Civil Rights Committee Member
NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services
I first walked through the marble hallways of the City Bar in 2006 as a high school intern. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. As a high school student interested in pursuing a legal career, without any knowledge of what that would entail, I participated in its Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Thurgood Marshall Summer Law Internship Program (TMSLIP). The TMSLIP places high-achieving, diverse high school students with legal employers for the summer. I didn’t know it at the time, but this internship provided foundational skills, such as the importance of networking, which prepared me to become a lawyer.
In college, I continued to seriously contemplate law school, even in the wake of the recession and the tough legal market that was the reality for many new lawyers. I stayed in touch with mentors and staff from the City Bar and participated in its Launching Your Career Seminar Series. The interactive series, held throughout several weeks at sponsoring law firms, helped me develop necessary professional skills to begin building my professional network.
When I did eventually decide to apply to law school, I participated in the City Bar’s Law School/ LSAT Prep Series. The prep series offered helpful sessions on topics including deciding what LSAT preparatory course to take, financing law school, selecting and applying to the right law school, and learning what to expect and how to succeed in law school. It also allowed me the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with admissions representatives about the admissions process and with law students about the rigors of law school. I can’t overstate the importance of this program as I navigated the law school admissions process.
Finally, in the summer before starting law school, I participated in the City Bar’s Law Preview Scholars Program. The program is designed to help incoming law students prepare for the challenges of the first year by providing overviews of the core first-year subjects as well as effective study and exam-taking tactics. Having taken this course, I was able to walk into my 1L year with an advantage over my peers. I came in with a concrete understanding of the workload and what was expected of me. The program also helped me avoid many common pitfalls made by 1L students navigating their first year.
Today, I am an active member of the City Bar, serving on its Civil Rights Committee. A big part of the reason I have stayed involved is that it is the gathering place for the people who helped me in every step of my journey to joining the legal profession. I was fortunate to meet City Bar staff and attorneys who were invested in my personal and professional success. It has been my home through the long and difficult journey to becoming a lawyer. It is where I still go to remind myself how far I have come and why I became a lawyer.
As the legal profession continues to evolve, the City Bar will also have to evolve to meet the needs of the changing profession. Many young lawyers and recent graduates are no longer joining bar associations. The costs of membership, relevancy to one’s legal practice, or lack of free time have all been cited as reasons membership rates are declining among young lawyers. Whatever the reason, I believe this is a huge mistake, especially in a legal market as important as New York City’s. The City Bar is an indispensable institution to any practicing attorney.
As the City Bar marks its 150th year anniversary, it is critical that young lawyers stay engaged with the City Bar to help shape its future to meet their needs and for the next generation of lawyers.