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Happy Thanksgiving: Link Round Up
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We are on the mend of a really bad head cold (in fact, I just googled “can I harm my brain from coughing,” because this cough is still something fierce). But instead of wallowing about being sick, I’m trying to enjoy having time off work and getting to spend quality time with family. Though I know for many people it’s the beginning of high stress season with finals approaching. I mentioned on instagram that Thanksgiving as a 1L was so stressful and sad–so even though I’m sick, I’m still much happier today than when I had to work Black Friday and cram for exams…
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Beating Anxiety During Finals
Anxiety during final exams is no joke. It’s bad in college, but hits an all time high once you’re in law school. I remember that I would get really bad heartburn the day of exams my 1L year because I was just so nervous and anxious. Hopefully everyone is more chill than that, but the likelihood is that things are bad. And I get why it’s so high-stress–there’s so much riding on your grades! Obviously, nothing will help beat the anxiety more than being well-prepared in the material–that’s a given. But even when you’re fully prepared there’s still a sense of urgency and pressure you’re working under. How do you…
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Advice to a Baby Lawyer
This week marked my fourth year as a practicing attorney. I still remember how excited I was to be shown my own office. It was the former windowless library/storage area that had been converted into an office, but it was mine! Thankfully, my first year proved to be a really great experience that confirmed that my life-long goal of being an attorney was exactly what I wanted to be doing. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t bumps along the road. So I thought it would be fun to give my old self some advice—maybe it will be helpful to all you new baby lawyers! Dear Nubia, Ok so you…
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Culture Conflict: Being Humble
Being humble is often held up as a positive attribute among Latino families. How many times have we heard our parents or family talk about being humilde? Humble is defined as not thinking of yourself as better than other people. It is someone who is not proud or haughty. This can be a great quality and one that is definitely venerated by most of our communities. However, there is a second part of that definition that blurs the line and makes me call into question as to whether this quality is a trait that will help you succeed in your legal career. For some, being humble also means someone who is easily…
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What Not to do at a Job Interview
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of networking and interviewing with students. I really enjoy this interaction and am super impressed with most students. Acing interviews really requires a lot of preparation, both in knowing the company, the job description, and your own strengths. Of course there are people who stumble. Often the stumbles occur because of self-doubt or (even worse) being ill-prepared. It’s really awkward to see a good candidate miss the mark because they did something that was very avoidable. I mean, it’s awkward for me, but it’s bad for the candidate because a big stumble may result in not getting an offer. Let’s avoid that! …
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Supervising Law Students
I remember the first student I ever supervised as a new attorney. It was an awkward relationship. I was all of 9 months removed from law school and felt so out of my element asking this student to help me do research. I was weak and hesitant in my requests, and remember being surprised when the student turned in her “research”–not a memo like I had expected, but rather print-out of a whole bunch of cases. Yikes. Though in her defense, I never once explained or clarified what kind of work I wanted from her. Thankfully, I have learned a lot since then and am pretty confident in managing student…
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Preparing for Law School Finals
It’s almost that time. Stress level is probably at an all time high. You may be behind in some classes, trying to get all your reading done; finalizing your legal writing class memos; editing writing samples and resumes for your job applications; maybe even working on cites for journal, on top of everyday life. First, I’m sorry. Second, have you started preparing for finals? Because it’s time. I know if you’re a 1L, it may seem like an impossible task, and as an upperclassmen, it’s just another layer of work you have to dig through. But before you know it, you’ll be sitting for your tests so it’s vital that you…
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Latinas and Political Representation
Midterm elections are finished, and after a few months break the big race to 2016 will commence. If you’re like me, you love political season. If you’re like most normal people—you hate it. Regardless how you feel about the systems and parties in this country, I want to introduce you to a new organization called Latinas Represent. A nonpartisan group dedicated to helping Latinas get in the game. Latinas compose only a little over 1% of elected officials, a dismal number. As we’ve mentioned again and again, all women’s issues are Latina issues and often it hits us even harder. So why aren’t we running to make things better? Latinas…
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Latinas Are Leaning In, A Book Review
Two summers ago, I brought the book Lean In with me on vacation to St. Martin and promptly threw it back in my travel bag because this is just not beach-reading material! A few months later, I was having lunch with one of the few Latina lawyers I know and she highly recommended the book. I started reading it and couldn’t stop. It was so informative and compelling, not just because the stories and statistics provided illuminated problems women face in the professional workforce; or because the advice seemed practical and useful; but because it was a window into a powerful world that we are trying to join. First, from a…
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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…