Episode 7: Sistahs in Civil Law (Louisiana Edition)
Charity Gates: [00:00:00] [00:00:00]
Hey, y'all! Thank you for joining me for episode seven of the Sistahs in Law podcast. I'm your host Charity Gates. This is a podcast featuring intimate conversations with Black women in law. Every other week, we will listen to stories from Black women about their trials, triumphs and tribulations, navigating careers in the legal field.
This week, I have a sweet and motivational episode with an attorney I met in the most COVID friendly way during a virtual trademark conference back in October. She randomly DM'd me on the conference platform, we had a fun video chat and the rest is history. And she agreed to participate on the podcast. Also, I'm sure [00:01:00] that you all will fall in love with her fabulous Southern accent.
ReAzalia Allen aka Attorney Southern Belle is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana. She is a licensed attorney in the State of Louisiana. She received her Juris Doctor and Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law from the Paul M. Herbert Law Center at Louisiana State University in May 2015. She was admitted to practice in October, 2015. More recently in August of 2017, she received her Master of Science in Organizational Development from Abilene Christian University, in Abilene, Texas. She was the first attorney ever to go through the curriculum of the degree at Abilene Christian University. While she loves everything about the law and the practice of law, her true passion has always been writing. Whether it's a poem, article, short essay, stage play or a screenplay, she can do it.
She received her Bachelor’s of Arts in [00:02:00] English- Creative Writing from Louisiana State University on May 18th, 2012. She currently manages her own business, including the Attorney Southern Belle blog and her own small law firm. She is a three-time published poet and is currently working on several writing projects.
ReAzalia enjoys a plethora of hobbies, including baking, traveling, reading, speaking, publicly to others, spending time with her Mini Australian Shepherd affectionately called Music, and spending time with her family. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society Baton Rouge chapter and the Louisiana State Bar Association.
So let's get into the discussion with ReAzalia.
[00:03:00]
All right.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:03:06] Yeah. Charity, where did we, did we meet each other? Cause we've been connected for a minute.
Charity Gates: [00:03:12] We met via , um, virtual, too. It was, through Alt legal, the trademark conference.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:03:18] That's right! Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Yeah.
Charity Gates: [00:03:22] So we can go ahead and get started. Thank you for joining ReAzalia
ReAzalia Allen: [00:03:25] No problem. No problem.
Charity Gates: [00:03:27] So I like to always start the podcast with the first question is what is your origin story? Where are you and your people from?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:03:35] Okay. So I am from this town called Shreveport, Louisiana, but my family, It's interesting because both sides of my family, my mom and dad's side, they have roots in Benton, Louisiana, which is like 20 minutes away from Shreveport Louisiana.
But I was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. Stayed there until I was 18. When I was 18, I came to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I've been here [00:04:00] ever since I was 18. I'm 31 now. So I've stayed here since college, undergrad and law school. So having left yet
Charity Gates: [00:04:08] Wow. So where did you go to undergrad and what did you study there?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:04:12] I was in college. I went to Louisiana State University LSU go Tigers. So I went there. I was an English major and I had three minors. Minored in psychology, leadership and communications. And the reason why I did that is because, when I was in high school, I was on the mock trial team. And my coaches, I asked my coaches, I said, well, what do I have to do?
Or what should I do if I want to be an attorney? What should I major in, in college? Should I major in political science, because you know, most attorneys, they majored in political science or something like that. And they were like, no, you shouldn't do that. You need to major in English. So I majored in English and they said that because lawyers have to write a lot of things and that would be more beneficial for me to major in English than to two major in political science. [00:05:00] So, when I went to LSU, I majored in English, which hindsight is 20/20, because writing has always been my passion like completely. I've always written ever since I was a kid, I think I started writing curse when I was like five years old because in kindergarten ...
Charity Gates: [00:05:13] an early bird!
