ALUMNI VOICES: JUDGE CISNEROS

MEET CHANGELAWYERS ALUMNI'S FIRST FEDERAL JUDGE

Magistrate Judge Lisa J. Cisneros joined the Court following fifteen years of practice as a litigator and attorney in government and public service.

Prior to taking the bench, Judge Cisneros served as a Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice. As part of the Department’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section, she represented the State of California and its agencies in complex affirmative and defensive litigation, primarily in the federal trial and appellate courts.

Judge Cisneros began her legal career at California Rural Legal

Assistance, Inc. (CRLA), where she created and directed the LGBT Program, which provides representation and advocacy for low-income LGBT individuals in rural areas. Judge Cisneros then served as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of this Court for two years. Following her clerkship, Judge Cisneros practiced at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, where she represented employees and consumers in mass tort, class action, and antitrust cases. She also maintained an active pro bono practice, including writing amicus briefs to the federal circuit courts and the Supreme Court and serving on the board of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Her work as an attorney was recognized by the National LGBT Bar Association, the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom and the California Attorney General. In addition to her law practice, Judge Cisneros was appointed by the Governor as a member of the California Fair Employment & Housing Council, where she promulgated regulations and conducted hearings.

Judge Cisneros earned her law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law and her undergraduate degree with honors from Brown University.

QUESTION: CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR PATH TO THE BENCH AND A PIVOTAL MOMENT OR MOMENTS THAT LED YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

JUDGE CISNEROS: For many years, I did not have a mindset of “I want to wear the robe one day and be a judge.” When I reached mid-career level, I had command of litigation and a high level of confidence in working on my cases and running teams. In addition, I started to have conversations with mentors, who encouraged me to consider a judgeship and apply.

That was very influential for me. It makes a big difference to have people who can advise you – both mentors or peers who can offer a perspective based on their experiences, their observations of your work, and what they have seen in the legal profession. That feedback can broaden one’s view of what one’s professional opportunities may be, whether it is joining the bench, or taking on some other meaningful path.

Another important part of my path included carefully considering what role I wanted to play in our legal system for the next phase of my career. I have always had a strong commitment to public service. An independent judiciary is crucial to the success of our constitutional democracy. It reinforces the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the opportunity for all litigants to get a fair hearing. We judges take an oath, and make a commitment to seek out the facts and the law, follow precedent, and make decisions without being beholden to any set of political beliefs or any organizational or personal agenda. I’ve embraced that role, and I see it as a profound responsibility.

Q: IN 2006 YOU GOT A SCHOLARSHIP FROM CHANGELAWYERS, THEN KNOWN AS THE CALIFORNIA BAR FOUNDATION. DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT IMPACT THE SCHOLARSHIP HAD ON YOU?

JC: Yes, it was a public interest scholarship. It was fantastic and a confidence booster. It was encouraging that other attorneys in a reputable organization saw my commitment and saw the vision for the career that I wanted and they were willing to support me. All the scholarships I received made a huge difference because I was deciding if I should pursue my interest in public service and social justice work or take a more conventional path of going to a big law firm. A lot of students, for very understandable reasons, have public interest goals but have to take an alternate path into more lucrative positions after law school.

So all of the scholarships, like the ChangeLawyers scholarship, helped me stay on track for my career in public interest and mitigated the huge amount of student debt that I was accruing over time.

Q: DID YOU ALSO WORK WITH CHANGELAWYERS DURING YOUR CAREER?

JC: Once I graduated and became a practicing attorney, I was with

California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA), directing the LGBTQ+ program, and ChangeLawyers provided us with grant support for fellows. I went from being a law student that ChangeLawyers supported through a scholarship to being a practicing attorney running a program that ChangeLawyers also supported with a grant. (And the LGBTQ+ program is still going with CRLA.) It’s great when we can really support folks throughout their trajectory from student to professional. It’s like ChangeLawyers spotted a seed, you watered the seed, it grew, and the plant's thriving. You lend some sunshine, lend some water, and it keeps growing and expanding and contributing to the legal profession.

Q: DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO GIVE TO YOUNG, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, FIRST-GEN LAW STUDENTS AND YOUNG LAWYERS?

JC: Pursue growth, pursue excellence, and pursue impact in public service. If you have that commitment to growth and challenge, that means you're going to be open to take ownership of your role on cases and advocacy initiatives. You’ll grow from that and learn a lot of skills. Some of them will be soft skills, in terms of dealing with people and organizations which is very important, and some of them may be more technical skills that relate to litigation, regulatory advocacy or legislative advocacy.

If you pursue growth, then you're not going to stagnate in your career. At each stage, you'll add to your set of skills, the vision that you have, and what you can contribute to any sort of organization or community advocacy effort. Don't be afraid of challenges or stressful periods in a career because that is part of what growth is. Not every day is a cakewalk, and there are moments of uncertainty and challenge, and that's all part of the growth.