{"id":13841,"date":"2021-07-22T09:45:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/law\/2021\/07\/22\/making-every-day-an-opportunity-for-change\/"},"modified":"2021-07-22T09:45:04","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:45:04","slug":"making-every-day-an-opportunity-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/law\/2021\/07\/22\/making-every-day-an-opportunity-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Making every day an opportunity for change – Recent graduate Michael Romero (JD \u201921) overcame housing insecurity on his path to a legal career\u2014without anyone knowing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By all appearances, Michael Romero (JD \u201821) seems to have a bright future ahead of him. He just earned his JD from Chapman University\u2019s Fowler School of Law<\/a>. He recently got engaged to and moved in with his longtime girlfriend, who herself just graduated from optometry school. He completed an internship with Deloitte and has a job as a tax consultant waiting for him there after the bar exam. But for Romero, 25, none of these things seemed possible a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, law school was never just a goal growing up,\u201d said Romero. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t even a dream. Law school was a complete fantasy because it was something that seemed so physically impossible for me to ever achieve that the reality of my world and existence had to change for me to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero, who originally grew up in Southeast Los Angeles, was the youngest of three children being raised by a single mother, after he says they were abandoned and left financially ruined by his abusive father. During much of his elementary and middle school years, Romero and his family spent most of the time living out of their car, in between brief stays with relatives all around Southern California\u2014but he kept the circumstances of his life hidden from teachers, classmates and the outside world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI brushed my teeth and washed my hair in public restrooms, did homework under parking lot street lights, recycled bottles to buy school supplies, and called the backseat of a van my bedroom, while lying to everyone I knew that my life was normal,\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n

As he entered his teens, things did slowly start to improve for Romero and his family. One of his sisters started working while attending community college, and Romero reached an age where he could assert more influence over family decisions. \u201cI was old enough to have an opinion,\u201d he said. \u201cThat’s what when we started to pool our family money together, and so we got out of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero had done independent study from grades 4 to 8 because he did not have a steady address to commit to one school, but once his family was finally able to rent a small apartment, Romero was able to attend regular high school. But even then, he still hid the reality of his personal struggles, despite having a large friend group and being involved in numerous extracurricular activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just built up this lie about my life,\u201d said Romero. \u201cI gave off a certain persona that everything was fine in life. It\u2019s like the Mandela effect. I thought this was necessary to keep going, to do well at my school, to eventually get into college.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, eventually, Romero did get into college, although as a first-generation college student, he says he had to figure out that path for himself: \u201cWhen I applied to colleges, I didn\u2019t know how it worked.\u201d He applied to numerous colleges and programs, and was accepted to several, but knowing he\u2019d need to stay close to his family in case of an emergency, Romero decided to go to University of California, Irvine for his undergraduate studies.<\/p>\n

Banking on his future<\/h3>\n

While working on a dual bachelor\u2019s degree in Criminology, Law and Society and Political Science, Romero was hired as a bank teller at a Newport Beach Wells Fargo branch. He says it was the first time in his life he\u2019d interacted with wealthy people and businesses. Romero quickly realized he had an affinity for finances. \u201cI really started to learn how to make money work for people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Because he had received several promotions at the bank\u2014eventually becoming a licensed banker and brokerage associate\u2014Romero says he was one promotion away from banking turning from just a college job into a real career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a lot of successful business owners and investments,\u201d said Romero. \u201cA lot of the stories of business owners\u2014how they got to where they were\u2014that was always my curiosity, but since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a lawyer. So, I was like, how do I blend these two worlds?\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero says he made an 11th-hour decision and applied on the last day possible for law school. As with his undergraduate degree, Romero was accepted to several schools in California. But ultimately, he chose the Fowler School of Law, both to remain close to his family, but also because of his first exposure to the Chapman Family experience. Romero says that from the start, the first students he met\u2014such as Dante Logie (JD \u201919) and Hope Blain (JD \u201919)\u2014were \u201cso nice and caring for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChapman\u2019s whole recruiting program, Scholars Weekend\u2014I was like, \u2018I\u2019m sold,\u2019\u201d Romero said. \u201cI loved it. It was an easy choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

After finishing his 1L year at the Fowler School of Law, Romero realized how he could merge his affinities for both the worlds of finance and the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already knew I liked finance and I could communicate with people about a touchy subject like money,\u201d he said. \u201cThen when I came to any law that was primarily based in numbers, I was like, \u2018I know that,\u2019 I\u2019m comfortable in that area already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he gravitated toward securities law, Romero says he realized that most lawyers who work in that area come to it either as a second career or after years working in related fields\u2014such as tax law. That suited Romero just fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people come to you for tax law, it\u2019s not just because they have a legal problem,\u201d said Romero. \u201cThey have a planning problem\u2014how do I structure this money and what\u2019s the most beneficial way to do it, and then what\u2019s the legal way to do it. So that\u2019s why it was a perfect blend of my worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018That was when life hit me\u2019<\/h3>\n

