Get to know Larisa Maxwell. Larisa received the very first DGLBA Scholarship Award. She is a student at Texas Wesleyan/Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth. Larisa writes:
In a recent class, I was asked to determine a legal identity of fewer than seven words that would describe my future law practice. This seemingly simple task proved a challenge, in part, I believe, as my legal career interests are still varied. But, I gave it my best shot:
“Civility. Integrity. Equality.”
Though broad, I believe it sums up my approach to life in general, as well as reflects a valiant goal for the legal community as a whole. I hope to join others in our profession who exemplify these traits.
Not long ago, I completed my bachelor’s degree in applied behavior analysis and my master’s degree in behavior analysis, both at the University of North Texas. As a Behavior Analyst, I worked with individuals with developmental disabilities and psychological disorders, primarily in public schools, but also briefly in private clinics and at a rehabilitation center for individuals with traumatic brain injuries. In addition to providing direct services, my work included behavior intervention plan development and staff and parent training.
Though I found this work rewarding, I decided it was time to take my advocacy to a different level. As I was looking for a new job in the field, it occurred to me that I should survey alternate careers as the behavior analyst jobs that interested me required more physical activity than I would be able to maintain until retirement. A legal career allows me to continue my role as an advocate. So, I put in a last minute registration for the last LSAT exam that would allow me to start the following fall, and thus began my law school experience at what is now Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth.
Looking back, there are many signs of me gearing towards our profession, though I did not attend to them. The most notable among them is after I told my girlfriend about this crazy “new” career idea I had, she pointed out that I had mentioned it on our first date—several months before I considered a career change! I guess the idea had been brewing for longer than I thought.
Law school has had its expected ups and downs. One of my favorite adventures was as the President of OUTlaw, our LGBT-ally student organization. Last year, we planned several LGBT-related speaking engagements that were among the most highly attended events of the year, and our group grew to a record membership level. The events enlightened many people on the state of the law for LGBT individuals, and I believe the events made a positive impact.
I have several broad areas of career interest including: civil rights, education law, employment discrimination, and disability rights. I particularly like working with members of the LGBT community and hope to specialize, at least to some extent, on legal issues that affect our community.
In my 1L year, I joined the DGLBA to meet other LGBT legal professionals. I have appreciated how DGLBA members welcome students to their CLEs and socials. It has certainly exposed me to a variety of areas of the law, as well as helped forge some good friendships.
In my free time, I like to cook, camp, hike, kayak, and spend time with my dogs and my family. In particular, I enjoy trying new vegetarian and vegan recipes, and I recently found a love for baking. Every once in a while, I get this wild idea that someday I will perfect my vegan baked goods recipes and sell my goodies out of local coffee shops. For now, my taste testers certainly do not mind most of my experiments!
Dallas LGBT Bar Association 