Work Life Balance
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Seeking Guest Contributors for the Summer
Latinas Uprising is seeking guest contributors for a special summer series! We want to showcase: The varied and engaging work law students are doing this summer; Sneak peeks into the life of law grads preparing for the Bar exam; and Pre-law students who are enjoying their last summer as they prepare for the start law school. If you fit into any of these categories, please email LatinasUprising (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line: Guest Contributor. Please provide your name; location; law school/year in school; and: If you are a current law student, please provide a brief (a couple of sentences) of what your plans are for this summer.…
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Style Matters: Shoes for the Law Office
Caveats before we begin: My shoe opinion is colored by two experiences: shadowing an attorney in my best “business-y” clothes as a high school student and becoming embarrassed by the fact that because the heels were a little too chunky (early 2000’s y’all) that they made loud noises on the stairs, and that I couldn’t walk as fast as him, which was annoying. My slower walk wasn’t because I was a novice to heels (hello, I rocked Rocket Dog and Steve Madden platforms all the time–again, early 2000s), but rather the fact that generally most people cannot walk as fast in heels as a someone wearing non-heeled shoes. Second, an…
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Activism Anywhere.
I read an article on an amazing endeavor Latino students at a local university created to help undocumented students. The student group at Loyola University Chicago, through their student senate, passed an initiative where students pay $2.50 per semester that goes to help undocumented students pay for their tuition. Full disclosure–I attended LUC Law School, but not for undergrad. When I read how students, many who were not undocumented, did this for their fellow classmates (and for future students) it reminded me of how we can all make the effort to be activist in our own lives. I think as attorneys, once we start practicing, we often get so bogged down in the…
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Veggie Quesadillas: Simple & Quick
When my husband and I married we were both kind of unsure about how we would handle dinner. Neither of us were particularly good cooks, and I had so many evening classes that for our first year of marriage we kind of just did our own dinner thing. After I graduated, I had three months of unemployment after the Bar and so I randomly decided that dinner would now be my thing. Surprisingly, it turned out that I was a pretty good cook. It’s so funny how you can have talent for certain skills and you won’t know how good you are until you try–thats a subtle reminder for myself…
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Long Nights, Bright Eyes: Looking Alert after Working Late
If you follow Latina Uprising on Instagram (and you really should because the community on there is so awesome!), then you saw my post last night about having to work late. I really have no room to complain because in all the years I’ve been practicing, I’ve rarely had to stay extremely late or come in during the weekends. Of course that is the trade off with working in public interest; the money is low, but we aren’t chained to our desks and can expect a better work life balance. But in every legal practice there will be some late nights and the last thing I like to do is…
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Spring Forward: Favorite Links
How is this the last Friday of the month?! Isn’t that so cliché to say? But it’s true! March is always a favorite of mine because it’s my Bday month-Aries in the house! And I’m totally the kind that milks my birthday for all it’s worth even though I’m an adult. I mean, why not? How else am I going to get Sephora money? Anyway, aside from my bday celebration, March was great! We talked about: Violence against women Gave try-out tips for trial teams and moot court Discussed building your executive presence Our fave nail polishes for spring. Here are some interesting articles we found around the internet…
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Bright Colors, Conservative Office: Nail Polishes for Spring
I’m so excited that it’s finally spring! Even though it actually snowed on Monday in Chicago–but still! Spring is almost here and I’m so ready for nicer weather. One of the fun things I like about Spring is that I get to slowly transition into lighter, brighter makeup–including nail color! Obviously how light and bright you can go depends on your work setting. Generally, it’s safe to go for pastels or lighter neutrals as you ease into spring. However, some law firms are so conservative that any colorful nail polish is a no-go. Sad! And of course, you probably shouldn’t wear colorful nails in court until you know the culture…
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Social Media Mistakes
I remember when Facebook came to campus (omg does that make me sound old? lol); I was what they call an “early adopter.” Soon our college administration started having sessions to warn us about Facebook and what not to do. The litmus test was always, “would you be ok with your grandmother seeing this?” I always would roll my eyes because ascribing to the life norms of a woman decades older than me doesn’t make sense. It’s important for everyone to be aware of the impact social media can have and how a comment/picture/joke can go wrong if you’re not careful. Here are some mistakes I have seen students do…
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Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable: How to Approach Legal Practice
The other day I was trying out a new workout DVD and the instructor encouraged/yelled at us to, “get comfortable with being uncomfortable!” and that hit me with a sudden realization that this is the perfect way we should approach our legal practice—especially when it comes to being in awkward situations; whether they be networking, teaching, or participating in public forums. The idea of embracing discomfort means that we seek out things that challenge and push us so that we can take our skills and practice to the next level. In my case, I really wanted to increase my public speaking skills because I am transactional attorney 95% of the…
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Easing into Fitness.
When I started my first job out of law school, I suddenly realized I had so much time on my hands. Yes, I worked 9 to 5, but it was steady work with weekends free. Completely different than law school, where I had an unpredictable schedule of classes, studying, meetings, etc.; plus, I didn’t have to block off huge chunks of my time to commit to studying for finals. Life after law school felt so much more unrestricted-it was great! However, I quickly realized that if I wasn’t careful, then I would be wasting hours watching t.v. and eating mindlessly. Instead, I decided that I finally was going to commit…
