Student Leader, First Gen Pre-Orientation Program
Staff Editor, Journal of Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law
What led you down the path of becoming a lawyer? If you couldn’t be a lawyer, what would be your second-choice profession?
As I’m sure is true for a lot of law students, my parents always encouraged me to be a lawyer while I was growing up. Not having a clue what a lawyer did for the longest time, I definitely didn’t think they would turn out to be right! It wasn’t until my first internship, the summer after my freshman year at Boston College, that I really knew I wanted to go to law school. That summer, I interned with a trial court judge and was completely enamored of everything I saw in the courtroom and in chambers. Once the internship was over, I knew I wanted to practice law, and I haven’t looked back since.
Originally, I wanted to be an editor of fiction novels. I always loved the detailed work of editing and writing in high school, and I saw this career as a way to combine my interest in the creative aspect of fiction with the technical work I enjoyed so much in school. Now, I’m drawn to Intellectual Property for a similar reason of intersecting creative spheres—but with the law instead. If I couldn’t be a lawyer, I’m sure I would have continued on the path to becoming an editor.
This summer you worked closely with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion on the First Generation Pre-Orientation Program (FGPOP) held for 1Ls at the start of this academic year. What did you take away from that experience, and what drew you to taking on an active role in this program?
As a first generation college student, much of my academic journey—from applying to college and starting law school—was discovered on a trial-and-error basis. While I had immense support from my family, there was always a lingering feeling of uncertainty with being the first one of us to go through each experience after my high school graduation. Before 1L orientation, I participated in NYU Law’s First Generation Pre-Orientation Program (FGPOP), and as the year progressed, I couldn’t have been more grateful for that experience. The program covered everything from time-management in law school to even simply explaining what an outline is and answered even more questions I didn’t know I had. It was also where I met some of my best friends in law school.
Entering my 2L year, I was eager to give back to this community from a mentor position. My experiences working closely with Ileana Casellas-Katz, NYU Law’s Director for Diversity and Inclusion, throughout this past summer as well as over the two days of FGPOP, have been the most meaningful of my time in law school so far. I hope that sharing the lessons I learned and helping to ease the transition for other first generation college students starting out at NYU Law helped to foster a welcoming environment for this community of students. And of course, being able to form such great relationships with an amazing and kind group of 1Ls made this experience even more rewarding!
What classes and professors have had the most profound effect on you at NYU Law so far?
The class that surprised me the most was definitely Contracts with [Max E. Greenberg Professor of Contract Law] Clayton Gillette. Contracts was the course I was most apprehensive of at the start of law school, but it quickly became the class I looked forward to most each week. More than any other doctrinal class during my 1L year, Contracts forced me to really think about each individual word I was reading in the assigned cases and what it means to choose those words when drafting a contract. I can’t say I expected to hear so many answers to what the definition of “chicken” could be!
The skills I learned in Contracts were invaluable to my summer internship experience working at a commercial litigation firm and created a strong foundation to learn even more about this area of law through each new case to which I was assigned.
What do you most like to do outside of class? What’s your favorite way to spend a day in New York City?
Being from Long Island, I grew up frequently visiting the city, and it has always been my goal to live here. New York has a reputation for being fast-paced, but I love it most when I find the spaces where it slows down. More than anything I love to just walk around and explore, browsing bookstores and grabbing an iced americano from a new coffee shop. With the leaves changing for fall, this is the best time of year to enjoy the city. Just this past weekend, I spent an afternoon walking around the West Village to see all of the different Halloween decorations, and it never gets old to see Central Park this time of year.
On Saturdays, I love to attend an early morning yoga class to finish off my week. Leaving the studio and walking home on the calm and quiet streets before the rest of the city wakes up always leaves me feeling refreshed and ready to take on the new week.
Have you read any books or heard any podcasts lately that you would recommend?
During the semester, I take any opportunity to incorporate some lighthearted reading into my schedule—so anything fiction! I always recommend picking up one of Emily Henry’s books for a fun read. Her new releases come out right after spring finals, and reading her latest novel has been a fun tradition of mine for the past few years to kick off summer!
Posted November 1, 2024