Q1. What was your course of study in college?
Political Science & History – Columbia University, Columbia College

Q2. How did you become interested in pursuing law?
I had the opportunity to work with my dad on immigration asylum cases and a worker’s compensation case for a noncitizen during my summer in college. I realized two important things from the job; first, I realized that the type of skills needed for litigation work are skills that I already possessed. Public speaking, research and persuasive writing, ability to present your work in a stressful environment. Second, I realized that this type of work has a high positive-impact on people’s lives. I thought to myself ‘I like the work, I think I can do great in this line of work, and I can have a positive impact on the lives’ of others; I should go to law school.’

As simple as these realizations are, I think it is critical that you know, for certain, that this is what you want to do, and you’ll be happy doing it. Having a career as an attorney, from my limited perspective, is not for those who pursue it as a Plan B career.

Q3. What steps did you take to prepare for law school?
I took CLEO’s summer 1L prep course so I could hit the ground running, understanding how to read caselaw and how to apply what I read to a given set of facts. It was very helpful, but you are not graded on how well you know the material, you are graded on how well you know the material relative to your peers.

If you go to a great law school, I think you should mentally prepare for the rigor and the type of students that will come with it. However, if you go to a great law school, I do not think you should waste time worrying about what other students do or do not do. You’re already in, there are countless fancy big law firms that will hire you, and they all pay the same.

Relax, rest, and be excited about learning the law. The law is a powerful tool, and for me, every aspect of the law is thrilling to learn about.

Q4. How did you find out about CLEO?
My dad did a CLEO prep course around the time the organization started, [about 50 years ago!]. He told me he thought the prep was helpful and encouraged me to take the course as well.

Q5. What benefits did you receive by participating in the CLEO Pre-Law Summer Institute or 1L-Prep Attitude is Essential?
To a person who has not gone to law school, explaining the law can be difficult. Your first semester is going to be the worst as you learn how to read these cases and learn what exactly you are looking for. The few days that I participated in the CLEO 1L prep course, I was able to read a few cases, practice identifying the rules created from the case, and then apply those rules to a given set of facts. This is law school to the core. You are going to read hundreds of cases, but each next case is easier to read than the last. The initial exposure CLEO offered helped set my brain in the right direction as I learned through my 1L year how to read and apply caselaw.

Q6. What helped you cope with the stress of law school?
My running joke when 3Ls ask me how 2L is going “you know, I did not think law school could take away more of my life and hobbies, but law school continues to surprise me.” Laughter and head nods soon follow.

I really enjoyed my life before law school. I did not think about nor do work on the weekends, I had a job that paid me, I cooked my lunches and dinners almost every day, I ran and worked out almost every day, I hung out with my friends, and I regularly lived the bachelor lifestyle any 20-something city-slicker can live.

All that changes in law school. You will work on your weekends, you will not have the time for all of your hobbies, and you will be stressed. I have rarely, if ever, said ‘no’ to a friend who wants to hang out till law school.

I think what is most important is to figure out one or two core things you love to do in your free time. Painting, exercise, blogging, whatever hobby you really like, maintain that through law school.

I also think giving yourself hard no-work times is also important. Some that I heard from other students here and that I implemented were things like: do not work past midnight, go out with your friends/have a weekend night once a weekend.

Q7. After law school, what are your legal career plans?
For my 2L summer, I will work as a summer associate at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres in New York. If all goes well, I plan to return, hopefully working as a securities or commercial litigation attorney (though most people drift towards litigation generalist for the first few years).

Q8. Do you volunteer or intern with any legal organizations?
For my 1L summer, I interned in the Chambers of the Honorable Joseph Greenaway Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. If you are interested in public policy work, you will come to understand how important judges are and how beneficial it is to learn how decisions are made and how disputes over the law or facts are decided. The work also gives you the opportunity to compare and contrast briefs. This is important because if you want to be a litigation attorney, brief writing is critical to how a decision is reached. You can learn what kinds of things work well and don’t work in a brief.

Q9. Do you have any advice for future lawyers?
85.9% of lawyers in the United States are White as of 2020 according to the American Bar Association. Roughly 80% of sitting judges are White. Hispanic/Latino lawyers make-up 4.6% of the profession, up from 3.7% a decade ago. African-American lawyers make-up 4.7%, down from 4.8% a decade ago. (https://www.2civility.org/aba-profile-of-the-legal-profession-diversity-and-well-being/)

If you want to see change in America, you must be the agent of that change. Nobody else is going to do it but you.

Q10. What motivates you to be part of the legal profession?
The power and the ability to create positive and long-lasting change in my community and the communities around me.