This week Sandra sits down with Judge Yvette Verastegui, the first Latina to supervise the criminal division of the Los Angeles Superior Court. She spent 17 years as a public defender before joining the bench, and she still says where she's from with pride: born and raised in Santa Ana.

Her first job as a public defender came from a single phone call. Yvette calls that white affirmative action, and says it's more powerful than any box you can check. Her take is worth hearing for anyone building a career without connections.

She also explains why, after 16 years on the bench, she still has a few trials left in her. Listen in, and stay to the end for her three favorite tacos.

Get full show notes and more information at: https://law-and-order-me-some-tacos.captivate.fm/episode/born-and-raised-in-santa-ana

Law & Order Me Some Tacos is a podcast for anyone interested in the ins and outs of the legal system. Hosted by Sandra Muñoz, an employment attorney with over 20 years of experience on countless cases involving employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. On the show, Sandra takes you behind the scenes on some of her most interesting cases.

And hey, it's not all legal talk here. Sandra grew up in East LA, and she loves her neighborhood and her community. On this podcast, you’ll also get a flavor for her life as a Latina Lawyer, her culture, and, best of all, her taco recommendations.

If you enjoy the Law & Order Me Some Tacos podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving us a review or introducing us to your friends!

Now, if you enjoy today's podcast and you're thinking, "Hey, I think I need to speak to a lawyer." You should get in touch with me. You can do that by going to scmlawoffices.com and sending me a message there.

If you're not ready to do that. Definitely say hi anyway. You can connect with me on Twitter @scm_in_ela.

Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you on the next episode.

This week Sandra sits down with Lorena Vazquez, a plaintiffs' employment and injury attorney who grew up in Southeast and East LA. She set up shop upstairs from a La Michoacana in Boyle Heights, and now sits on the board of the Beverly Hills Bar too. Ask her where she works, and she'll tell you: the other BH.

On AI, they couldn't be further apart. Lorena uses it every day and calls it her junior associate. Sandra won't touch it. Their back and forth is funny, honest, and worth hearing for anyone wondering where the legal profession is headed.

Lorena also opens up about the leap to starting her own practice, and why she has no regrets. Listen in, and stay to the end for her three favorite tacos.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/law-order-me-some-tacos/id1647620807

Get full show notes and more information at: https://law-and-order-me-some-tacos.captivate.fm/episode/should-your-lawyer-use-ai

Law & Order Me Some Tacos is a podcast for anyone interested in the ins and outs of the legal system. Hosted by Sandra Muñoz, an employment attorney with over 20 years of experience on countless cases involving employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. On the show, Sandra takes you behind the scenes on some of her most interesting cases.

And hey, it's not all legal talk here. Sandra grew up in East LA, and she loves her neighborhood and her community. On this podcast, you’ll also get a flavor for her life as a Latina Lawyer, her culture, and, best of all, her taco recommendations.

If you enjoy the Law & Order Me Some Tacos podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving us a review or introducing us to your friends!

Now, if you enjoy today's podcast and you're thinking, "Hey, I think I need to speak to a lawyer." You should get in touch with me. You can do that by going to scmlawoffices.com and sending me a message there.

If you're not ready to do that. Definitely say hi anyway. You can connect with me on Twitter @scm_in_ela.

Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you on the next episode.

Sandra Muñoz returns to the podcast after more than two years away. She opens by sharing a bit about the absence: the Supreme Court ruling against her and her husband in their immigration case, and the appeal which followed that didn’t go their way.

Her guest is Luis Alfaro, a playwright, performer, and MacArthur Fellow who directs the MFA in Dramatic Writing at USC. The two met in the East LA poetry scene in the 1990s and later wrote the play Black Butterfly together.

Luis lost his mother recently, and his father and brother in the years before that. Sandra has been carrying her own losses: her mother, her sister Olga, and a close friend, Rigo. What the two of them end up talking about is what grief actually does to your work, and to the version of yourself that still has to show up and do it. Neither one pretends to have it figured out, and neither one tries to wrap it up neatly.

Luis also talks about the director who told him his broken ankle was not an accident but a kind of self-sabotage, and about the lesson in discipline he took from it. He describes the class he teaches that meets somewhere different in Los Angeles every week instead of in a classroom. And he explains why, after decades of reviews, he stopped needing to be liked and started asking only to be understood.

We close the way we always do, with the question Sandra asks every guest: what are your three favorite tacos? Luis does not hesitate, and his answer says as much about how he grew up as anything else in the episode.

Get full show notes and more information at: https://law-and-order-me-some-tacos.captivate.fm/episode/you-dont-have-to-run-from-this-place

Law & Order Me Some Tacos is a podcast for anyone interested in the ins and outs of the legal system. Hosted by Sandra Muñoz, an employment attorney with over 20 years of experience on countless cases involving employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. On the show, Sandra takes you behind the scenes on some of her most interesting cases.

And hey, it's not all legal talk here. Sandra grew up in East LA, and she loves her neighborhood and her community. On this podcast, you’ll also get a flavor for her life as a Latina Lawyer, her culture, and, best of all, her taco recommendations.

If you enjoy the Law & Order Me Some Tacos podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving us a review or introducing us to your friends!

Now, if you enjoy today's podcast and you're thinking, "Hey, I think I need to speak to a lawyer." You should get in touch with me. You can do that by going to scmlawoffices.com and sending me a message there.

If you're not ready to do that. Definitely say hi anyway. You can connect with me on Twitter @scm_in_ela.

Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you on the next episode.