I recently gave the keynote for New York Law School’s annual Legal Association of Women’s Symposium. In part, I discussed the importance of finding “investors”, which aligns with the United Nations Women’s theme of “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress” for International Women’s Day 2024.

Through the Avocate network, I recently had the pleasure of talking with an incoming first year whose start date was delayed due to the pandemic. If you are waiting to start your law firm job, there are a few things you can proactively do to stay top of mind and be ready to hit the ground running.

Going into the bar exam, I had not secured a job. Neither had any of my five closest friends from law school, like so many others graduating at the time. If this sounds somewhat familiar, take a deep breath. Although I did not believe it eight years ago, by taking the best albeit imperfect opportunities as presented, maintaining long terms goals and relationships and staying optimistic, the future is filled with opportunities. If you do not believe me, ask any of my five friends. I’m proud to report that every member of the Fordham Law Wine Review has charted her own course and is a successful, gainfully employed attorney. No OCI, no problem!

A couple of years ago I had a bit of an existential crisis. I had been practicing law for almost a decade and I felt like something was missing. After some serious soul-searching, I decided I wanted to start writing creatively again. Writing was always something I enjoyed and was good at, but the kind of creative writing I loved doing in high school and college was slipping away as I delved deeper into my corporate practice. So I decided to do something about it and have been freelance writing for Betches for the past couple of years. And if you too are toying with the idea of branching out from your legal practice and pursuing an interest or hobby on the side, you can too. Here’s how I did it and why I’m so glad I did.

What’s resonated with me is how Justice Ginsburg’s words still apply to the world women operate in today. Some of these decisions were made far before my lifetime, but some of them during it. To be blunt, there is still work left to be done. Below you’ll find an honest assessment of how organizations can lift women up based on my own experiences as well as others that I’ve spoken with. I hope you’ll take this as the pass of the baton and consider your role in further narrowing the gender equality gap particularly your role for women in the legal industry.

No one expected 2020 to bring what it brought. But our resilient industry quickly adapted to keep things moving and went virtual. Here we are, six months later, and virtual reality is our new reality. And in this new normal, legal networking, job hunting and hiring are still taking place. Like any curveball, we must adapt and learn how to successfully network and set ourselves apart to excel in the virtual landscape.

I graduated from Cardozo School of Law’s LL.M program in January 2020, and I was eager to take the February 2020 New York Bar Exam and start looking for a job. However, only a couple of weeks after I took the February exam, the world was shutting down because of COVID-19. The pressure to find a job and be able to stay in New York was on, but that didn’t stop me from landing my first job in the midst of a pandemic.