Work Life Balance
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Summer Fashion Dos and Dont’s for Male Attorneys
I hate fashion advice that the status quo issues down to women. As if we’re too stupid to recognize what is appropriate or not. Or worse, sexualizing our clothing to diminish our capacity. Yes, her heels are high, but let’s not call them “prostitute shoes,” because, sorry to break it to you, but even sex workers can wear flats. So let’s not impugn women’s characters just because of their clothing. Thankfully, when faced with this sexist advice, women push back. I had been sitting on this post for a while, but was energized by Yvette Martinez’s response to an article encouraging women attorneys to “jazz up” their fashion for court.…
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Summer Series: Delicate Balance of Family, Bar, and Sleep.
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 Bertha, a law school graduate studying for the Bar, and her advice on staying motivated to study while living with family (in beautiful Nicaragua no less!). I’m Bertha and I just graduated law school this past May after completing the four-year part-time J.D. program at…
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Summer Series: What Art can Teach Us about the Law
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 Roxanne, a rising 3L who is studying in Europe, and describes the intersection between Art and the Law. I’m Roxanne, rising 3L at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. I decided to study law because I realized that many people who are being taken advantage of don’t realize they…
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Brain Food and the Bar
Ok so it’s almost impossible to balance a healthy lifestyle while you study for the Bar. I mean you can try, but more often than not you’re going to opt for comfort and ease during these times. Your best bet is it try as much as you can at the beginning of bar prep to maintain some form of healthiness so that when you’re in the last few weeks of prep hell you haven’t yet completely spiraled out of control. With that in mind, you can’t ignore how the food you eat affects how you feel and your level of energy. And while you don’t have the luxury of time to…
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Controlling Emotions at Work: Anger
When we talk about women and emotions at work, the discussion usually revolves around whether crying is ok or not. I’d like to have that discussion some day, but I thought I’d start with a more common emotion that lawyers tend to experience at work: anger. I remember the first time I got really upset at work with an opposing counsel. We were having a telephone conversation and they were being so aggravatingly condescending. I was still a brand new attorney so I know now that part of my reaction was due to my pride. But o.m.g. was I pissed at how he was talking to me! He got nasty,…
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Summer Series: Balancing your Responsibilities with the Bar
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 Ariana and her great tips on balancing your life responsibilities while studying for the bar! My name is Ariana, I just graduated law school and I’m currently studying for the NY & NJ bar exams this July. In addition to having a big Dominican family, I also had a…
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Stress Relief while Studying for the Bar
When I say that studying for the Bar is stressful–I am not joking. It’s not just the anxiety of the unknown, or because so much is riding on the exam. Most people never experience this type of environment, where you’re memorizing and learning so much information in such large chunks of time; where suddenly you’re putting your mind through a horrible obstacle course of vague terms and complex legal theories. And closer to the exam you’re studying 12 to 14 hour days. That is crazy-pants. I don’t even work for 12 hours a day! I say all this, not to freak people out, but to acknowledge the high stress you’re feeling.…
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Furthering Latino Education
The Pew Research Center released Five Facts about Latinos and Education this week. While very brief, it paints an informative picture of the status of Latinos and education. Essentially, Latinos are graduating high school at greater rates than before; enrolling in colleges at higher rates than other groups; and have less loan debt. Yet, Latinos are not earning those four-year degrees, and instead are enrolling at two-year Universities that do not seem to be pipelines to eventual bachelor degrees. Right now only 9% of Latinos between ages 25-29 hold a Bachelor’s. I’m not one to knock down good news with bad. It’s fantastic that we’re graduating high school and that…
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Makeup Transition for the Summer.
After spending a long weekend in Tampa, I’ve decided to officially switch into my “summer makeup mode,” even though it’s still not super warm here in Chicago. If you’re a professional woman who uses makeup, then I really recommend switching gears to lighter, brighter hues and products during the hotter months. Not only do the lighter products keep you feeling refreshed, but softer tones make you look fresh and brighter than if you stick to the same routine throughout the year. For me the change in routine may seem a little dramatic because I’m a little out of control when it comes to “putting on my face” before work. i.e. I…
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Good-Bye Spring: Favorite Links!
May is always so eventful—aside from celebrating Mother’s day, Cinco de Mayo (I swear, I must have been a frat bro in another life), I also lived vicariously through everyone’s graduations. It was so great to see so many celebrate the accumulation of hard work along with so much determination to succeed in whatever new phase they were heading towards! Now, of course, I’m looking forward to summer in Chicago because there’s always so much to do, including visiting pretty pink flamingos at the Lincoln Park Zoo (highly recommend it!). This month we discussed: Study supplies for the Bar Exam (trust me on the tape and flash cards); Student loan…