Creating my Legal Practice

-- By SalvadorRosas - 19 Feb 2018

Law School serves to give me the skills necessary to manage my own practice.

"Oh, so now you want us to save you!" said the university administrator on the phone when I asked her if I would be able to participate in GSF despite not having gone to any of the "mandatory" events. After all, I only committed to law school after working for two years as a general corporate paralegal at one of the top law firms in New York City. I had a specific idea of what my legal practice would look like. The firm would take me back with open arms for the summer, and then again next summer, and would ultimately offer me a full-time job. I would get $180,000 and seamless for dinner every night for 90 hours a week of due diligence on M&A deals. But now, on the phone with a woman I had never met, I was determined to take control of my own legal practice by expanding my options for summer employment. Much to my mother's delight, I was considering spending the summer in my hometown, Sacramento, providing legal services for Latino families, similar to what my mother does as an assistant coordinator for La Familia Counseling Center. I was reaching out to my network to start experimenting with my practice.

The professional development staff was understandably concerned about the route that I was choosing to take for the summer. "Well do you want to be in Sacramento eventually?" and "usually we do not encourage you to do a public interest position unless you are planning to do it long term" were common amongst both the private and public interest administrators. Thurman Arnold talks about how society has created dichotomies that drown out practical solutions. These include Republican v. Democrat, Socialist v. Capitalist. On campus, this dichotomy exists between SJI, the public interest organization and, OCS, the private law organization. Like any other organizations, SJI and OCS have their own creeds, myths, and fears. When they see a student coloring outside the lines of the paths they have laid out for every student since before they even set foot on campus. I will not be participating in the Early Interview Program.

Learn how to work with and appeal to different types of people.

The reason why I am not participating in the Early Interview Program is because I have been disillusioned by the divisiveness between administrative offices. It has manifested in the culture of the student body. While at evening receptions hosted by firms, I came across several defensive 2Ls and 3Ls that would dodge questions about their experience over the summer. At one event, I spoke with a 3L who was on the verge of tears when having to recount her awful summer experience. All I have asked for from both my peers and administrators is honesty. They have simply failed to provide this. In our discussion of Arnold, the class engaged in the question of whether societies fail when they no longer meet expectations or social needs. As 1Ls, we are just starting to realize that it is both.

While at a lunch discussion titled "Paving Your Social Justice Career" I was appalled at the reductive approach to the presentation that consisted of 7 slides with names of organizations that students had worked at before. During the Question portion, I was the first to raise my hand. "What could SJI have done better to support your peers that were less proactive?" I asked. One of the 3Ls that was invited to the presentation as an example of the success of SJI's model, he is currently on responding in what my peers describe as the most "antagonist response to a question I have ever heard." Something along the lines of "just figure it out." I most definitely will. It is important for me to engage in these conversations with my peers. I am not afraid of my classmates. They will be working in the same industry as me in the next few years and some might even end up being my clients.

Become an expert on entertainment law and immigration law

Entertainment law and immigration law might not seem to be related to each other. However, there is a market for both and these two practices would complement each other nicely. The first firm I ever worked at was a small entertainment boutique law firm that only had three attorneys. After five years, I am still in contact with those attorneys. They have already put me in touch with potential employers for the summer and beyond. In the meantime, I have played a role in organizing the Entertainment, Sports, and Arts Law Society's annual symposium.

Participate in externships outside of the prescribed programs in place at CLS.

I plan to obtain an externship position at Sony Music next semester. I want to learn how a music label runs and what role entertainment lawyers play in their clients' careers as in-house counsel. Luckily, I will not need to depend on OCS or SJI and instead can reach out to contacts that I know still work there. As a side job, I have been translating official documents in support of a U-Visa client. I plan to continue to help put together asylum, U-Visa, SIJS applications through partner organizations in NYC. These activities ensure that I will continue to expand my knowledge of these two fields of law.

Continuing to build my network in CA and NJ will provide a diverse and reliable client base.

Latino immigrants in CA and central NJ need basic legal services. I want to learn how to fill out I-485 and visa applications. I also know several musicians and independent filmmakers who need attorneys to negotiate contracts and acquire funding for projects. I am in the process of learning how to do event contracts with venues, formation documents for independent production companies and record labels.

Law School serves to give me the skills necessary to manage my own practice.

