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Learning From Feedback
If you’re using your summer wisely than you are using everything at your disposal during your summer internship to grow as much as you can–students sometimes forget that this is the main summer goal to work on in the midst of everything else. Or sometimes a student may think the internship is just a stepping stone/resume builder while forgetting that everything they’re doing can actually help them become a better lawyer. Trust me, that I didn’t always use my time wisely, but now that I’m on the other side I can see how even small things can really impact your future practice. A critical aspect to help you improve your skills is learning…
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Quality Supervision: Ensuring Your Intern Grows
I say this all the time but it’s worth repeating: I love working with interns! I often feel like I’m drowning with work, but interns help make things move at a much faster pace. As I mentioned before, many attorneys dislike working with interns because they feel like it’s a lot of work for just a minimum amount of help. I do admit that it’s a lot of work upfront. But once you find a steady rhythm of supervising the work quality and quantity is so worth it! I can be tricky to manage when you’re new or when you’re not used to good supervision yourself–even though we’re in the midst of summer you…
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A Successful Intern is a Proactive Intern
End of June is always so exciting when SCOTUS decision come down. While I am still so sadden about DAPA/DACA+, I’m elated about Affirmative Action and the women’s rights cases decided today. But in the midst of excitement is still the day-to-day work that is never ending! I’m actually going on vacation this week (follow me on Instagram to see my trip to Italy!), but I’ve been working double-time to make sure the interns I work with have a steady stream of work while I’m gone—I mean, just because I’m out of the office doesn’t mean I can’t get work done 🙂 (kidding, kind of). I know a lot of attorneys…
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Summer Series: Making the Most Out of Your Summer Internship
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 Mena, a rising 2L who gives us some tips she’s picked up as a new judicial clerk: Hello, my name is Philomena (Mena for short) and I am a rising 2L at Arizona Summit in the heart of Downtown Phoenix. I am blessed to say that I am the…
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Mass Shootings & Domestic Violence
I have gone back and forth to figure out what to say about what happened in Orlando. This weekend I moved and haven’t had my internet fully re-installed so at first I was only seeing bits and pieces of this horrible event. While any mass shooting conjures up sympathy and anger for them and their families, when I realized that this was also a specific target against people of color in the LGBTQ community I was horrified—sorry I don’t have more eloquent words to describe it. I’m horrified by these crimes and even more upset that politicians—our representatives—refuse to act on legislation that will keep us safe because they are bound by…
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Summer Series: Being Your Biggest Cheerleader
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 Maria, a part-time evening law student who describes the steps needed to successfully balance work, school, and family expectations: Ever since I was a little girl, I had dreams of doing it big. I’m not about to disappoint myself. I am Maria, a San Diego law…
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Summertime and Your Executive Presence
We have spoken before about executive presence and one of the prongs to forming a good reputation as a leader involves your looks. Making sure you look appropriate goes beyond just looking nice, but rather it helps increase your gravitas by showing colleagues and partners that you have enough insight and judgment to do what’s expected of your position. More importantly, when you look put together and polished, people will assume it’s the same with your work product. I will always remember an outside training I did a few years ago with other local legal aids. One attorney made a side comment about how you could always tell who worked…
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Pick a Passion: Overcoming Guilt While Providing Support
Once you start working as an attorney, you’re typically bombarded with requests for fundraisers, events, etc. helping support one cause after another. The good news is that, student debt aside, many of us eventually find ourselves able to participate in traditional forms of philanthropy. The bad news is that being more aware of problems can lead to you feeling overwhelmed with your ability to help. As women of color, we may feel more empathy to seeing these injustices because we know first-hand how unfair, mean, and biased the system can be to others—many of these causes are not just something we hear of, third-hand, but rather real problems our family…
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In the Country We Love, a book review
Confession time–I have never watched Orange is the New Black, but Diane Guerrero’s character, Lina, on Jane the Virgin is one of my faves. I was excited to receive Diane Guerrero’s new book In the Country We Love: My Family Divided* to review because, at minimum I like supporting Latina authors and knew it would touch on immigration. But I was pleasantly sucker-punched-surprised when I read this book. I read it in one sitting–it is that good and necessary. First, my preconception of this book was that it would be bubble-gum lite in regards to immigration. I had heard of Diane’s story, but I’ve read some quickie memoirs before that just…
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Keeping it Classy: how business etiquette promotes classism
When we enter the legal field, it can feel complicated and difficult to master appropriate business etiquette because most of us have not had as much exposure to this type of culture. Most of us do not come from high income families, or families with professional parents, and yet after graduation we find ourselves colleagues to those that come from higher socioeconomic positions. We do what we can to fit in, but we’re so consumed with fitting in and abiding by these rules that we don’t take time to assess them or even acknowledge why these means of communication often feel unnatural to us. Many people act as if business etiquette is just a natural part of…