A Personal Essay.

• Date: 01 May 2020
• Author: Alejandro, Nitza I. Quinones

History books will have much to say about the year 2020. Many stories will focus on the global battle against COVID-19. Others will mark the year as America's racial reckoning--when our country confronted badges and incidents of slavery that have endured despite the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil Rights Movement, and the presidency of Barack Obama.

In the midst of acknowledging those realities and their deep impact on our journal, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review still found time to commemorate an occasion that history books should not overlook. In the year 2020, one hundred years after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote, the Editors-in-Chief of the nation's top sixteen law schools' flagship law reviews were all women. The odds of this occurring are slim to none--a 0.0015% chance, to be exact--and such a statistically significant moment reminds us that gender equity in our profession is crucial. This achievement also reveals the underlying truth that diverse leadership in all areas of our field is a prerequisite to building a more just legal system. So, we could not allow this moment to pass without immense gratitude and reflection.

As such, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review joined California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, New York University Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Texas Law Review, UCLA Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal in publishing fourteen essays written by women in the legal field. The joint publication titled Women & Law (1) features esteemed and insightful voices analyzing the advancement of female lawyers to the upper echelons of the public and private sectors and imagines a future where women continue to propel the profession. We encourage you to read all of the essays in the joint publication for knowledge, inspiration, and a laugh or two.

The partner journals also celebrated the moment in early February with a conference in Washington, D.C., aptly named "Honoring the Advancement of Women in Law." Community members and stakeholders, including Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, discussed the joint publication, the election of all women Editors-in-Chief, and what comes next as we hope to turn this moment into more progress for women in the law.

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review was proud to join this effort and privileged to work with the Honorable Nitza I. Quinones Alejandro of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as the journal's contributing author to Women & Law. The following essay details her path to the bench, which featured highs and lows, but most importantly, lessons on blazing a trail in this profession on one's own terms. We are forever grateful to Judge Quinones for trusting us with her story, and we are delighted to include "A Personal Essay" in Women & Law and within the pages of our publication.

There are also many people to thank for making this effort a reality--Allison Velez, Brian Watson, Duke Law School, Duke Law Journal, Farrah Bara, Mary Jane Dumankaya, Grace Greene, Alicia Lai, Kellen McCoy, Brianna A. Messina, Monica M. Murphy, Hannah Pugh, and Jessica L. Teng. This has been a collaborative project from start to finish.

As I reflect on the meaning of this moment during my tenure as Editor-in-Chief, I am humbled, perplexed, and inspired. The surprise and joy in witnessing sixteen women elected to this role was moving. But this time has also left me questioning how our particular institution can use this moment to generate more progress--in publishing the voices of more young scholars, women, and people of color within our pages; in dedicating our resources to members of the community who share our zip code but not our privileges; and in making our journal membership a more racially diverse reflection of our law school.

So, in celebrating how far we have come, we adopt the "contagious optimism" Judge Quinones expresses in this essay. Encouraged by her words, we enter the future with wisdom, motivation, and a deep dedication to legal scholarship and leadership that shapes the world.

A PERSONAL ESSAY, BY NITZA I. QUINONES ALEJANDRO

Amidst the string of hearings and trials that normally fill my schedule, I finally sat down with my law clerk for the few-hour niche of time we had set aside to interview potential summer interns. Tired from the long day, when I asked the last law student if she had any questions for us, I hoped she would keep her response short and sweet. She paused for a moment, then shyly asked, "So, how did you get to be a federal judge?" With a loaded question like that, I had two possible responses: a canned response about how careers are full of twists and turns, how hard work and persistence pay off, etc., or an honest answer. The former never entered my mind. My exhaustion vanished and, in one moment, years of memories flashed through my head. I smiled and told her, "I never expected to be where I am today."

* * *

I was born in Puerto Rico, the daughter of a First Sergeant in the United States Army and a homemaker. I grew up on a series of military bases, attended the finest schools, and was surrounded by a community of military families. I recognize now how fortunate I was to have grown up in a world where the only apparent distinction between individuals was military rank. Throughout my adolescence, I never would have predicted that someday it would matter in my professional and social interactions that I was a woman, that I was Latina, or that I was gay.

My decision to go to law school was not part of a grand plan. When I graduated from college, where I had studied business and statistics, I was eager to join the workforce. My excitement to begin applying for accounting jobs was surprisingly met with disapproval from my mother. As I was looking into job openings and daydreaming about becoming a working professional, my mother eventually expressed her disapproval: "Yo esperaba mas de ti." I expected more of you. Her words stung. Here I was, twenty-one years old, about to graduate from college with honors at the top of my class and, rather than praise, I was met with disappointment. To provide context, I am the youngest of three children and, at that time, my sister was pursuing a master's degree in urban planning and my brother was in dental school. From my mother's perspective, my siblings had blazed the trail towards higher education, and I needed to follow it.

In hindsight, I realize there were countless other young women facing a similar conversation with their mothers, but who were instead chastised for wishing to pursue a career at all, as opposed to becoming a homemaker. I now know I was fortunate that my mother's disappointment stemmed from...