"Oh, so now you want us to save you!" said the university administrator on the phone when I asked her if I would be able to participate in GSF despite not having gone to any of the "mandatory" events. After all, I only committed to law school after working for two years as a general corporate paralegal at one of the top law firms in New York City. I had a specific idea of what my legal practice would look like. The firm would take me back with open arms for the summer, and then again next summer, and would ultimately offer me a full-time job. I would get $180,000 and seamless for dinner every night for 90 hours a week of due diligence on M&A deals. But now, on the phone with a woman I had never met, I was determined to take control of my own legal practice by expanding my options for summer employment. Much to my mother's delight, I was considering spending the summer in my hometown, Sacramento, providing legal services for Latino families, similar to what my mother does as an assistant coordinator for La Familia Counseling Center. I was reaching out to my network to start experimenting with my practice.

The professional development staff was understandably concerned about the route that I was choosing to take for the summer. "Well do you want to be in Sacramento eventually?" and "usually we do not encourage you to do a public interest position unless you are planning to do it long term" were common amongst both the private and public interest administrators. Thurman Arnold talks about how society has created dichotomies that drown out practical solutions. These include Republican v. Democrat, Socialist v. Capitalist. On campus, this dichotomy exists between SJI, the public interest organization and, OCS, the private law organization. Like any other organizations, SJI and OCS have their own creeds, myths, and fears. When they see a student coloring outside the lines of the paths they have laid out for every student since before they even set foot on campus. I will not be participating in the Early Interview Program.

Learn how to work with and appeal to different types of people.

The reason why I am not participating in the Early Interview Program is because I have been disillusioned by the divisiveness between administrative offices. It has manifested in the culture of the student body. While at evening receptions hosted by firms, I came across several defensive 2Ls and 3Ls that would dodge questions about their experience over the summer. At one event, I spoke with a 3L who was on the verge of tears when having to recount her awful summer experience. All I have asked for from both my peers and administrators is honesty. They have simply failed to provide this. In our discussion of Arnold, the class engaged in the question of whether societies fail when they no longer meet expectations or social needs. As 1Ls, we are just starting to realize that it is both.

While at a lunch discussion titled "Paving Your Social Justice Career" I was appalled at the reductive approach to the presentation that consisted of 7 slides with names of organizations that students had worked at before. During the Question portion, I was the first to raise my hand. "What could SJI have done better to support your peers that were less proactive?" I asked. One of the 3Ls that was invited to the presentation as an example of the success of SJI's model, he is currently on responding in what my peers describe as the most "antagonist response to a question I have ever heard." Something along the lines of "just figure it out." I most definitely will. It is important for me to engage in these conversations with my peers. I am not afraid of my classmates. They will be working in the same industry as me in the next few years and some might even end up being my clients.

Become an expert on entertainment law and immigration law

Entertainment law and immigration law might not seem to be related to each other. However, there is a market for both and these two practices would complement each other nicely. The first firm I ever worked at was a small entertainment boutique law firm that only had three attorneys. After five years, I am still in contact with those attorneys. They have already put me in touch with potential employers for the summer and beyond. In the meantime, I have played a role in organizing the Entertainment, Sports, and Arts Law Society's annual symposium.

Participate in externships outside of the prescribed programs in place at CLS.

I plan to obtain an externship position at Sony Music next semester. I want to learn how a music label runs and what role entertainment lawyers play in their clients' careers as in-house counsel. Luckily, I will not need to depend on OCS or SJI and instead can reach out to contacts that I know still work there. As a side job, I have been translating official documents in support of a U-Visa client. I plan to continue to help put together asylum, U-Visa, SIJS applications through partner organizations in NYC. These activities ensure that I will continue to expand my knowledge of these two fields of law.

Continuing to build my network in CA and NJ will provide a diverse and reliable client base.

Latino immigrants in CA and central NJ need basic legal services. I want to learn how to fill out I-485 and visa applications. I also know several musicians and independent filmmakers who need attorneys to negotiate contracts and acquire funding for projects. I am in the process of learning how to do event contracts with venues, formation documents for independent production companies and record labels.

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Yes, this is how. You don't need to be antagonistic yourself to organizations providing services to others that you don't need. You do need the support and assistance that even someone so capable of organizing for himself and seeing what he needs will need. Bravo so far; it's just terrific.

You should go through this draft once for a perfecting edit. There are a few words that need to be different, and some sentences that could be snappier. But there is no large work left to do here. Onward.

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