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Law Student Transformation: Exposing Yourself to a Calling
It’s time for our Summer Series! We’re calling for Contributors for this summer and to give a preview of the really awesome voices of Latina lawyers, we wanted to share a piece by Roxanne. We last heard from her as a rising 3L and now she’s set to graduate in a month! Read about her exposure to direct client counseling and how impactful a law degree can be to both the student and community: I’m about a month away from graduating from Southwestern Law School. Looking back on the last three years of my life is hard, it makes me cry, because I’m so proud of myself for how…
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Cultural Conflict: Bridging the Family Gap
For those of us who are children of immigrants, or easily assimilated as immigrant children, there can be a feeling of disconnect between you and your family. It usually starts with a language barrier where we slowly find ourselves unable to communicate fully with our loved ones. Then the gap widens as you advance through school because the system is foreign to most of our parents*. The higher we go, the less likely our family is able to teach us or help us navigate the system. This is also often true for even those of us with parents who have professional degrees from other countries. It can be emotionally draining to feel…
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Juicing: Easy Green Juice Breakfast Options
I’ve mentioned before how I used to not eat breakfast for like ever–I just was never hungry in the mornings, but that’s like the worst thing to do. A few years ago I started making smoothies, which were filling but still filled with lots of sugar due to the flavored yogurt and bananas. Then about a year ago, friends and I did a cleanse together that was more to just do something together. The cleanse consisted of green juice in the morning and I became a convert. Many think that in order to juice you have to use a juicer, but I think it’s better to use a blender so…
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Preparing for Spring Semester Finals
So, first—work. Again. There’s so much ebb and flow with deadlines and projects that it’s difficult to maintain a steady schedule here, which sucks. I apologize. I have one more big thing this week and then I’m “free” as in, back to regular programming. Thankfully. Anyway, as I’m winding down—those of you in schools are starting to gear up for finals. Ugh. Sorry about that too. I remember how finals time basically meant life was at a standstill—it was such a hectic time because I know there’s other things happening (readings, family obligations, moot court try-outs, etc) that make the idea of finals like a kind of far off thing…
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Learning to Love Networking
The number one piece of advice all students receive to help land a job is to network. I’ve spoken before how unnatural networking has felt for me. It’s awkward and weird and it feels odd to try to make superficial connections just in case one day in the future they can help me. It feels icky. I think for many this runs counter to how we normally tend to socialize—in fact there are many articles on what women do wrong while networking that tries to shame us from doing what comes naturally to us. FYI, I just googled “things men do wrong while networking” and one (1!) article appeared…. Anyway,…
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More than a Brown Face: Making Your Voice Heard
Ok first, if you’re not watching the People vs. OJ Simpson you need to get your life. That’s the first thing. Seriously, it so accurately touches on race in the law and what it feels like to be an attorney of color. It’s no secret that this profession has a diversity problem. It’s no secret that students of color feel isolated, and that it often gets worse once they’re actually practicing. Then we feel the pressure of feeling like a token—constantly questioning if we’re actually valued, wanted, or just there for show? The scene that really spoke to this was in this week’s episode where the prosecution is dealing with…
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Summer Dress Code: Looking the Part as a Student Intern
When you’re new to the legal profession one of the surprising things can be just how conservative it really is–and I don’t mean politically speaking, rather how stuffy, traditional, and serious it can be (especially in firms). So it can take time to get used to understanding the business etiquette and expectations when you’re beginning a new internship. You really want to be able to look the part as soon as you can, by dressing appropriately because it will 1) make you look like you belong; 2) not call into question your judgement; 3) not make you stand out in a negative way. I know that in a perfect world,…
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When Familia Needs Free Legal Advice
One of the first rules we learn is to not give legal advice out to family/friends because it can come back to haunt us. I remember reading an article about this while I was still in law school where the author, a white man, wrote that even his mother knew to not ask him for advice because he would never give it to her. It though, wow–that’s intense. I thought of my own family that often needs legal help (for immigration, real estate, etc) and how crappy it would be to have knowledge and tools to navigate the justice system but instead just tell them, “sorry I can’t.”…
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Still Searching: Late Start to Legal Summer Jobs
If you have not been able to secure a summer job yet (especially as a 1L), I don’t want to alarm you, but it’s really time to get to it. Perhaps you missed my tip to get your hustle on in the late fall, but what’s done is done and you’re still looking somewhat late in the game. Before I move on, I just want to sympathize because I didn’t get my first summer job until April (!) my 1L year. So I get that life happens, and when you’re not in the know about how this process works you don’t realize what needs to be prioritized. But regardless, you…
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Be Fearless: Try Out for Moot Court
I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I think it’s super beneficial to remind all students the importance of trying out for moot court and other trial advocacy teams. I’ve spoken to so many rising 1Ls that don’t even attempt to try out and that is such a disservice to yourself. I know not all of us will be trial lawyers (myself included), but these opportunities provided by your school aren’t made to create trial lawyers–they are so much more than that! Here’s what you lose out on when you don’t participate in these activities: one. Connections. You meet countless practicing attorneys and judges through these programs. You can gain mentors…