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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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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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Be Your Best Self During the Bar (it’s semi-possible)
Some worthwhile pieces of advice as you study for the bar so that you go into the exam well-rested, well-nourished, and well-versed in the format:
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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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Summer Series: Actions Steps to Take as you Prepare for the Bar
Our Summer Series begins again! 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 Maya, an solo practitioner who took the Bar this past winter, and has incredibly relevant and timely advice for those prepping for the Bar! Hello, my name is Maya and I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. I graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law in…
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Lowered Expectations: Managing Interns & Boring Assignments
So here’s a funny story—practicing law can be boring. The day to day necessities can be tedious and annoying. Even when we really enjoy practicing law, there are parts of procedure and the rules that are just super boring. I mention this because many of us are about to start supervising interns and one of the biggest things we have to do when managing interns is to help manage their expectations—especially as they realize that the day to day of legal work isn’t exactly what they envisioned. First, most students, through no fault of their own, don’t really know what practicing law entails. I recall one student I interviewed that…
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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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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…