Dear Reader,
I am a California licensed attorney!
These are words I have dreamed of writing, saying, screaming for years now! A new title to add behind my name – Esquire (“Esq.”) – and it’s never coming off! Yesterday I was sworn in, which means I raised my hand in court and a judge officiated a ceremony. It was a small group of new attorneys, eight strangers, and we all excitedly recited the attorney’s oath before having the opportunity to give a speech, which I did (of course). A very intimate and special ceremony.
It’s taken me years to get to this point. Like, literally more than 10 years. The first time I took the Law School Admissions Test, which was required for law school admission at that time, was in 2013. My first attempt at going to law school was in 2016-2017, the year that Obama left office and American culture experienced a drastic shift in societal norms. I went to law school out of state – wanting to pick-up the baton that my mother had dropped when she withdrew during her college days – to the University of Oregon. In my first semester at the law school, one of the female law professors donned blackface and an afro-wig at an off-campus Halloween party. I became so caught up with town halls, coordinating responses with the Black Law Student Association, and attending inclusion-committee meetings with administrators and staff, that my studies took more than just a back seat. Luckily, when I returned to law school (this time back in the Bay Area, California) in 2021, I redeemed my transcript by accomplishing multiple 4.0 GPA’s and earning a CALI Award for getting the highest grade in my class. Being a first-generation anything, you grow up knowing that every accomplishment isn’t only about your personal success. It’s generations deep. It’s a community-wide accomplishment, amongst people who aren’t physically in the room but have been there all along. It’s about representation. It’s not just about getting the door to open for yourself – it’s about pushing the door open so ferociously, so clearly, and so strongly that the m****r f*****g door stays open for the people coming up after us. Especially in law – where Black attorneys only constitute 5% of the profession.
So, I know, I know. I keep writing about how impossible it is to put into words how over-the-moon proud of myself I have been lately. It’s because I really am. I mean it so, so sincerely! Even though I have a pandora’s box worth of stories I could share to further demonstrate the gravity of this moment, I have no desire to look backwards at this moment. I’ll let the stories drip out over time, but for now my eyes are looking straight ahead and I am fucking stoked for the future. There’s so much to share about the next steps.
For now, I’m in the present, and going to go celebrate these beautiful gifts with a dance party!
Signed,
Carlie Jones, Esq.