During the summer after his 1L year, Romero landed a coveted internship at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Philadelphia. After his first week there, however, he ended up spending nine days in the hospital\u2014five in the ICU\u2014when a tick bite likely infected him with Lyme disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was when life really hit me,\u201d Romero said. \u201cI legitimately thought I was going to die. I was at my dream internship. And now I’m in a hospital bed thinking it could all be over. I\u2019ve always had big plans\u2014I\u2019ll help people, I’ll tell my story. But I never did it. After that, that\u2019s when I really started pushing to be involved and be an open book about my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even while fighting for his life in a hospital 3,000 miles away from home, Romero\u2019s first thoughts were of his professional responsibilities. \u201cI was so worried I was going to get fired,\u201d he said. But Romero says his superiors at the SEC were very understanding, and after getting out of the hospital, he was able to complete his internship, which he says he loved.<\/p>\n

When Romero returned to the Fowler School of Law in the fall, he downplayed the damage wrought by his medical crisis, because he \u201cdidn\u2019t want people to know I was struggling.\u201d Not only was the left side of his body weakened and numb (which made walking with a cane necessary), his cognitive function was also affected.<\/p>\n

\"Three
Romero competed on both Moot Court and Alternative Dispute Resolution teams. (Photo courtesy Marlyss Maxham)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMentally, I was fried,\u201d said Romero. \u201cWords would flip. My handwriting changed. I was achy. I was in pain. I didn\u2019t know how to live this way. I wanted to be normal. I was bitter. I was embarrassed. I was struggling because this is law school. I can\u2019t afford for my grades to slip. I had to work double hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through that extra effort and with the passage of time, Romero\u2019s mind returned mostly to normal function, and although he says the left side of his body still feels \u201cmildly like it\u2019s fallen asleep,\u201d the former powerlifter says he\u2019s \u201clearned to live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

You would never know Romero missed a beat. He earned three CALI awards for scoring the top grades in his respective courses. He became a leader on campus, serving as a Student Bar Association representative, president of the Moot Court Honors Board, co-president of the Corporate Law Society, and competitions chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution team. He served as an Academic Fellow, a First-Generation Student Mentor, and a Student Ambassador. And upon graduating (with a certificate in Taxation), Romero won the ALI-CLE Scholarship and Leadership Award as well as Excellence Awards in Appellate Advocacy, Mediation, and Negotiation.<\/p>\n

Making an impact<\/h3>\n

Before leaving Chapman, Romero knew there was one more important thing he had to do: He was finally going to share his story. For consideration as the graduation speaker at commencement, Romero wrote and submitted a speech entitled \u201cThe Street Light Scholar,\u201d in which he revealed his childhood adversity and the fact that \u201cfor the past 20 years until this exact moment no one ever knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he was not selected to be this year\u2019s speaker, Romero says that when his speech made the rounds among his classmates, he found it immediately made an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople I\u2019m not even close friends with wrote to me and told me about the struggles they had throughout and before law school,\u201d he said. \u201cWe understand each other. The conversations I\u2019ve had with people about life and how much more open, happy, and at peace they are after being able to speak their story\u2014it\u2019s profound.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now that Romero himself is in a better position to help others\u2014with his legal career fairly well mapped out\u2014he says it\u2019s his dream to start his own charity foundation to support kids who are dealing with circumstances similar to the ones he hid for so long from almost everyone he knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal after I take the bar is to do a charity drive to collect backpacks, books, everything, and just drop those off to homeless shelters,\u201d said Romero. \u201cWhen I was poor, having a normal backpack, it just makes you feel like a normal kid. Those small things change kids\u2019 worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really all part and parcel in Romero\u2019s approach to life overall. Although he says he loves his job and what he\u2019s able to do because of it, Romero believes that \u201cour goals in life should not be a salary, job, or GPA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal should be our impact, because it is our impact on people that changes lives,\u201d Romero said. \u201cWith each life you change, you change someone\u2019s world. Every day is an opportunity\u2014an opportunity to help someone, teach someone, and give someone a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By all appearances, Michael Romero (JD \u201821) seems to have a bright future ahead of him. He just earned his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2818,"featured_media":13843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"custom_author_name":"","chapman_pin_hero_slider":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[395],"class_list":["post-13841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-class-of-2021"],"yoast_head":"\nFowler School of Law | Chapman Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/law\/2021\/07\/22\/making-every-day-an-opportunity-for-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making every day an opportunity for change - Recent graduate Michael Romero (JD \u201921) overcame housing insecurity on his path to a legal career\u2014without anyone knowing - Fowler School of Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By all appearances, Michael Romero (JD \u201821) seems to have a bright future ahead of him. 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