Q1. What was your course of study in college?
I always knew I wanted to help people and I felt like I would be able to help people understanding the law, so I majored in criminal justice in my undergrade and graduate studies as well.

Q2. How did you become interested in pursuing law?
I grew up in St. Lucia and I didn’t grow up in a very affluent household. I remember we had one encounter with the system where we weren’t able to get any help from the police or any type of lawyers because we didn’t have the finances to do so. We would always see justice being granted to people who had the money and who had access to it. When I moved to the Bronx, I also saw the same thing happening where justice was afforded to people who had the means, so that inspired me to pursue law. I wanted to advocate for people who didn’t have the finances or the access to the best of the best lawyers.

Q3. What steps did you take to prepare for law school?
In undergrad I was a part of the pre-law society. We would talk about the LSAT, the different steps that we had to take to get to law school, and a lot of tours on various law school campuses (especially outside of New York so we were exposed to something different). I also did the Penn State Explorer Law program, so we sat in on simulated law school classes. CLEO was also a step I took to prepare for law school.

Q4. How did you find out about CLEO?
Before I came to law school, I worked as a paralegal at a law firm and one of my attorneys was a CLEO alumna. I remember when I first got the job, I knew I really wanted to go to law school, and she would always pass along resources to help, and CLEO was one she highlighted often. She always stressed that we participated in the program!

Q5. What benefits did you receive by participating in the CLEO Pre-Law Summer Institute or 1L-Prep Attitude is Essential?
A lot. I think participating in the PLSI program really gave me the foundational skills that I needed. When you start law school, you almost get thrusted into things, but going through the PLSI program, I knew how to prepare for classes, I knew how to read and brief cases, and manage my time a lot better. Also, during PLSI, they gave us mentors, and so I sought that out very early on when I came to Penn State Dickinson, but overall, it gave me the tools I needed to succeed in my first year of law school.

Q6. What helped you cope with the stress of law school?
Sleep! I never believed in pulling all-nighters, so I’ve been treating law school as my 9-7. Any time after that, is time to decompress. I go to bed really early, because I believe when I get a good amount of rest, I can be alert and active in class and have the energy to study throughout the day. I get a lot of rest, and I try to exercise every now and then. I also take time to disassociate from law school and spend time with students not talking about law school. Sometimes we just go to lunch and decompress from the rigor of it all.

Q7. After law school, what are your legal career plans?
Right now, I’m leaning towards criminal law, I think I would like to be a prosecutor and help victims of crime. I would love to work in a DA’s office, but recently I’ve been gravitating towards federal criminal law. So I’m also considering federal practice as well, but it’s still early on.

Q8. Do you volunteer or intern with any legal organizations?
I volunteer with the Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Justice and Equity. I knew I wanted to do this early on in my law school career because I knew a lot of people would be very heavily focused on academics and probably wouldn’t focus on extra-curriculars, so I wanted to separate myself by volunteering. I also served this semester as a Pardon Coach. I was working with a client on his pardon application so he could have a better opportunity for a second chance at life again, and that was very fulfilling.

Q9. Do you have any advice for future lawyers?
I would say prioritizing rest. It is so easy to become the hamster on the wheel because of the demands of the field, but I think it’s very important for us to prioritize rest. Community is also important. Because the demands, it’s easy to isolate yourself, but community has been rejuvenating in my experience.

Q10. What motivates you to be part of the legal profession?
Apart from the injustices I observed growing up, my family motivates me. My parents have made so many sacrifices to give me a life that they had never had. I would love for them to see the fruits of their labor. That motivates me to pursue law and make them proud.

An Encouraging Word from Menen:
As a person of color who didn’t have the finances to the best law school test prep, and someone who didn’t do the best on the LSAT, I thought that I did not deserve to be here. Now being in law school and being in class with other people who are smart, and falling within the average of my class, I’m finding more and more that I do deserve to be here. Don’t allow an LSAC performance or the lack of resources to better prepare you for that to deter you from pursuing law school. I have CLEO to thank for that.