Motherhood Didn’t Mean Giving Up My Dream of Becoming a Lawyer

This Mother’s Day, I want to celebrate my fellow Latina mothers who, against all odds, have built successful careers as lawyers. My path to becoming a lawyer wasn’t easy. I didn’t see many people who looked like me represented in law, and I didn’t know any lawyers who were also mothers. But with support and mentorship, I’ve been able to achieve my dream. I hope that other Latina mothers can, too.

As an immigrant, I grew up translating for my parents and helping them navigate legal issues. I came to understand the law as a language I could master to access new opportunities and to make change, and from a young age, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer to advocate for people like my parents.

When I began law school in 2020, I had a six-month-old baby. I felt overwhelmed as a first-generation college student—then a law student—and a first-time mother. My first semester was remote because of COVID, and I would try to time my baby’s naps to coincide with my classes. I spent nearly every waking moment either caring for my baby or studying. Even when we returned to in-person classes, I didn’t have time to make new friends or do any professional networking.

Then I heard about LatinoJustice PRLDEF’s Cesar A. Perales (CAP) Leadership Institute, which supports Latinxs and members of other underrepresented communities with programs and mentorship to pursue legal careers. I applied for the CAP Institute’s Corporate/Law Firm Alliance Summer Program (CLASP), a two-year program that pairs students with law firms and legal departments for paid summer internships and offers ongoing mentorship and support. The program changed my life. 

As of 2024, Latina women made up only three percent of all practicing attorneys in the United States despite being nearly 10 percent of the total U.S. population. The work of LatinoJustice PRLDEF is crucial to addressing our underrepresentation in legal careers. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their support.  

I spent one summer interning at Morgan Stanley and the other at Orrick. I would never have applied for either of those internships on my own because I wasn’t aware they even existed. I didn’t understand the world of big law, but CLASP opened a whole new world of possibilities for me. Throughout the program, everyone at CLASP made me feel like they wanted to see me succeed as a lawyer and fulfill my dreams. It felt like a family to me. My mentors at CLASP and at Morgan Stanley and Orrick gave me confidence in my skills and told me: “You can do this, and you can do this with a baby.”

My baby isn’t a baby anymore. He’s now 5 years old, and I’m a second-year associate at an international law firm. Being a mother and a lawyer is not always easy, but I love my job. And I’m intentional about spending quality time with my son, having breakfast and cuddling with him before I go to work and taking him to the park on the weekends.

According to a report from the American Bar Association, lawyers often pay a steep penalty for becoming mothers. Mothers in legal careers are more likely than fathers to experience burnout, be denied advancement opportunities, and get paid less for the same work. Even in two-parent households, mothers are overwhelmingly carrying the double duty of managing household and childcare responsibilities on top of work. That’s why we need more programs that support mothers in the legal profession.

Motherhood shouldn’t mean giving up our dreams. With the right support, motherhood can mean achieving our dreams surrounded by more people who love us.