Michele D. Johnson
Latham & Watkins, LLP
Costa Mesa, CA USA
"Know yourself. Spend time thinking and understanding what motivates you. It takes a while to know yourself."
Career Roadmap
Michele D.'s work combines: Business, Law, and Problem Solving
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Journalism
Mesa Community College
Bachelor's Degree
Environmental/Natural Resource Economics
Arizona State University
Doctorate
Law
Georgetown University Law Center
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Lawyers:
Bachelor's Degree: Journalism
Bachelor's Degree: Environmental/Natural Resource Economics
Doctorate: Law
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Being home schooled in high school taught me to be a self-starter.
2.
Other than babysitting, my first job was at Taco Bell. Big milestone.
3.
I went to community college, and did well enough to earn a transfer scholarship to ASU.
4.
While at ASU, I signed up for the LSAT on whim, to see how I would do.
5.
I was accepted to Georgetown University Law Center, and during my first year almost concluded that law school was not for me. By my third year, I had been hired by Latham & Watkins.
6.
There, I experienced first arguments, first jury trial, making partner, being appointed Litigation Department Chair and then Office Managing Partner, and being elected to the Executive Committee.
7.
And the biggest milestone of them all: having my daughter, who is now 10 and a wonderful person.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
Most of the discouragement I experienced centered around gender roles.
How I responded:
I tried to figure out what I believed and then follow it, even when my belief differed from all of the—let’s not call it noise, but rather—guidance and instruction around me. I became valedictorian of my high school, joined the honors college at my university, started a newspaper, left home to go to law school across the country, had a baby, made partner at my law firm, got elected to the Executive Committee...and I’ll march in the streets for as long as it takes to achieve equal rights for all.