In the summer following my first year of law school in Chicago, I was honored to be selected as a Legal Diversity Scholar with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) and was in the first week of my dual-internship. The LCLD organization arranged for each student-scholar from law schools around the nation to undergo mock interviews led by one associate and one managing partner at a participating law firm. With essentially no real world, legal experience, I felt confident due to having sales experience, as I’d worked in retail during law school.

During my mock interview, I was challenged to explain how my retail sales experience could prepare me to be successful as an attorney. By that time, I had over five years of experience working in pharmaceutical retail, and nearly two years of experience in luxury retail. I explained to the panel that retail sales provides extraordinary networking opportunities, demands exceptional persuasion technique and requires a deep commitment to client relationships. While working limited part-time hours as a luxury client adviser during my first year of law school I was able to meet many successful professionals and had built an extensive network (that includes clients that I keep in touch with today).

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