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Conquering the Beginning of Law School
School is going to start soon! For so many reasons, I still distinctly remember starting my first day of law school. Probably it’s a mixture of disbelief that this was actually happening and also coming out of a really horrible summer that very literally could have cost me being able to attend law school at all. So, I remember how excited I was to start, but also how ill-prepared I was for what was about to happen. Story of my life. But I want you to be super-prepared. I want you to go in so confident about what’s going to happen that all you have to worry about is your…
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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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Ending Your Internship with the Necessary Follow-Through
It’s incredible how fast ten weeks goes by! If you’re an intern you’re probably just one or two weeks away from wrapping up your summer gig. Believe it or not, there is a good way and not so good way to end your internship. The not-so-good way is that you leave your office without a way to maintain a connection. Even if you don’t like the agency or have decided it’s not the practice area for you, the legal community is small and you should always make it a point to grow your professional network system and many students fail to do this right at the end of their stint.…
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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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Just the Right Amount of Color: Blushes for Work
One of my favorite parts of my makeup routine is putting on blush. It just livens up my face so much. Though to be honest, when I first started working I didn’t really use blush very often. It was a “special occasion” product. But then I started doing some trainings and more public speaking and caught myself on camera one day and was like oh… Now I especially appreciate blush on days that I’m doing trainings because it just gives my look a little more dimension. So now, little by little, I’ve accumulated quite a stash and wanted to share some of my favorite blushes for work. When I’m picking…
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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.…