From CLAS to the Bar

Meet Monica Cornejo, Juvenile Dependency Attorney, McGeorge Law School graduate and former CLAS employee. Born in Santa Clara county and growing up in Sacramento, Monica chose to major in political science with a minor in ethnic studies, with the idea of going on to law school.

However, her first job after college with a small law firm was not a positive experience. Monica says, "The lady who owned it frequently yelled at her legal secretaries. It was a terrible environment." Monica started questioning whether a high-stress law career was what she wanted and took a year off to travel in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica.

After she returned, a friend who worked in the industry suggested that she should apply for a position at CLAS. Monica says she hadn't heard much about the "hidden" industry of public records research and decided to give it a try. At CLAS, she worked first doing order verification and later doing UCC searches.

Monica explains, "In addition to the work I've done clerking at law firms, the work I did at CLAS helped to prepare me for law school. It required me to be organized and meticulous and extremely mindful of deadlines." Just as important to Monica, "Being exposed to CLAS's work environment was an entirely different experience. It brought home to me that the way matters are handled internally in a company sets the tone for how employees are going to interact with clients. CLAS's clients have a real advantage in working with people who are good at communicating with each other and work as a team for their clients' benefit."

Monica is currently with the Children's Law Center here in Sacramento representing children who are county dependents, from newborns to 19-year-olds. She plans to continue focusing her career on public interest work and can be found on LinkedIn.

We're very happy for Monica's success and we look forward to seeing her continue to accomplish great things!