Vanessa Cortez-Johnson was not a traditional law student. She pursued her degree while working part time, commuting from a neighboring city. When she began her coursework in fall 2017, she felt she didn’t fit in with her peers at Colorado Law.
However, this feeling quickly changed as Cortez-Johnson became involved in LLSA, the Latinx Law Students Association here at Colorado Law.
It was through this student organization that she established close relationships, connected with other affinity groups, and helped advocate for changes that would provide a sense of community for all Latinx and Hispanic students at Colorado Law.
As a student, Cortez made her personal and professional relationships a priority, despite the many other demands law school asked of her.
“If there is not a space for you, work to make that space, because then it is going to benefit the people like you who come after,” Cortez-Johnson said. “Being genuine and building connections is one of the best things you can do that law school doesn’t necessarily teach you how to do --it will benefit you in the long run. “
These efforts in advocacy, personal connection, and changemaking are not all that far from the work Cortez does now as a civil rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
“The work I do now, where I am advocating for change and making sure people have equal access and opportunity in various spaces, really relates to what we were doing as students and what we wanted to experience as students at the law school,” Cortez-Johnson explained.
Most of Cortez-Johnson’s current work is complaint driven. Her office works to enforce federal nondiscrimination laws, with complaints primarily being filed against schools, districts, colleges, and universities. Cortez-Johnson’s job is to investigate and determine whether there has been a violation of the civil rights laws enforced by the department—whether individual or systemic-- and come up with remedies.
Education law was not on Cortez-Johnson’s radar when she began pursuing her JD. It was through various opportunities at Colorado Law, including her internship with the CU Office of the University Counsel, that led her to this work she now is so proud to do. In her current role, connection remains at the forefront.
“My driving force is serving other people, and especially serving people who oftentimes have the least amount of access to our systems and have historically been marginalized or oppressed,” Cortez-Johnson shared. “A large part of my work and what I pride myself in is making the law understandable, because it is there for the people. However, I couldn’t go read and fully understand the law prior to having a significant amount of training in law school --they’re [laws] not really written in a way, in my opinion, that is accessible. So, creating access for people is really what I like to do, and this work gives me that opportunity.”
Cortez-Johnson aims to continue serving as a bridge for others to have support as they access the legal system. Her hope is that law students recognize the many paths on which their legal degree can take them, and above all, that they remain authentic to who they are in whatever career they pursue.