“During law school, I was heavily involved in providing pro bono legal aid through Delaware Law School’s program, where we helped connect individuals with pro bono attorneys or provided free legal services ourselves. Although we were not attorneys yet, I found this work extremely rewarding and it sparked my interest in pro bono work.
In fact, I received a pro bono award distinction upon graduating for my continued work in this area.
Additionally, I worked at a clinic representing domestic violence victims seeking protection from abuse orders.
While in law school, I quickly realized the type of law I did not want to practice, such as corporate or contracts law, and instead knew I wanted to work with real clients to make a tangible difference in their lives. I explored various options, including environmental law, but ultimately wanted to be a voice for marginalized communities and uplift their voices.
I also held a few other part time jobs while pursuing Law. I took an on-campus job in college at the library, which was a great job. I worked the graveyard shift from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM, when the library closed. At that time, most people were there to do homework, so my job involved helping them find books and conducting check-ins and check-outs. During my shift, I was allowed to do my schoolwork at the desk, so I felt like I was getting paid to study.
After that, I started working at a restaurant while still in college, and I ended up doing that for seven years because the money was good in the right restaurant.
I graduated after working at a restaurant to put myself through law school.
To prepare for the bar exam, the process is incredibly intense. I followed the recommended 10-week program, which involves studying for 60 hours per week. To commit to this, I had to quit my job at a restaurant since there was no way I could do both simultaneously.
Towards the end of the 10-week course, I found myself running out of savings and in need of a job. However, every place I applied to told me they couldn’t hire me until they knew if I had passed the bar, which wouldn’t be determined for several months.
As luck would have it, Ted Murphy from Murphy Law Firm responded to my application and invited me for an interview. Coincidentally, I was in the middle of my first day taking the bar exam when I received his email during my lunch break. I accepted the invitation, and after passing the bar, I was hired as a law clerk with the promise of promotion to attorney if everything went well. The interview went smoothly, and I have been working at the firm ever since.
Looking back at my resume, it was clear that my experience was primarily in the restaurant industry, where I worked as a server and bartender.
Stories carry an informal tone. This makes it an alluring format to present impressive information. When businesses use storrytelling to share the impact they have on their ecosystem, the value becomes undeniable. Paul Smith, in his book Lead with a Story, has shared 21 of the toughest challenges buisness people face. Tell a story, reinforce your value.
Disclosure: This link is an affiliate link, which means if you make a purchase through it, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work!
Interestingly, Ted’s wife, Suzanne, who manages our HR and billing departments, used to work in a restaurant as well. She recognized the resilience and valuable skills that come with working in such an environment, which she believed could translate into being a successful attorney.
Despite my lack of legal experience, they took a chance on me due to my advocacy and pro bono work during law school. Thankfully, the risk paid off, and we work together extremely well. Ted founded the firm in 2008, and I started working in March 2019. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the support they have given me to help me get to where I am today.
This is my first professional job, and it’s quite uncommon in today’s culture where most people change jobs every year or so. I found my career job and was made a partner, which is pretty wild considering it happened on my first job.
After witnessing a family who had to borrow against their mortgage and their child’s college fund to go through the legal process, Ted Murphy, our founder, was inspired to start this law firm. He realized that this community of vulnerable individuals who are relatively new to the country needed a good legal representation that is affordable and decided to start his own firm that currently specializes in removal proceedings cases.
When I do a consultation with clients who are going into removal or who are in removal proceedings, I explain to them that it’s going to be a very long time. So we structure our fees around that. We don’t take thousands of dollars upfront. Instead, we try to work with them by setting up payment plans that they can afford. We are also very flexible in modifying contracts and freezing payments when necessary. For example, one time we referred a client to go get mental health treatment because it’s not only crucial for their well-being, but it can also significantly help with an asylum case. They told us that they have a good therapist, but the therapist costs a significant amount of money. We froze their payments temporarily to allow them to handle that cost.
Another service that we provide is getting people work permits. We try to get them work permits quickly so they can make money and then pay a little bit each month until the balance is paid off. This works well in the removal proceedings world because it is a slow process. Unfortunately, everything in immigration in this country is painfully slow. In removal proceedings, there is over a million case backlog that judges are facing, and that is across the country. The judges are also experiencing significant delays in scheduling, with some out of three to four years on their dockets until they have the next available date.
Most of the clients that we work with in the communities we engage with are honest, hardworking people who want to make good. They understand and appreciate the help we provide, and we have a great relationship with them.
People seeking asylum are fleeing their country. They are different from refugees whose immigration process is all done before they arrive in the country. Asylum seekers on the other hand, decide to seek safety in the United States upon arrival, so they travel here. Most of my clients are from Central America, so they typically walk through Mexico to reach the US border.
When they arrive at the border, they go to customs and declare that they want to seek asylum. They will be issued paperwork and have their fingerprints taken by immigration. Then they receive a “notice to appear,” which allows them to ask a judge to present their case for asylum and see if they qualify. This is usually how it works: people declare their intention to seek asylum, they get processed, receive a “notice to appear,” and then go through the removal proceedings process.
Unfortunately, there is another way that individuals can end up in removal proceedings: if they get picked up by immigration because they were not processed when they entered the US, or if they overstayed a visa, for example. In this case, they will be placed in removal proceedings and allowed to present a case for remaining in the country. If they are granted the opportunity to remain, they get to stay. However, if they lose as in the majority of cases, and the judge denies their application, they will receive an order of removal. So, there is a lot at stake in removal proceedings.”
