WASHINGTON — In late 1979, Cesar Perales, the head of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, fielded an unusual request from Jose Cabranes, a federal judge and a leading figure in Latino legal circles: Would he place Sonia Sotomayor, a recent Yale Law School graduate, on his board?
Perales normally tried to stock his board with people who had money or connections that could benefit the fund, the nation's most important Puerto Rican legal advocacy group.
Sotomayor had neither.
But he deferred to Cabranes and put Sotomayor on his board.
Cabranes, who had been general counsel at Yale University before moving to the bench, "was her patron, her mentor. He knew her. He thought she was a good fit," Perales said.
Sotomayor went on to serve on the PRLDEF board for a dozen years. The appointment became a kind of template for her career leading up to her 1992 confirmation for a seat on the federal District Court bench in New York, a post she did not publicly aspire to.
Interviews with associates from the 1980s suggest that it was a series of influential mentors, like Cabranes, who helped her build a civic resume and eventually pushed her toward a judgeship.
Sotomayor, now 54 and a federal appellate judge, was nominated last month to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter. If confirmed, she would be the high court's first Latino justice and its third woman.
Cabranes declined to be interviewed. But in an e-mail message, he confirmed his role in steering Sotomayor to the PRLDEF board, as well as recommending her to Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau for her first job. Sotomayor worked as a prosecutor in Morgenthau's office from 1979 to 1984.
"We have a lot of talented people coming though here. She was one of the top people. Smart, hard-working, a lot of common sense," said Morgenthau, who recommended Sotomayor for a post on a city campaign board and for her District Court judgeship.
Sotomayor also received crucial boosts from the late David Botwinik, a partner at Pavia & Harcourt, a small New York law firm she joined in 1984, and from his boyhood friend, Judah Gribetz, an attorney and longtime advisor to New York politicians.
In 1987, the two men urged New York Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo to consider Sotomayor for a position in state government.
With that assist, Sotomayor initially inquired about a state job as general counsel for the Urban Development Corp., which built state-subsidized housing.
