Dianna Sauceda-Chirinos

What is your favorite part of being a part-time evening student?

Being able to actually have a real-world example to compare to what we’re learning in the classroom. We learn a lot of theory in the classroom and think that every time we represent a client, we’ll get justice for them; my experience working for a personal injury firm, on the other hand, has taught me that isn’t always the case. It is a major advantage to compare the theory to something tangible, and I believe that will make me a better lawyer and advocate for my clients. 

You’ve received some major national attention for the strength of your legal writing. What advice would you give to a new law student on how to best strengthen their writing skills?

Make the professors your friends. In preparation for the scholarship essay, I reached out to Professors Stanchi and Johnson, who were my LP1 and LP2 professors, and met with them to go over my draft and get their feedback. You definitely need distance from your own writing, that’s the number one thing that will help your writing improve, and getting that distance and feedback from trusted professors made a huge difference for me.

In your very limited spare time, what would be likely to find you doing?

Streaming something – I really enjoy time when I can turn my brain off and just disappear for a little bit. I just finished an older show that I had enjoyed in my younger years called The Parkers, and I would recommend that to anybody.