ReAzalia Allen: [00:05:14] Yeah, in kindergarten my mom was like. She let me write in cursive. And I wrote in cursive in kindergarten. They called my mom and said, your child does not need to be writing it cursive. The other kids can't do this. She doesn't need to you need to tell her to stop it. So I had to stop writing in cursive. And then as a kid, I was always writing my way out of punishments and disagreements with my parents and my grandparents. And it always worked. I always got what I wanted. So I said I was just like, you know, I got a good writing skills, good negotiation skills. So, if I become a lawyer, I can help other people get them justice or be able to help them out with their problems that they're having, because I was able to write myself out of punishment.
So that's kind of like my backstory. The writer, turned lawyer. [00:06:00] And I still write, I do poetry, but that's my heart. I've written a few movie scripts, but they haven't been sent to Hollywood. That's a little bit about what I did. And so my theory behind my minors were, you know, I felt like, if you were going to be, if I want to be an attorney, I need to be a leader. And then if I'm going to be an attorney, I need to know how people's brain works, psyches work, because I'm going to be dealing with different personalities. And then I was like, if I want to be an attorney. I need to know how to communicate with people. I need to be able to be a good public speaker, the motivational speaker, because as an attorney, you're not just an attorney, you are a counselor at law.
And I noticed that even, you know, with my regular job and my practice, I'm always counseling people. I am the, the therapist. I am my clients' therapist. My clients talk to me about everything.Even outside their legal matters. I maybe that's just the aura that I have, but that was my theory behind why I majored in what I majored in.
And then I became a distinguished communicator at LSU was like one of the only certifications in [00:07:00] America for technical communication, oral communication and written communication stuff. So I kind of just set my path up with Undergrad to set myself up for success as an attorney, it just kind of evolved from there.
Charity Gates: [00:07:12] That's a beautiful story. I especially loved the part about you writing as a kid and , uh, writing your way out of trouble.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:07:19] Oh yeah. Listen, my dad he's deceased now, but he would always tell people, you know, you don't ever want to get a letter from her. If you know, she is upset with you or anything like that because she is ruthless with her words.
She would hit you where it hurts.
And he's like, it's true. I have so many letters from you because I had to write my dad letters for him to get his act together.
Charity Gates: [00:07:46] Oh, wow.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:07:47] He got it together! The moral of the story.
Charity Gates: [00:07:50] So basically no one should receive a cease and desist letter from you?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:07:55] No don't ever get on that side [00:08:00] of that. But you know, the other part of my story is that, and a lot of people don't know this, but as a kid, I didn't talk a lot.
I didn't talk. And my mom thought something was wrong with me because I wouldn't say much. And that the doctor said, well, nothing's wrong with her. You just give her everything she wants. And she really has no reason to really talk to you because you know, what she wants. But even then I was always a little shy kind of girl, like not really expressive.
And my mom actually started writing poetry and she would always tell me, you know, whenever you need to express yourself, cause it was hard for me, you go head on and just write it, write it down. And so that's how I I'm very expressive with my feelings, through writing, and that may not be the best way, but I struggle even as an attorney, I really struggle with verbally expressing how I feel. And then kind of like in adulthood it kinda kinda got a little bit worse, not worse, but, it kinda got worse for the circumstances , that I [00:09:00] was in. Like I'm 31 and I'll just be honest with you guys.
I was in an abusive marriage. Verbal abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, actually. And so you know, being in that toxic negative relationship, I wasn't really, you know, my feelings were always discredited. Even when I tried, to express them. So some parts of me which I don't consider these the good parts, but some parts of me I kind of hold back. And then when I can't hold back anymore, the only way I can say anything is if I write it down. So it's kinda hard it is a work in progress, especially navigating these dating waters. It's just kinda hard, like, kinda hard like, Hmm. Yeah, it's just, it's just hard.
So it's something I'm working on. I mean, attorneys, they, everybody thinks we think we are super human but we're not. We human and we have struggles just like everybody else.
Charity Gates: [00:09:51] Okay. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that vulnerability. I'm sure someone out there will connect with that story. So thank you for that. Going [00:10:00] to law school and your ideas about law school before you actually got there, why did you decide to attend law school? And then why did you choose the school that you went to?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:10:10] It was a no-brainer for me, because I was in mock trial in high school for two years. I was also in theater, you know? Cause one of the things about practicing the law is sometimes we want to know if you have a theater background, because really it's a stage it is a stage all based on performance and things like that. Performance, how you write and everything like that. You're good with persuasiveness and talking to people that's good.
