Attorney Carlos Rodriguez has announced he is running for one of three seats open on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas in the May 18 Municipal Primary.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he grew up in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Rodriguez says during his junior year in high school, he decided to become an attorney after his late father was fired from his work due to age discrimination and his family suffered trying to hire an attorney.

Rodriguez says he remembers an attorney wanting to charge his family $200 for a consultation and when they asked for a reduction, the attorney refused to see them and told the secretary not to make appointments with indigent people.

This is the main reason he never charged anybody for a consultation, Rodriguez says.

After high school, he moved to Bethlehem and graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor’s degree in prelaw with a Business minor and from Duquesne University School of Law with a Juris Doctor’s degree.

Rodriguez has been practicing law for more than 20 years, first as a prosecutor in Allegheny County, then as a public defender in Lehigh County, and the last 17 years as a solo practitioner in Allentown, where he has resided since 2003.

He has handled hundreds of civil and criminal cases in Courts of Common Pleas in different counties throughout Pennsylvania.

He has served more than 15 years as an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau and also been a court appointed civil arbitrator for Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County Court of Common Pleas, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.