This morning I put on my advocacy hat and volunteered along with other attorneys and pre-law and law students to volunteer at The Milwaukee Justice Center (MJC) providing pro bono legal services to those, primarily from marginalized populations, in need of legal services. This afternoon I put on my artist hat and printed etchings using the plates I prepped Monday night by sanding. Sanding again. And again. And again.⁣
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It was 2017 when I first started volunteering at the MJC and took my first Continuing Legal Education Class to reactivate my law license. Back then, I volunteered as a student because my license had been inactive since I left the practice of law more than 10 years ago. In the Fall of 2021, I was notified by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that my petition to reactivate my license had been approved.⁣
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It took me almost 4 years to reactivate and finally volunteer as a lawyer instead of a student. I love practicing alongside lawyers who became (or are becoming) lawyers because they want to help people fight for themselves and when they can not fight for themselves, fight on behalf of them. What I now know, is that being a lawyer is not all that different from being an artist. ⁣
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In the end, we work hard and for a long time behind the scenes, we show up, we listen, we share information, we collaborate with each other and we let people know that they are not alone. ⁣

~Bela