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Balancing Act: Dealing with the Guilt & Frustration Attached to your Finances
I was running out of data on my phone early this month and had to resort to reading during my commute. Usually I have a book, but this past week I decided to read my “guilty pleasure” magazines and I’m so glad I did! I’m a long-time subscriber to Glamour and was so impressed by this article on finances. The author focuses on helping young adults establish some financial standards for themselves, but through her writing she also revealed some struggles that first-generation professionals experience. I kept thinking, “omg, this is a struggle so many of us experience!” Yes, I said omg because somehow growing up in the Midwest I…
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My Name’s Not Sweetie: Harassment in the Courtroom
The first time I felt like I was being truly patronized at work I got into a shouting match with the guy over the phone and threatened a lawsuit. It was not super professional, but in my defense I was still a baby attorney and this guy was just the worst! We were having a conversation and he kept interrupting and prefacing everything with, “listen to me.” I became furious and went off and then he got mad and eventually I hung up. After I was able to gather my thoughts I was so upset with myself for letting that guy get to me. After that, I decided to make a…
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Learning to Navigate Big Law as an Attorney of Color
Laywering is hard. Regardless of your practice area or type of office, the requirements and commitments are demanding and the lack of diversity in all areas lead to feelings of isolation for most attorneys of color. That’s just the nature of the career. But it often seems that Big Law is just harsher than average towards us. It’s harsher because, for better or worse, Big Law is still considered the most prestigious career-path within our industry so the gatekeepers make a point to make entry extra difficult. Those gatekeepers are usually also more conservative, privileged, and vested in the status quo remaining the same—i.e. they want to make sure they…
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Let’s Keep This Between Us: Emails Are Not Private
Emails are not private. I repeat, emails are not private! Most of our firms have policies that allow for management/HR review our emails if they deem it necessary so we don’t have to worry about a wikileaks-like hack, a simple HR squabble can lead to really embarrassing disclosures. Without discussing the politics and whether or not there was some acts of collusion within the DNC let’s just talk about what the DNC email scandal can teach us about professional growth. It is so easy to fall into a lull of comfort and believe everything you’re saying is just between you and the receivers. It’s so easy to forget that if…
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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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One Week to Go: Conquer the Bar
You have one week to go. It’s super tense right now, I know–this was me, one week before the bar: Don’t panic. That is what I keep telling myself. don’t panic b/c it distracts you. just focus. not easily done. I have been in my apartment for five days. I have not stepped foot outside my home in five days…and I probably won’t until Saturday. study study study. But sadly today I reviewed subjects that are not my friends: Commercial Paper, Secured Transaction, and Corporations…basically all business related shit. After reviewing I about freaked out when I tried to do an essay because I could not answer it! I was…
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Black Lives Must Matter to Latinx Attorneys
It is so sad & frustrating that barely a month can go by without having to remark on some new violent tragedy. I was on vacation when I learned about Alton Sterling and then Philando Castile; being so far removed from what was happening gave me an outsider’s perspective. I could read things here and there, but really only had enough time online to gage the reactions of people I know. There have been many incidents like this, but for whatever reason, this seemed to tip the scale–people who normally never discussed race or police brutality came out in shock against what had happened. Gratefully, many people saw this crime…
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Summer Series: Advocating for Immigrants
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 Selene, a rising 2L, who has spent her summer with a nonprofit doing frontline work with immigrants: This summer I have been interning with Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, a non-profit law office located in downtown Los Angeles, which serves especially vulnerable immigrants, in particular children and those in…
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Summer Series: Finding Your Calling
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 Alexis, a rising 3L, who shows us what it’s like to find your legal calling as a law student: My name is Alexis, and I am a rising 3L at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I came into law school thinking I’d never do criminal law,…
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Summer Series: Pushing Yourself to Create A Career You Want
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 Mariana, a rising 3L from Nebraska (midwest represent!) who has taken a non-traditional route this summer and encourages us to seek new ways to use our law degrees: Hello, my name is Mariana and I am currently a rising 3L at the University of Nebraska College of Law.…