Carlota Zimmerman, JD'07
Carlota Zimmerman took on law school so she could find a way to make a positive impact. The summer following her second year, she did just that as an intern in the immigration department of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's New York office.
"As a native New Yorker, I feel it's very important to give back to my home town. This was a very exciting chance to help New York constituents, both native and immigrant." She carried about 70 cases ranging from visitor visas to ongoing deportation proceedings. In addition to the internship, Zimmerman clerked part-time for Judge Michael J. Obus of the New York State Supreme Court.
"It was a very challenging and rewarding summer," she says. "I was even able to use my Russian and Spanish language skills, and I gained some wonderful mentors."
Prior to law school, she'd been working as a writer and producer for a major network news organization in New York when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Then, on the same day that 20,000 people died in a horrific earthquake in Bam, Iran, Zimmerman was called in to work to put together a piece on 'Benifer,' the network's top story of the hour.
"I felt like, 'What am I doing?'" said Zimmerman. "I had wanted to cover international news, and it was very frustrating to see the news moving toward infotainment."
She was at first hesitant about a school in Indiana. But "the more I read about it, the more impressed I was-not just by the law school, but by Indiana University as a whole," she says. Zimmerman ultimately chose IU, in part because she wanted a change. Zimmerman has been active in Moot Court and as a member and former president of IU's Latino Law Student Association (LLSA) since her first days at Indiana Law.
"I'm very glad I came here," she says. "I would not trade this experience."
Looking forward to graduation this year, she hopes to land a federal clerkship or work in federal government. Eventually, she may even return to Europe (she spent several years in Russia as a writer and producer for a top news network) to work as an international lawyer.