise afford representation.

Gonzalo is active in his community and currently serves as the President of the Hispanic National Bar Association's Region that includes the State of Missouri as well as Chair of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis' Committee on Minorities in the Law. Gonzalo has also served on the board of directors for the St. Louis Downtown YMCA, the board of Accion Social Comunitaria, a grass roots organization committed to providing medical care and social services to the growing Hispanic population in the St. Louis area, and the board of directors of the St. Louis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Gonzalo has been involved for many years with Project Kids, an organization that sets up a mentoring program between young professionals and needy at risk children in East St. Louis Gonzalo appears regularly on Spanish language radio and television broadcasts designed to educate the Hispanic community on legal issues affecting their lives and lectures at Spanish parishes on recent changes in immigration laws and enforcement. Gonzalo continues to dedicate his practice to civil plaintiff's personal injury litigation and serving the needs of the growing Latino community in the St. Louis area.