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Be the Boss: Making Partner
Last weekend I attended a panel sponsored by the Hispanic Lawyers of Association of Illinois and it was amazing. The four women (plus moderator) were full of great advice and experience. They all work in different sized firms throughout Chicago. Before the talk they shared some stats that are important to keep in mind when it comes to pursuing a career in big law. First, Latinas still make less than 2%of all US attorneys. We have the lowest rate of law firm partners for any racial/ethnic group (0.4%) and make up only 0.6% of General Counsel within Fortune 500s. And to round it all up, Latinas make up less than…
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Latina Leader: Karla Navarrete
It’s time for another Latina Leader Lunes feature! Today we hear from California attorney, Karla Navarrete. A senior attorney at Coalition for Humane Rights, shares a bit of her work and what motivated her to become a lawyer. Spoiler: what I love most about her story is that she saw the need for more representation of Latinos in the law and then she went for it! And not only is she is excelling, she is leading a path for the next generation. 1. When & why did you decide to go to law school? I decided to go to law school as a sophomore at UCLA. I was looking for…
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Sidebar: Booked and Busy
That is how I would define February. I’m booked and hella busy in all arenas of life. Which is good, because that is always good but it is also stressful. Work has been busy like normal but there has been added work because one of the staff attorneys I supervise left so I have a few more added cases. There’s not a ton of work to do on them (like urgent deadlines) but adding more to your caseload is always stressful. I’ve also done a lot of extra work in terms of committees and projects outside of my direct rep that has been time consuming and mentally exhausting. It’s one…
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In Defense of a Gap Year
First, it’s really brazen for me to decide to tell you it’s worth considering a gap year before you go to law school when I didn’t take one. But that best part of time and experience is that you can look back at your missteps and think of ways things could have gone better. I want to talk about taking a gap year (or two) between undergrad and law school because I think gifting yourself this time can be super valuable to your career. If you’ve read Becoming then you know Michelle went straight through from Princeton to Harvard without much assessment as to whether law school was right for…
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Lawtina Book Club: Becoming x Michelle Obama
First, so excited for this first rendition of our book club! We’ll try different platforms as we go along, but I thought it made sense to make the first discussion here. And because everyone and their mother received Becoming for the holidays (or so it seemed) this seemed like the logical first choice. Overall, I loved it! She gave us such great snippets of her life from the beginning of a relationship with an up and coming politician to the tiring and the glamorous parts of being First Lady. But really what I took from their story is how difficult it is to be a political family, especially with young…
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Sidebar: It’s Cold AF
I can’t believe January is over. It felt like it lasted forever, which I think January usually feels long but also had a super busy time at work that just made this month dragggg on forever. What didn’t help was that my two best friends at work left. #everybodyleavesme. I have only one left and that makes me super sad. So I had two going away parties to attend, one at the beginning of the month and one about a week ago. They have moved on to bigger and better things, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it lol. Work in general has been steady, but…
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Am I Dumb? Combating the Microaggressions at Work that Question Your Intelligence
First, I’m so glad we have a space here to talk about this because I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. And, recently, when I read this article about how “well-meaning” liberals often dumb themselves down for our supposed benefit it all kind of clicked… Let me start at the beginning—tell me have you ever experienced any of the following: You’re really good at your job, but it seems almost impossible to be assigned complex cases, important clients, or other glamour work and you’re not sure why? You give guidance, advice, input on cases, but colleagues, even subordinates, question or push back on your correct analysis? Or You’re…
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Latina Leader: Mayra Rodriguez Alvarez
After a way too long hiatus, Latina Leader Lunes is back! And I’m super thrilled to start with Mayra. Just from the small peeks of her life via social media, I know she is a force to be reckoned with! She is exactly what a Latina leader is all about–she saw how the Latino community in Northwest Indiana was underserved and marginalized. Then she worked hard to become the leader that they need. After graduating law school, she opened her own practice and is continuing to provide for her community. Here she gives us some insight on her journey through law school and goals for the upcoming year: 1. …
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Harnessing Growth Mindset to Advance your Career
Happy New Year (and yes, this isn’t a mirage, it’s actually a new post)! I’m hoping everyone is having a great start to the month and is easing back to work/preparing for the new semester nicely. Because January is always all about new beginnings and progress, I wanted to talk about the importance of your mindset and how you view your abilities and skills. Likely, many have heard about growth mindset and the importance it plays in your ability to succeed in school and career. I probably first heard about this in undergrad as a Sociology major, but it didn’t really resonate with me until many years later when I…
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Sidebar: All Talents & Skills
It’s the end of 2018 and I can’t say that I 100% met my goals for the year but I definitely accomplished more than I thought I would and that is progress. The main thing is obviously this site. Working on the logo–actually the turn around time after I commissioned Carina was quick, but the concept, believing that I should do it, tracking down a graphic artist that had the skills I wanted, took time. But this new lewk has inspired me like no other. I feel like Laney in She’s All That after her eyebrows have been tweezed. Is that too old of a reference for many of you?…