A legal internship took her off the beaten path and put her just where she belonged
I was the kind of kid who wanted to be a lawyer as soon as I knew what that was. I liked arguing, and talking, and advocating for what I believed in. But I went to law school thinking I would have a very different career path. My late father, who was the person I most looked up to in the world, had been a bankruptcy lawyer. I started law school two years after he died, and I imagined I would follow in his footsteps and pursue a career at a law firm, practicing bankruptcy law. I had watched him, as a child, advocating for his clients in court and helping companies navigate the most difficult times. I thought I knew what I wanted to do.
When it came time to apply for a summer job as a 1L, I was confident that I knew what the next steps in my career would be, so I didn’t see any harm in trying something different. To my good fortune, I was offered an internship at the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. The summer I spent there transformed my future. I helped with investigations and trial prep and went to court to watch prosecutors in action. I saw dedicated, talented lawyers work hard to determine what was right and then to do whatever that was, whether it meant bringing cases or declining them, pursuing long sentences or helping people avoid prison. I could not imagine a better job.
Many years on from that summer, I am lucky enough to have served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York for almost eleven years, including as the Chief of that Office’s Complex Frauds & Cybercrime Unit. It was an honor and a privilege to serve in that office and to go to work each day to try to do the right thing and to seek to protect the communities we served. It was also a true joy to do work I loved—digging into documents and facts, meeting people from every walk of life, and standing up in court on behalf of the United States—alongside true friends.
Today, as a partner at Pryor Cashman, I get to continue to do this incredible work on behalf of clients navigating the justice system and to do it alongside colleagues and friends I admire, some also former prosecutors. I am lucky enough to love the work I do, investigating, getting to know the people behind each case, and advocating for my clients’ interests. This is not the career I imagined I would have when I started law school so many years ago, but I am incredibly grateful to have found this path.
