Karen Trinh
2L; Admissions Ambassador
Hometown:
Fremont, CA
Professional Interests:
Intellectual Property Litigation
Student Organizations:
Entertainment & Sports Law Society, Mental Health in Law Society; Student Bar Association, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association
Extracurricular:
Japanese American Bar Association
UCI Law Clinic:
Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic
Housing:
UCI Graduate Housing (Ask me about living on campus!)
Meet Karen:
Before coming to law school, I drafted letters on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris and served as a legal assistant for a technology and education company in Silicon Valley. While in UCI Law, I became a student partner with Bloomberg Law and then took on two professional opportunities for the summer that I would become a rising 2L. First, I was a judicial extern for three judges in the LA Superior Court, where I observed civil court cases and wrote recommendation memorandums. Second, I was a legal intern for Accenture, the largest technology consulting company in the world, where I was a part of the intellectual property litigation team and contract management team. These experiences led me to pursue a legal career in intellectual property law, where I could explore how new and evolving inventions interact with the law and study how those developments will affect the future.
In the future, I hope to mainly practice intellectual property law, with an emphasis on copyright, trademark, trade secrets, and data/cyber security. I am aiming to graduate from law school with an offer to work at a law firm, located either in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, or Orange County.
When I’m not studying, I like to give my mind and body the opportunity to practice, create, and expand. Some of my favorite hobbies include cooking, furniture restoration, painting, editing videos, and redecorating my house. I must admit though, I do love to occasionally give myself a break from trying to become better at something by simply relaxing with my partner and watching TV.
My favorite places in Orange County are mainly thrift stores, because one of my many joys in life is thrifting. I love the Goodwill of Orange County in Santa Ana and Huntington Beach, the thrift store and food pantry at Mariner’s Church, and the Salvation Army in Fountain Valley. I also highly recommend visiting the farmer’s market hosted Saturday mornings in the Mariner’s Church parking lot, which is only a five-minute drive from campus!
If you’re like me and love to save money, especially given how expensive law school can be, here are a few things you can do to help yourself out: (1) Get CalFresh, it will provide you with $280 of free groceries every month; (2) visit both the UCI Food Pantry and the Food Bank at Mariner’s Church for free groceries; (3) go to events with free food and items, especially job fairs; (4) budget wisely, because costs rack up quickly; (5) look for textbooks online before buying physical copies; (6) get second-hand furniture either online or in thrift stores or estate sales; (7) learn to make coffee at home and resist the urge to buy Starbucks every week. Learning to save efficiently early on will spare you from a lot of stress and grief and give you one less thing to worry about during what can be a difficult time in your life: Law School!