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Learning to Love Networking
The number one piece of advice all students receive to help land a job is to network. I’ve spoken before how unnatural networking has felt for me. It’s awkward and weird and it feels odd to try to make superficial connections just in case one day in the future they can help me. It feels icky. I think for many this runs counter to how we normally tend to socialize—in fact there are many articles on what women do wrong while networking that tries to shame us from doing what comes naturally to us. FYI, I just googled “things men do wrong while networking” and one (1!) article appeared…. Anyway,…
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More than a Brown Face: Making Your Voice Heard
Ok first, if you’re not watching the People vs. OJ Simpson you need to get your life. That’s the first thing. Seriously, it so accurately touches on race in the law and what it feels like to be an attorney of color. It’s no secret that this profession has a diversity problem. It’s no secret that students of color feel isolated, and that it often gets worse once they’re actually practicing. Then we feel the pressure of feeling like a token—constantly questioning if we’re actually valued, wanted, or just there for show? The scene that really spoke to this was in this week’s episode where the prosecution is dealing with…
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When Familia Needs Free Legal Advice
One of the first rules we learn is to not give legal advice out to family/friends because it can come back to haunt us. I remember reading an article about this while I was still in law school where the author, a white man, wrote that even his mother knew to not ask him for advice because he would never give it to her. It though, wow–that’s intense. I thought of my own family that often needs legal help (for immigration, real estate, etc) and how crappy it would be to have knowledge and tools to navigate the justice system but instead just tell them, “sorry I can’t.”…
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Be Fearless: Try Out for Moot Court
I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I think it’s super beneficial to remind all students the importance of trying out for moot court and other trial advocacy teams. I’ve spoken to so many rising 1Ls that don’t even attempt to try out and that is such a disservice to yourself. I know not all of us will be trial lawyers (myself included), but these opportunities provided by your school aren’t made to create trial lawyers–they are so much more than that! Here’s what you lose out on when you don’t participate in these activities: one. Connections. You meet countless practicing attorneys and judges through these programs. You can gain mentors…
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Fair Pay: International Women’s Day 2016
We discussed this last year, but the theme of International Women’s Day 2016 is parity: What can we do as individuals and a community to close the pay gap so that women are paid their worth? One of Latinas Uprising’s focal points, when it comes to discussing women, equality, and progress is almost always on women and the workplace; most importantly, women and the income we earn. The sad reality is that we earn a pittance compared to other groups and that impacts our quality of life (and that of our families), our earning potential, and our economic capital. So any raised awareness on the income disparity and how to close gap…
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Black History Month
First, big ups to Leap Year for letting me still post this during Black History Month! Second, there is so much to say on this topic and how it relates to Latinos, but I think the most important point I want to focus on today is how often we overlook the Afro-Latino experience in the U.S. Let’s keep it real and admit that within many Latino communities we struggle with deep internalized racism that makes it difficult to embrace and support Black Americans. Additionally,many Afro-Latinos are dismissed as not being Latino enough or Black enough, which is so bogus. I am obviously not an expert in this, but I…
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Latinas, You Should Go To Law School.
I feel like I’m breaking a code when I discuss the negative aspects about law school. Above all, I do not want to dissuade anyone from achieving their higher Ed goals. And the reality is that we need more Latinas in the law, for real, but I also want to give practical information and be as real as possible. And the reality is that the job market still sucks—especially for those interested in public interest/government jobs. There just hasn’t been a bounce back like we’ve seen in the private sector. This, on top of the crazy amount of student debt so many of us have to take on if we…
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Why Hasn’t Immigration Been A Priority?
I read the NY Times article this week and on top of the raids, it really made me think about our current state of affairs. I know we all have individual political leanings and beliefs that make it impossible to say Latinos are all this way. And I wouldn’t even say that immigration is my number one political issue, but I think it would be dismissive to not admit just how much immigration impacts our communities overall. It may not be my number one issue, but collectively, it has to be a priority for us. So we seek candidates that claim to support us, but I’ve been hearing about immigration…
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What Will You Do To Get In? And What Will You Do Once You’re There?
I saw this image on Instagram and thought it was a good visual for how we need to be in order to create change in the legal field. We have to abide by the standards and customs to be admitted, but then once we’re in we have to do our best to become agents of change—big and small. I talk a lot about work culture, following cues, and finding ways to fit into work so that you can advance in your career. I do this knowing that there are some people ready to go in and create change by pointing out all the internal injustices that are wrong with our…
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Latinas in Law School: What Made You So Lucky?
A few months ago I was at a forum where the moderator asked the panelist (all Latinos working in large firms/government) what made them so lucky in the face of dismal statistics that say Latinos can’t make it in law. It’s a difficult question and I think the instinctive reaction is to think of the hard things you did to make sense of how we overcame a system of oppression to join a privileged profession. Because if I think back on my journey to become an attorney, I can pick out countless of examples of difficult things I had to do to succeed—long nights; working multiple jobs; feeling lonely because…