They met through La Alianza, a Berkeley Law organization that offers community and support for Latinx students, a match in its mentorship program that seemed to make sense: two Latinas from the East Coast in law school on the other side of the country.
But 2L Andrea Arcia and 3L Melissa Cortes quickly forged a deeper friendship grounded in shared ambitions and understanding what it means to pursue a profession where people who look like them remain underrepresented. Their relationship has reshaped how each thinks about law school, mentorship, and community.
They recently got together to talk about facing unfamiliar terrain, finding strength in vulnerability, and the importance of extending a helping hand.
Mutual understanding
How did the two of you connect, and what were your first impressions of one another?
Cortes: We connected through La Alianza at Berkeley — Andrea, as a 1L, had opted into the mentorship program, and the recruitment chairs paired us. From what I heard, it was the most obvious choice ever: two Latinas from the East Coast. I was so happy — she’s Venezuelan, I’m Colombian, so there was that Latin America connection, and I grew up in Jersey but love New York so much, and Andrea’s from New York, so there was already some connectivity there.
Arcia: I remember our first actual conversation, though. I was with Luis Gallardo, one of my close friends in La Alianza, and he rushed up to Melissa — I didn’t even recognize her yet, though I’d seen her at one of the orientation booths talking about the Pro Bono Program. Luis was asking her all these questions about looking for a firm outside the Bay Area, and that’s when I found out she was from New York. I immediately thought, I need to chew her ear off. That’s really where it started, and I got so excited about La Alianza because I already knew her a little.
Cortes: Funny enough, Luis is also my mentee now — he’s a 2L, and I’m a 3L, so we’re all connected that way.
Embracing the challenge
What’s a conversation, a piece of advice, or a moment you’ve shared that has stayed with each of you?
Arcia: Coming to Berkeley from New York wasn’t really part of my plan. Law school is hard, and I wanted to stay close to family, especially after already being away from New York for so long. But some of the conversations that have stuck with me most, and that have made me more joyful about my time here, have been with Melissa — about how collaborative this environment is, how nice the setting is, how much sun and nature there is. We were both homesick, both had our eye on the prize of returning to New York, and those conversations grounded me. It feels like a privilege to go through something this hard and still build a family out here in the Bay Area and Berkeley, and to build community with La Alianza and our fellow Latinos before we inevitably both end up back home.
“I told her I knew exactly how she felt, and to give it time, especially with how anxiety-inducing 1L fall and recruiting can be.”
— Cortes on helping Arcia navigate the start of law school.
Cortes: I remember Andrea was at a point last fall where it was really hitting her — she wasn’t sure California was for her. I told her I knew exactly how she felt, and to give it time, especially with how anxiety-inducing 1L fall and recruiting can be. Once she had some breathing room after recruiting, she got more space to actually enjoy Berkeley and San Francisco.
Arcia: After I got my offer, I told myself, okay, now I want to explore, I want to enjoy Berkeley. Melissa reminded me to be where my feet are, which feels especially important now that I’m through my first year, with two more still to go — it really does fly by.
An expanded view of mentorship
How has your relationship influenced your experience at Berkeley Law?
Arcia: Going back to our first conversation, I felt very alone before that. Being at USC, and in California generally, for so long, it’s hard to meet people from the East Coast, let alone someone from a similar Latinx background where there’s just an unspoken understanding of what your family and culture are like. It felt so easy, and I hadn’t met anyone like that before — which matters a lot when law school intimidation is already at a thousand. It was the perfect time to run into my Colombian bestie.
“Being first-gen and low-income, you don’t see a lot of people like yourself in this field, so being able to point to someone who’s done it and think, I can do it too, means everything.”
— Cortes
Cortes: We’re both going into corporate law, a space with not a lot of women, and even fewer Latina women. I always looked up to my own mentors — my first boss out of undergrad, a woman attorney — so having someone like Luis or Andrea look up to me now is kind of wild, because I’ve always seen myself as the mentee. Being first-gen and low-income, you don’t see a lot of people like yourself in this field, so being able to point to someone who’s done it and think, I can do it too, means everything.
Cortes: A mentor doesn’t need to be five, 10, 15 years older than you — it can be a peer. And it’s been nice because Andrea’s reminded me to take a step back — as I tell her about things I’ve done, I catch myself realizing, oh wait, I have done that, and that’s something to be proud of. Having someone to walk through my own steps with has grounded me too.
Arcia: It’s so much more than inspiration — it’s proof that this has already been done. Growing up, I thought a lot of this was impossible, and now ambition and these career aspirations don’t feel that way anymore. Melissa is a big reason why. Truly.
Building lifelong relationships
Who are some of your other mentors?
