“It was very supportive to see all these female attorneys…”
My name is Rachel Ferguson, and I’m from the Bronx, New York. I am very proud that I’m from New York because I’ve been here my entire life. I’ve never moved not even the house I live in right now. I’ve been there for 17 years, never have moved a day in my life, and I love New York. I go to high school at Vanguard High School. It is down the block from Hunter.
My affiliation with Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. I’m an intern, and I’ve been an intern since October. I love it here. It’s great. Basically what I do is I help out the attorneys and paralegals and the marketing department. I just help out everyone. Whatever people need, I just do. So every day is really different. I’m kind of just responsible for court cases, finalizing court cases. If something needs to be scanned I send it to the attorney or paralegal. I’m the main person to do it If someone needs to go to the post office or somebody needs to go to the bank, I’m the main person. It’s kind of just finalizing everything: “Rachel you have to help finalize this.”
In the beginning, it was very intimidating, but then, after a while, I got to know everyone and they’re just human, they’re just humans. I love them. I love my co-workers. They’re great. They’re amazing people.
The firm prepared me prepared me for these tasks basically by just being supportive. When I came in to ALB, what I will say is something I noticed that was very different was there was a lot of women here, and you don’t see that. Even on the media, you don’t see a lot of women lawyers, and only see women in “women” jobs, which I hate. So coming in here is very supportive to see all these successful ladies just owning what they got and to have their support, and to have them mentor me, and help me out with whatever I need. Truthfully, I did not know how to use a scanner. I did not know how to copy and scan paper as sad as I see seem. I did not know anything going into this job. I knew nothing, and everyone, even the men here, but everyone in this room has helped me out more than they can imagine in preparing me. It was honestly just because of their support. If I had a question, I would just ask them. For example, “Hey, how do you do this?”
Everyone is really passionate about what they are doing. Everyone is doing what they love, and you can see they love doing what they love. They’re passionate about the clients. They’re passionate about the work. They’re passionate about getting the best results out, and it’s not even about the status or “oh, how many cases are we winning.” It’s honestly about the client. They are all about the client. To see such a wholesome firm, it just makes working here such a happy environment.
A comment I would have about any future intern is to definitely just be yourself, especially if you feel intimidated because, you know, you might be a woman, or you might be a minority, or you might literally just not know what to do. These people are the most supportive people you’ll ever meet, and they just want to see you succeed. They want to see you grow, so they will help you every step of the way, so just don’t be afraid be yourself and own up to your truth.