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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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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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Is It Possible to Have Fun During the Bar Prep?
I remember after my first week of Bar prep the instructor telling us to enjoy our summer break—meaning Memorial Day weekend because that was going to be it in terms of free time and fun. I hate to break it to you but that’s mostly right, so take advantage of this long weekend and have some fun! Go get drinks, go shopping, hang out with friends, whatever you want to do because this is the last weekend you’ll feel like you can do anything without a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety. Having said that, does that mean that you will have no fun or breaks for the reminder of…
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The Bar Exam: Helping Family Understand Your Stress
Many will start their Bar course this week. I remember clearly how much fear of the unknown I had going into my first course. And rather than feeling somewhat relieved after the first day, I left feeling more nervous than before because I just didn’t know how I was going to learn everything I needed to learn in time for the Bar. I say this not to freak you out, but to show solidarity in the complete mind-F that the Bar prep can be; it’s a really difficult time because this is high stress, high stakes. Throughout the summer we’ll share Bar prep tips that are useful for those studying,…
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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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Don’t Do It: Things to Avoid After Law School Finals
One of the biggest difference between undergrad and law school is that in undergrad, you go into finals with a basic idea of what your grade will be in that class. In law school, all of your grade is dependent on this one final exam, and you have little idea what your grade will be or even if you are truly understanding the concepts of the course. So unlike undergrad, where you can turn in your bluebook and move on–law school finals stick with you for a long time. There’s always a little bug in your head reminding you that grades are coming and it makes you worry about how you…
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Love & Self Care
Self-care is such a difficult concept because it’s encouraged so much, but there’s such a stigma when attorneys actually state that they need a moment of rest. I’ve cited a million times how attorneys have higher levels of depression and alcoholism than most other professions. Couple that with the high rates of diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses that Latinos face and many of us are putting ourselves on a path that will be difficult to overcome. What if instead, we knew going into our profession the importance of taking care of our mind and bodies so that we didn’t allow the stressors of the profession to impact us so…
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Get Rid of Stress in Ten Minutes or Less
If you follow me on Snapchat (and you should!) you saw that this week I had a crappy morning-so bad that I went off my regular tea-only schedule and bought myself a latte to feel better. I know that indulging in bad calories is probably not the greatest thing to do, but sometimes we just need the comfort, tu sabes. Anyway, I had a semi-hectic week (it got a lot better), but when combined with the anxious vibes I could feel from the soon-to-be attorneys studying for the February Bar, I found myself a little stressed out. It made me think that it would be a good idea to share…
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What Happens When You Hate Law School?
There’s a (completely not true) saying that people either loved law school and hate practicing or they hated law school but love practicing. Obviously, the winning combo is the latter because you do that for longer. But having to do something that you seriously dislike for three years really takes its toll. And law school often has it’s highs and lows, so there are moments you’re loving it and times you really believe you’ve made a huge mistake. That kind of love/hate relationship is super common, but then there are also situations for people where there aren’t many highs with constant lows. You get to a point where you seriously consider…
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Planning Ahead for the New Semester
I am so eager to get back into the rhythm of my normal. The last three months of 2015 were kind of out of control-I easily worked every weekend to meet some deadline/research. It was really out of the ordinary for my job. Thankfully, I think things are settling down and getting back to normal. Having said that, I really like the beginning of the year. It’s totally cliché, but the idea of starting fresh just really appeals to me. Maybe because I went to school for a million years so I’m still used to starting fresh in January. For those that are actually in school and starting a new…