Tell Me A Story

TELL ME A STORY By: Kayla Morán

Candidate for J.D., 2022 University of Tennessee College of Law President, Latino/a Law Student Association; Head BarBri Ambassador

WHAT WERE THE CHOICES YOU MADE THAT, INTENTIONALLY OR NOT, LED YOU TO THIS PLACE IN YOUR CAREER?

A question I’ve been getting asked a lot lately, usually because I am involved in many things or because my resume appears very scattered across industries and interests, is why I want to be a lawyer. Or more matter of fact, why I’m in law school. My answer goes back to my purpose in life, which is to inspire and make a positive impact on others the way those who inspired and affected my life have.

From an early age, I always wanted to help people and have been volunteering. I began in Miami, through performing with my dance studio at the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure and other community festivals and events. On my own time, I also volunteered at annual marathons and did a high school internship at our local children’s hospital. But my love for giving back really took on a life of its own in college, where I was the head fundraiser for my sorority at the University of Central Florida’s annual Knight-Thon benefitting Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital. I fell in love with meeting the children and families we were helping, organizing fundraising drives for my sisters, bucketing on campus, and connecting with the hospital staff who worked hard to keep these babies and children healthy and happy.

Once I came to law school, I looked for similar opportunities to volunteer in Knoxville and continue my community service efforts. Ways to give back to my Latin community were presented to me by LLSA through a position as Community Service Chair and I jumped at the opportunity to work with Centro Hispano. As LLSA President I have also made efforts to further diversity on campus alongside my community work. I’ve stayed involved with Knight-Thon as an alumnus as well, although not as a donor just yet, but I will be in the future!

This drive to get involved really propelled my interest in networking which became especially important once I realized I wanted to return to Florida post-graduation. UT Law has a robust network of attorneys in the Southeast, and I wanted to tap into it and go beyond too. Not just for myself but also to strengthen UT Law’s ties to South Florida since a few of my classmates also wanted to return to Miami or were from there.

My courageousness and ability to put myself out there was only further encouraged by career services and my professors, namely Joan Heminway and Eric Amarante who became my mentors my 1L Spring. Early on in my law school career, I dived into LinkedIn head first, connecting with lawyers and law firms in Miami. I fell in love with networking and connecting people to each other. I would find myself connecting a friend to someone I knew on LinkedIn if they were in a role my friend was interested in, and people around me took notice.

This proved to be a great skill of mine as I further dived into another passion, social media. I began blogging in college to memorialize my study abroad experience and my law school journey. It was during the pandemic when I really began to see the power of social media as a networking tool. I began to make friends with people with similar interests to me and I started sharing more of my everyday life from studying and productivity tips to recipes to fashion and I quickly realized that I could make money doing it too. Plus, it was a creative outlet that has become incredibly important to me.

As opportunities to work with brands came, so did the contracts and it was during this period, while also in the CED clinic my 2L Spring that I realized I wanted to combine social media and law in my practice as a lawyer. Professor Amarante encouraged me and helped me conceptualize my expository on why lawyers are needed in the creator economy. His belief in me led me to begin networking with lawyers in IP and other related areas like sports and entertainment law to see if anyone was tapping into the influencer market.

Turns out there were a few, and I shamelessly messaged the three I found through FIU Law’s annual SEFA Symposium, thanks to a college friend. Only one got back to me and that connection opened the doors to a whole new career path for me. With Professor Amarante’s backing I began to write my paper and do more research on the intersection of law and social media, leading me to discover an engineer turned full time influencer who was founding a tech startup based in Miami.

With a solid idea in mind and two mentors, I fearlessly pitched myself to this tech startup founder. She wasn’t hiring but she liked my background and persistence, so she hired me to do contract review as an influencer manager part time my 3L year. It has been during the last few months where my affection for social media and law merged, and I truly discovered I wanted a career where I can be both a lawyer and creator. That I could help others with my unique skill set as both. It was my passion for community service and my love of networking that allowed me to pursue both which was all the more special.

Discovering this path would not have happened had I not come to law school or to Tennessee and the people I met here in Knoxville have championed me and my growth as a person. I took a huge risk telling most of my professors and faculty that I want to pursue a career as a lawyer in social media, but everyone has been tremendously supportive. It was this encouragement that led me to finding other creators who were also lawyers and law students interested in the same, which led to an offer to join a startup law firm specializing in influencers and influencer marketing.

The most rewarding part is that it was all because I was unafraid to challenge myself and put myself out there. We often have to be the first in a room to make an impact and by not being afraid to share my interests with my law school community, I get to build a career helping others protect themselves legally while sharing who they are online. I’m optimistic to see where my career will take me next, from business endeavors such as my podcast and my experience managing influencers, my future both personally and as a lawyer looks bright.

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On March 31 and April 1, 230+ lawyers, law students, and law firm staff participated in the Law Practice Today Expo. The Expo was a time to make new friends and renew old acquaintances and after three years, it was great to be back together in person. It was the perfect forum for discussion and exchange of many experiences, suggestions, and opinions with other law office professionals, industry providers, and practitioners from areas throughout East Tennessee. This year’s Expo included local and national speakers, panel discussions, and idea exchanges that provided education and networking to lawyers and law firm staff from large, midsize, and small firms. There were 22 CLE sessions, 44 sponsors, 28 judges, and Randy Boyd and Doug Kirchhofer from the Tennessee Smokies to provide an update on the multi-use stadium planned for downtown Knoxville. See the complete list of sponsors on page 2.