• Law School

    Summer Series: Learning & Growing, the difference in your summers

    Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals!  Today we hear from Celina, a rising 3L,  who shares her unique summer experience as a Fellow working on Trans Asylum cases:   My name is Maria Celina Marquez and I am a rising 3L at The George Washington University School of Law in Washington, DC. This summer, I am interning in…

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  • Law School

    Gift Guide for Law School Graduates

    Graduation ceremonies are around the corner! It’s always so exciting–the Bar is already looming overhead, which can make things tense, but earning a J.D. (and wow, do we earn it!) is an incredible accomplishment! I still remember my graduation very fondly and was so blown away and grateful by how proud my family and friends were of me. And because my love language is gifts–I was also very happy to receive presents as well. Quite a few items, like my card holder, continue to be things I reach for all the time. If you are planning to give a gift to a law grad, the best options are almost always…

  • Issues,  Law School,  Work Life Balance

    When Family Obligation Become Obstacles

    We have talked a lot about how to navigate the status quo within the legal community because there’s  so much pushback from those already in power.  However, we often overlook the pushback we receive from family/communities who fear that we’ll either abandon our connections or don’t understand the time and commitment needed in order to succeed. Now many of us would say that our families have always been our biggest supporters, but being our biggest supporters isn’t mutually exclusive from also subconsciously (or consciously) setting barriers in front of us.  A few years ago, a study on Latino lawyers revealed that personal/family obligations were a big factor in derailing us from finishing/attending…

  • Issues,  Law School

    Creating Institutional Change

    If you could change anything about your law school to make it better for Latinos or women what would you do?  Would you want more professors of color?  More mentorship opportunities?  Administrators that handle sexist/racist comments correctly?  What I wanted when I was in school was more litigation opportunities for the Latino students.  At my school, moot court/trial advocacy was king and the advantages of being part of a team were very evident.  Unfortunately, many times the school seemed ambivalent about whether or not students of color were privy to those advantages.  For example, until I was a 3L, my school sent one team to the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s…

  • Issues,  Law School

    Slaying Goliath: Paying for Law School

    The biggest hinderance to applying, attending, graduating from law school is: money.  It is ridiculously expensive.  unnecessarily so, and I do believe a huge reason why the cost is so high is an attempt to keep the status quo in order. Because who suffers more by not having all types of capable and intelligent people earn these degrees?  Not just the students that can’t afford to attend the school, but also those communities in which the people reside–but that is a post for another day. While there is no excuse for the high cost, there doesn’t seem to be any real movement to make this an affordable degree.  If you’re going to start law…

  • Issues,  Law School,  Legal Practice,  Work Life Balance

    The Beginning.

    It’s the last Friday of the month! How is it already almost October, Fall, and nearing the end of the year?!  I don’t understand it.   But this post is titled “The Beginning” because it is a new season and because tomorrow so many people will go take the LSAT, which is the official real beginning of the law school process.  We wish all of the test-takers an abundance of great luck and calm minds.  And for those Latinas taking the exam we want to scream: Si Se Puede!  We are keeping our fingers crossed! For the last Friday post, let’s share some of our favorite stories from around the…