Like I always feel like, you know how Cicely Tyson, I love her, I'd like her story because I can relate to it. Law, the law, the practice of law in the courtroom, though I don't really care to be in the courtroom a whole lot, being on the stage because I'm a dancer, I was a dancer as well.
You know, being on that stage, that was my oyster, but you know, if I'm reading poetry to somebody that's my oyster. But when I'm not [00:11:00] in that element, it's like ReAzalia Zanita Allen that's that's my full name. Zanita comes out on that stage and everything like that.
She's in her zone. She's in her element. I guess you say Attorney Southern Belle comes out on the stage. But Re Azalia she don't do all of that. I mean, it's like, it's like you gotta kinda get in character, like an alter ego kind of thing. I'm telling everybody y'all, don't want to deal with Zanita because Zanita is she's a whipper snapper.
It's just something. So, tying this in to the question, it was just a no, brainer for me about law school with mock trial in high school. I mean, we tore it down at the competitions girl. I tore it all the way down at those competitions. I remember having a picture of me I was, my mama took a picture of me arguing like I was arguing to the jury or speaking to the jury and I, I was on it. So, I chose LSU Law because I went to LSU at first I was not going to LSU Law because I was like, you know what LSU Law I'm [00:12:00] tired of seeing y'all I've y'all I've seen y'all for four years. I don't want to spend another three years here. But then I thought about it and I was like, you know, they offered me a nice scholarship and then Southern University Law School, which now I am an adjunct assistant adjunct professor of law at Southern University Law Center. They offered me more money than LSU. And then Texas Southern University, because I wanted to go there. I wanted to have the HBCU experience for law school versus a PWI experience. I was applying to HBCUs for law school and LSU.
And so when Texas Southern saying I was accepted, I had already accepted at LSU. And so, I battled between, cause I knew I didn't necessarily want to live in Baton Rouge. So I battled between staying at LSU and going to Southern. Well, the thing is when I went to do the analysis of which schools I was going to, I had a conversation with my grandfather, which is like my dad, my grandfather raised me.
And I asked him, I said, you know, what do you think I should do? Because I don't know, I'm having a hard time because Southern's offered me [00:13:00] more money. But LSU is more expensive, but LSU had a good bar passage rate. Southern did too. But he was like, sometimes it's not always healthy to go to what's less expensive. Sometimes you need to go to maybe do what's more expensive, you know? And then he was like, you know, you just got to weigh your options. So I weigh my options. I had a job at LSU. I was a 4 H a guru. Oh! Country girl. But I ain't never deal with no animals. I dealt with a dog, but I wouldn't deal with no cows and chickens and stuff like that. But I was cooking, I was doing leadership, communication, community service traveling. I was actually the Louisiana state 4H secretary back to 2008. And so, I had a job with the Ag [Agriculture] Center and LSU. Like I was like the only student who had her own student worker office. I had my own office to myself. It was really nice. I loved it.
I loved it. I loved it. So what happened was I ended up staying at LSU because I had a job there. [00:14:00] I've never not worked in my life. You know, even as 16, maybe 14, I've always had a job. And, and as an adult, I've always had two or three jobs.
Even though I didn't need it, always like to have my autonomy. So that's what happened. That's how I chose LSU Law School in a nutshell. And it worked out really well. I don't regret my decisions at all. You know, hindsight is 20/20. Everything happens for a reason. Everything happens the way they're supposed to be, how things as supposed to align.
So I, I really, really, really I'm happy with my decision, because I don't think that if I would have gone to another school, I would be where I am today. And then I also think that if I would have gone to another school, I would be able to contribute how I am able to contribute to my students today.
