Every lawyer, no matter whom they represent, is trying to help someone, whether it's a person, a corporation, a government entity, or a small or big business. To me, lawyering is the height of service - and being involved in this profession is a gift.

If the issue is letting the states experiment and letting the society have more time to figure out its direction, why is taking a case now the answer?

Each one of them [referring to her family] believed that hiding things is never good and that by sharing them, we could give hope to some people - because so many people we know have suffered some of the same things.

If I go home, get a gun, come back and shoot you, that may not be legal under New York law because you would have alternative ways to defend.

You always wonder whether the attacks on my capabilities came from an honest evaluation of my accomplishments or from stereotypical presumptions that we, people of color, just can't do it, for some reason. This is, for an accomplished Latino, an accomplished African American, an accomplished anyone who disproves stereotypes, it's a constant battle in your life.

When you come from a background like mine, where you're entering worlds that are so different than your own, you have to be afraid.

I had many reasons for writing memoir but among them was the hope that every Latino child and adult would find something familiar in it.