Retiring Without Retiring
Looking back a year to how my very busy "retirement" began
[I’m starting a new blog on Substack! I’m beginning by importing some old articles posted elsewhere. This is the first one, originally posted on LinkedIn on April 1, 2022. It went mildly viral in my small LinkedIn network, with more than 20,000 views!]
[April 1, 2022]: Effective April 1, 2022, I have retired as a Partner at the Fragomen law firm. Although I will stay on for a while as Senior Counsel, I am taking this step in order to re-focus my energies on writing, pro bono/public interest law, nonprofit management, human rights advocacy, documentary filmmaking and more.
It is now nearly 33 years since I graduated from law school, and more than 24 years since I joined Fragomen as an Associate Attorney. I went to law school with the ambition to be a public interest lawyer, never imagining that I would spend the vast majority of my legal career in a private law firm. But I had the good fortune to land in a firm where I was able to practice law in a most unusual way: working on policy advocacy and legal strategy; managing pro bono and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; leading crisis management and corporate communications efforts; writing several books and hundreds of articles; teaching and lecturing; getting involved in all sorts of unusual and compelling special projects; and learning from and collaborating with the best and the brightest in the field of immigration law.
One of my new projects will be supporting the work of a migrant shelter in Mexico run by an inspiring pastor who provides services to migrants from Central America and elsewhere as they make their way north in search of safety. To this end, I have recently joined the Board of Directors of the Latin American Relief Fund, which provides financial support to the shelter, and seeks to raise awareness of the plight of migrants fleeing poverty, violence, political upheaval, persecution and the consequences of climate change.
I am also the Executive Producer of a documentary-in-progress, “Las Abogadas: Women Attorneys on the Front Lines of the Migrant Crisis,” which will have its premiere in the fall of 2022. (See lasabogadasfilm.com.)
Although I am more than ready to move on to new projects and challenges, I also do so with a bit of a heavy heart. I am truly grateful to my Fragomen colleagues for the professionalism, excellence and camaraderie that are hallmarks of the Fragomen culture. I couldn't have asked for better mentors and colleagues.
Onward and upward!