LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As Marquis Hines moves from one career to the next, it would appear there is one motto he lives by.
“If it’s humanly possible, then you can do it,” he said.
Over the past 17 years, he’s fulfilled several career goals, becoming a firefighter in the Air Force, a police officer, a corrections officer, and his latest turn, an attorney.
While the careers are different, there's a common thread: helping others.
“It's always good to just serve the community. Service comes in many different ways. You have teachers. Obviously, you're someone who's serving our community by giving us news every week. Saw you at the parade handling your business, so there's different ways to serve. You just have to find something that fits you, your personality and I think being an attorney is something I can do,” Hines said.
He opened his own practice in January.
Through Hines Law Firm, he focuses on workers' compensation, personal injury, and VA disability.
We first met Hines in February of 2020, when he was with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and working to recruit Black officers.
After the murder of George Floyd and the renewed focus on social justice, he decided to pivot.
“It was just a year of transformation for everybody,” he said. “You were dealing with a bunch of social justice issues where legal representation in the Black community just as a whole was important, so I thought maybe this would be a good transition for me.”
In this new space, he still finds himself largely in the minority.
According to a 2024 study from the American Bar Association, Black lawyers make up 5% of the profession.
That number has remained unchanged in the past decade.
Those who own their own practices are even smaller.
“I'll just speak for myself. A lot of times, maybe it's a limiting belief that we need to go work for somebody else,” Hines said.
He says it doesn’t have to be that way, especially if someone believes in him or herself and works to accomplish it.
“You can have all the faith in the world, but if you don't put the work in, it's not going to happen, so take that faith, rely on that faith, know that things are going to work out, and then just take the steps day by day,” he said.
