Elisa Herrera
2L; Admissions Ambassador
Hometown:
Whittier, CA
Professional Interests:
Public Interest; Civil Rights
Student Organizations:
Latinx Law Students Association; OutLaw; Underrepresent Student Association (Founding Member)
Pro Bono:
Innocence Project of Orange County
Housing:
UCI Graduate Housing (Ask me about living on campus!)
Meet Elisa:
I was born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, but I grew up on the Eastside. Growing up, I found that migration was a point of commonality for me and those around me, nearly all of us the children or grandchildren of immigrants. I and many of my high school classmates were the students of Jaime Escalante’s students, bearing the legacy of Stand and Deliver. I developed a fierce sense of pride in being Chicana (a Mexican American woman), and in the strong ties my family has to the Chicanx and Latinx history of Los Angeles.
Being Chicanx or Latinx in Los Angeles and in the United States is not easy. I have witnessed it in my own life, and in the lives of those around me. I saw and continue to see how much my community struggles. Ultimately, the struggle of my community for equality and even humane treatment in the United States was what motivated me to go to law school.
As I progressed from undergraduate to law school, my focus shifted between different needs for my community. When I started studying for undergraduate in 2016, the most pressing thing on my mind was immigration, and the humane and fair treatment of migrants. Eventually, I was able to work with migrants in Texas and present to new advocates on how to defend migrants in front of immigration judges.
As I exited undergraduate and entered the legal sphere as a housing paralegal, I realized there was another pressing need in my community legal advocacy could address. Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, and even the Eastside cities, are rapidly becoming prohibitively expensive for longtime Latinx and immigrant residents. The cultural heritage of the place where I was born is unraveling before my eyes. By working in housing law, I have the opportunity to do something about it. Going into the law school application process, this affirmed my decision to go to law school.
The best advice I have for studying for the LSAT and preparing law school applications is to be yourself. Figure out how you learn best, and tailor your LSAT studying to what works for you. Similarly, make sure your admissions essays reflect who you are and what really interests you about law school.
My first year of law school and my first summer job really confirmed my interest in doing housing law. UCI has really great pro-bono opportunities, and so I had the opportunity to explore additional types of law during the year beyond my first summer job. For my first summer job, I worked doing primarily systemic housing work at Community Legal Aid. But I also had the chance to do an eviction defense clinic over the summer.
I loved doing eviction defense work. The work I did for the clinic reminded me of what motivates me most about the work that I do– building community, serving clients, and helping protect the place I call home.