You know, I'm, I'm able to assist them. I'm able to help them. I'm able to help them, put their best foot forward and excel in their classes. A lot of my classes are skills course classes, but I'm still able to assist my students with [00:15:00] everything that they need to be successful in law school, even though it's a different school from LSU. Make an impact.
Charity Gates: [00:15:07] If you had any advice for yourself back in law school, what advice would you give?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:15:12] Oh yeah, we, so we got to talk about this. If I had advice for myself back in law school, or are you talking about just in the professional or personal and professional?
Charity Gates: [00:15:21] Any advice you would give! It can be well-rounded
ReAzalia Allen: [00:15:25] I got a whole slew of advice. Let me get myself together. Like, all right. So I have lots of advice. One, everybody who you start out with is not going to finish with you. I think we are as humans we like to hold onto other folk. If they're not benefiting you, you need to let them go. that's like the biggest thing I have learned in life.
And in law school, I have lost people and some people lost me and I have a hard time letting people go. But now, you know, if people, if they're not moving you forward on a path to success and [00:16:00] adding value to your life, you don't need those kind of people in your world, in your circle, because in this game, the field of law, which is it's really a good old boys club, but the dynamic is changing because it's becoming a good old girls club, you know, with multilayers of women killing it. But you gotta have a good support system throughout the process, through law, through law school and through the practice of law, because you're not going to make it without it. You know, you can't just hang your own shingle. You know, there's a such thing as hanging on shingle, but it's, that's not even accurate.
You got to have a good support system, in moving forward trust your intuition. I didn't know how to chose my intuition, but now I do a little base deal. Some work I got it. I got it. You know, trust your intuition on things cause your gut feeling it is never going to lead you wrong.
And a lot of times that intuition comes with prayer. Whatever higher power you believe in. So that's one of my other advices to people and from my experiences of being, you know, in a marriage that probably shouldn't have embarked upon. I [00:17:00] just say trust your intuition. That's the biggest thing. You know, you can get advice from people here and there and add bits and pieces and stuff.
But when you feel something that gut feeling in the pit of your stomach, that's something that you probably need to listen to because whatever it is that's your spiritual person, you know, and then I didn't pay attention to this, but now I pay attention to it.
You got to think with logic all the time, because logic, you could lose yourself with emotion and feelings, right? You can lose yourself with emotions and feelings. But you have to think with logic, you have to be logical. And that applies to every facet in life. Even in the practice of law when I'm giving advice to clients, I'm not going to give you advice off of your emotions.
I understand you're emotional about the situation sir or ma'am but I'm going to give you the, the real raw naked truth as it relates to the law. And as it relates to life, because I don't, I don't believe in sugarcoating anything. I believe in honesty. I believe in transparency. And I [00:18:00] believe that you should, you know, strive to have those kinds of traits when you're dealing with people, because in this world, that's the thing you're gonna be dealing with so many people. And the other thing that I would tell people is to say what you mean and mean what you say and stand up for yourself. Stand up for yourself. Because a lot of times people gonna try to play you.
People try to knock you down and make you feel this than. And then sometimes it's true. It'd be your own people. When I was 24 years old, I was in my last year of law school first beginning, I almost dropped out of law school. And I'm saying, I almost dropped out, but it wasn't that's hard, it was because of personal reasons. It wasn't because of, you know, my grades, I was having too many absences because I, at 24 years old, I was a caregiver for my dad. I was taking care of my dad. And the first start of law school, my dad, you know, he called me home and he's like, I need you to come home. And I was like, what is going on?
You had another doctor's appointment? What are you, what are you talking about? He was like, I just need you to come home because I'm in the hospital. So I'm like, Oh man, my dad ain't never called me home. So I had to get [00:19:00] up there, to visit Shreveport. And at the time I was working in New Orleans and you know, I had to put my dad on hospice care and I had to watch him go through all that pain and suffering.