Cortes: I have mentors in every part of my life. Johnsenia Brooks (’26) is definitely one — we met at a La Alianza picnic during week two, and I was candid with her about missing New York, and she just got it. She was there for me during recruiting, too. I worked for three years before law school, and I wouldn’t have had that job (as a legal analyst at Goldman Sachs) if it weren’t for a mentor a year above me in college who told me the opportunity existed in the first place. I still get coffee with my first boss even though we haven’t worked together in three years.
Arcia: I walked into college without knowing a single attorney in the flesh — I just knew I loved the law from my internships. It wasn’t until USC that I was matched with an alumni mentor, Victor Wright, a Superior Court judge, who met with me constantly during undergrad. Then at Berkeley, Michael Fischer (’67) — a Berkeley alum from both undergrad and law school — reached out before I’d even committed, because I’d expressed interest in public interest work, which is what he’d built his career around. What stood out was that he never tried to convince me to come to Berkeley, he just said he was there for whatever I needed, on Zoom, knowing I was still in New York. Now we meet in person once a month, and he just wants to hear what I’m doing and where I’m headed. It’s the support system I didn’t know I needed, and it’s made me want to be exactly that for other people.
Pay it forward — it’s always full circle.
Cortes: I’ve always tried to be a phone call or a Zoom call away for people, the same way Andrea pays it forward to people who reach out to her.
Ingrained in the culture
Have you met any incoming students you’d mentor?
Arcia: I actually have — I got an email from an incoming 1L who wanted to meet and understand the recruiting timeline. We ended up talking for over an hour, going month by month through what she should keep in mind before starting, since the recruiting timeline for Big Law has sped up so much. We still kept in touch, and now I see her in person since I’m back. It made me really happy, because I had no idea what I was walking into with recruiting, and now I get to do the same thing for La Alianza as its private interest co-chair.
“So much of life feels transactional, but at Berkeley there’s a genuine want to pay it forward — I don’t think I’d find that anywhere else.”
— Arcia
Cortes: This series really is showing there’s a real, historic line of mentors at Berkeley Law. I’ve already had incoming students message me on LinkedIn wanting to talk, too.
What’s special about the way mentorship shows up at Berkeley Law?
Arcia: It’s very selfless. So much of life feels transactional, but at Berkeley there’s a genuine want to pay it forward — I don’t think I’d find that anywhere else. My professors have sent me opportunities just because I mentioned something once in class, whether or not I even asked. It’s this selfless, we’re-in-this-together energy.
Cortes: I’d say it’s personable. Our relationship doesn’t start and stop because we’re both in La Alianza, or because she got the job she wanted. We still keep up — we met up just to watch a Mexico World Cup game together. It’s not just law-school-centered; we ask how each other’s lives are going. I’m five years older than Andrea, so I’ve had a few more experiences, but she’s lived in California longer than me, so it goes both ways. It’s not confined to one setting.
Making plans
How would you describe each other in three words?
Arcia: Charismatic, bubbly, and wise.
Cortes: Driven, outgoing, and kind.
How do you see this relationship evolving in the years ahead?
Cortes: She better come visit me in Madrid (for her field placement this semester) — it’s my favorite city. This is part of why I say mentorship isn’t linear: we talked about this early on, when Andrea first got to Berkeley. I told her I was considering going to Madrid but wasn’t sure; I’d never studied abroad. She told me she’d studied abroad three times and that I had to do it, that it’s okay to be nervous but you have to do it scared, because the growth you get from it you can’t find anywhere else. That’s what pushed me to do this for myself.
Arcia: It’s an experience you have to have, especially before you start working. I’m so excited — I’ll be visiting her. And beyond that, we’re actually going to end up working in the same city eventually. She graduates a year before me, so I’ll be out here on my own for a bit before I join her, and then we’ll have our little reunions there.
Closing thoughts
Arcia: The biggest thing I want to stress, especially for first-gen students, or students who grew up low-income with no attorneys in their family — it doesn’t have to be that you’re already in law school, or even considering it. Just reach out. People at Berkeley are so much more willing to help than you’d expect, and I know that first ask is scary.
Cortes: Andrea mentioned she’s the incoming private interest co-chair at La Alianza. I was the previous one, and the biggest thing I’d stress is just ask questions. Especially in Big Law, there are so many unwritten rules and deadlines you just don’t know about, and it’s through mentorship — whether through La Alianza or organically — that you learn to navigate a system that wasn’t built for us.
Arcia: On the mentorship side, it makes my heart happy to help people who were in the position I was in.
Cortes: Totally agree. People think, I don’t want to bother them, I don’t want to be a burden — but if someone’s offering their help, it’s because they genuinely want to, and you’re never too much.
Arcia: That’s exactly it. I don’t have a ton of mentors, but seeing how far out of their way they went without me even asking specific things — that’s where their heart was, and it’s contagious.
Cortes: It is. It makes you feel good too, helping people.
Arcia: Because what else is it all for? I feel like it would all be for nothing otherwise.