And I had to keep myself strong because, you know, hindsight is 20/20, I didn't think I was going to be, losing my dad at 24. And I was having, you know, planning a funeral and being a caregiver and everything and things like that. And I, you know, I had always one while my dad was telling me about the conversation telling me things that he wanted for his funeral, like way before he had gotten really sick. So I had to do that. So it, it changed me the friend circle I had at the time they were supportive, but over time they weren't for me. And even some family, they just weren't for me. They weren't rushing with me, but I say all this to say that with that experience, it just made me look, look at life a little bit differently, because I did almost fail law school because I had too many absences but I ended up making it.
I ended up graduating on time. So I say all this to say you know, sometimes you will have a little bit of setbacks, but you have to be able to [00:20:00] persevere and rise to the occasion and don't use the set back as a kind of mechanism because you know, life is short and life is worth living.
I've had several near death experiences. In fact, I'll tell you yesterday I was talking to my friend I had a major surgery in 2018, I was living in a hotel because that was when I left my abusive marriage. And and I didn't know, she told me, she said, you know, you don't know this, but you are amazing.
You don't even know when you were on the surgery table you coded. I was like what ?! She said yeah, you coded and they, they brought you back to life. So always just seize life and its opportunities face things head on as they come your way, and trust yourself, trust your gut, but also use logic over your emotions.
And have a good support system. Understand that people on this journey called life not everybody's meant to be there with you throughout your life. Some people are seasonal and some people, are a lifetime.
Charity Gates: [00:20:55] Hmm, that's really great advice. Thank you for sharing that. Kind of going [00:21:00] forward to where you're working now. Can you describe your current position and the type of law that you practice?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:21:06] Yes. I'm what you call a Jill of all trades. So I work at the ninth judicial district court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I am a senior staff attorney. I'm one of three veteran staff. So I've been here a long time, close to six years.
So I was on the criminal bench now I'm on the civil bench. So I see a lot of things. When I first started practicing law, I started off in bankruptcy. I also have a little small boutique practice where I'm primarily doing intellectual property work. Intellectual property work and general counsel work, because it doesn't require me to necessarily go to court.
I also work heavily with my pro bono project and I'm a giver and a nurturer, obviously. And I want to help people who can't necessarily help themselves. So I always volunteer for the pro bono cases like uncontested divorces or drafting wills and power of attorneys. So that is what I do, and I always say that I teach at [00:22:00] Southern University Law Center. Also am a ghost writer. I'm a ghost writer for many of my colleagues. A lot of my colleagues have me to write and I enjoy it. I enjoy it. I enjoy it. I really do. So I'm just like a little Jill of all trades I just can't stop working for some reason.
I'm always staying busy, you know what I mean? I have an insurance practice as well, like insurance broker. So I was insurance broker. I was licensed to do that . I was licensed in real estate. Of course you know I do my speaking on the side and pitching to podcasts and stuff.
This will be, I think the second podcast, maybe the third podcast I've been on. But yeah, that's what I do. I like to be well-rounded. I think, you know, like in the words of my cousin, my cousin, Tara, is what I always say success is having an overall wellbeing.
Charity Gates: [00:22:45] Yeah, amazing.
When you first graduated law school, what kind of job came up for you? What was your first role and how did you land a position there?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:22:56] Well, when I first graduated law school. I didn't know how I was going [00:23:00] to pass the bar on the first time. Right. So, me being me, went and got a master's degree in organizational development.
Charity Gates: [00:23:07] While you were studying for the bar or was this after?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:23:11] And the thing was it was like this class, this program was at Abilene Christian University. And I could go to school online and I decided to do that because I felt like if I, didn't pass the bar the first time I would just I'm sorry, my little country twang is coming out. If I didn't pass the bar, I thought I would just gonna work in somebody's human resources development department So, this course, this curriculum was designed by and actually I was the first attorney to complete the program. So I got my master's degree, 2017, but I passed the bar in 2015, because I was determined that I did not want to pay Louisiana any more money. I didn't want to pay y'all, to take that bar exam.
So I wanted to pass on the first try cause I was but I ended up passing on first try. It was kind of hard to find a job out of law school. I had [00:24:00] internships and stuff like that, that I had. But I started working at this bankruptcy firm and I started working as a legal assistant while I was just waiting for my bar results. And I actually got the job from a friend from college who worked there.
So, I just was asking around, does anybody need any help or anything? And then when I was on that job, I really, I, it was, it was fine. It was a good experience, whatever, but they didn't pay me what I was worth. After I passed the bar. It was a lot of miscommunications misconceptions there. Good experience, grateful for the job, grateful for the boss that I had at the time, but I, I was working part time at a sales department store, sorta just trying to make ends meet, you know, I was working at Kirkland's.
I have never been afraid of work, you know, I have never been afraid of any kind of work, you know, so like I say, everything happens for a reason. So I stayed at that job maybe until about May of 2016 as that transferred over to the job that I have now. And I got the job because I have a friend of mine, she had this position before me and she called me. She said, you know what? It was really like, God, this was, this was all orchestrated by God. Because I was, I was applying, [00:25:00] sending in my resume to all these judges, cause I wanted to be a judicial staff attorney. I always want to be a judicial staff.
I never saw myself working for any other firms besides my own. And I wanted to be a judicial staff attorney. So, that's how I got the job. My friend Taryn she called me, she said, look, listen, I'm going to be leaving this job. And so I'm putting in my week's notice do you want the job? And I was like, yeah.
So then my boss, she called my boss now she called me, she is the judge. She called me. She was like in, I think she was in like Montego Bay, Jamaica. And she had called me so she talked to me. She asked me to come in. At a certain time and try to shadow Taryn and said that I would have to take a drug test or whatever, and the other kind of thing like that.
So I knew I had the job. And so I got this job. I've been rocking with her for almost six years. I mean, we're like this. I tell everybody our, relationship as a subordinate superior. It's not nearly what people think. It's like more like a mother daughter relationship. I be telling folk, like my best [00:26:00] friend is like 64. She says don't say that, but my best friend is way older than me, but it's weird.
Cause I don't know how she's says I don't know how I'mma make it without you without you that saying, well, I don't know how I'll make it without you? I guess we stuck together for life. So, that's my story. That's how I got here. And I'm just grateful to have a boss who is very like supportive of me and what I do in the community and stuff like that.
Charity Gates: [00:26:21] So one of the reasons why I chose you to be on the podcast was cause you're a Louisiana lawyer and I want to have a diverse set of perspectives. Cause I felt like I was getting a lot of New York centric lawyers. So, I wanted to ask what is it like practicing in the state of Louisiana as a Black woman?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:26:41] My experience is different from maybe my colleagues experience.
I have so many qualms with the practice of law. And it's not the practice of law in Louisiana with other people, other ethnicities. It's the practice of law within Black women I just
I've had women [00:27:00] colleagues support me and I've had some women colleagues, they can fan me and I can't stand them either. But my thing with that is I feel like I honestly feel that we're Black women lawyers. We all got to stick together and stop trying to compete and tear each other down, especially in the courtroom.
You know, I've noticed in Louisiana we have lawyers who are older, right, than a six year attorney like myself. And I don't think that just because you have 20 years on me that that means that you can bully me or you can talk to me in any kind of way you want to, because, you know, no, it just doesn't work like that.
I have had more positive experiences with males, Black male attorneys, I've had more positive experiences with white male attorneys. I've had more positive experiences with white female attorneys, and I've had some positive experience with Black females but my issue is I have, and I'm just being transparent.
You know, people call me Black, white and [00:28:00] whatever, when they need some assistance, or they need help with things like that. But if we on this case together, you become a little nasty and I don't believe in being nice and nasty. You either going to be nice or you just going to be nasty. Let me know which one you're going to be so I know, what I'm dealing with.
So, practicing in Louisiana as a Black female lawyer here, it is not the easiest by far. But I realized that if you present yourself, it's all about presentation. These judges know who the nasty lawyers are. They know who the nice ones are. And when, I am a person of integrity these judges are going to know she's a nice lawyer, she's a good lawyer and she helps her clients, I don't want to have no reputation where the judge is like, Oh God, here, we got to deal with this one again? And because I work for a judge, I know how the dynamic is. When you work for a judge, you are the judge. I'm not an elected judge I am a pseudo judge, because everything that comes through this office, it goes through me first. I don't, you know, they can't get to my judge without going to me. And I always make sure that I am presenting this [00:29:00] office in the best light, because I want to protect my boss. I want to protect her.
I want to make sure my section run. Like I literally, I run the courtroom. People might say I run the courthouse, but I courtroom. I know when you are nice to people and when you do the right thing towards people, you don't really have to worry about anybody who is trying to attack. They may try to attack you. You may feel the hurt of the attack or whatever. You may feel a little bit bullied and stuff like that.
Like keep going keep going. I'm just saying the culture here. I just, my prayer is that more Black women attorneys in Louisiana, especially this Baton Rouge area would be more be more supportive of your fellow woman, you know, it's enough money to go around. That attorney that you being nasty to, you might need them for something. That attorney that you talking to, like you crazy, one day y'all might be able to tear it down in the courtroom as co-counsel again. You know, you just got to watch out how you treat people.
You know, cause my thing is people got three strikes with me. It's like, this is a baseball game, you know? That's my motto. People used to have six strikes, [00:30:00] but that's crazy! But it's three strikes honey! Three strikes and you out, you know, you better try to hit a home run with me, but three strikes, you done, you done for. I'll be cordial to you, but don't come at me like I'm less than human.
And for me, it's a trigger because I know what it feels like to be treated as less than a human. I was married for three years dealing with it. So, I ain't gonna deal with any my professional life. Not going to do that. So that's my thing is three strikes you're out, buddy, sir, ma'am and
Charity Gates: [00:30:24] Keep it moving!
ReAzalia Allen: [00:30:26] Life goes on.
Charity Gates: [00:30:28] Exactly. So, over the course of your career so far, how would you describe your journey as a Black woman in the legal field more generally? And what advice do you have to your fellow Sistahs in Law? You kind of touched on it, but what else would you say?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:30:42] You're saying, how do I feel about my journey?
Charity Gates: [00:30:46] From graduating law school to becoming an attorney and then now being a six year attorney, how would you describe your journey thus far?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:30:54] Honestly, it's been like a little roller coaster. You have some high moments. You have some low [00:31:00] moments, but that's life. And life happens to all of us, and I want people to stop categorizing attorneys with this whole stature thing, especially women attorneys. It is so hard for the professional Black woman to just be a woman.
We always gotta be super. Well, I don't want to be super. I just want to be me because my mantra is I'm not my career. And that's the one thing I want people to understand. Understand that you are not your career. At any point, you can tell the bar association that you do not want to practice law and you could be inactive, but you're still going to be yourself.
So, my thing is, when you tell yourself, like me, I'm being my true self on this podcast. When you are truly yourself and you understand yourself, it works. It works. And I just want women in law, Sistahs in Law, to know that we're not our careers. It's okay to take a break sometimes. It's okay to say, listen, as long as I don't have a deadline on at 12 o'clock midnight. I can take my [00:32:00] time. You know, I can take time for myself. I don't have to sit up here, working, working, working working. But we do that because we strive for perfection because even as a Black attorneys, we don't want to mess up or do anything wrong, but we are human.
You know, we've got to understand you're human. Yes, take your career seriously, but also take yourself seriously, because if you take yourself seriously and you value you value yourself and you know your worth, then everything else works out. So, you know, I'm a true advocate for self-care and self-love because I just know what it's like to. I know it's like to fall apart and put yourself back together again. and it ain't easy. it can happen anytime to anybody. Understand that you're human first value yourself and just know that you're not your career.
Charity Gates: [00:32:42] Those are powerful words. And most law students especially need to hear that because law school becomes their life so
ReAzalia Allen: [00:32:50] Well let me tell you. The first year of law school was my little life. Second year, third year law school got my life. My students have to give, they have to turn in a calendar to [00:33:00] me.
And my students, I tell them, listen, y'all, y'all better put something in your calendar for self-care time. Cause me, I'm always gonna take care of number one. You know, I'm taking care of number one. Cause if you ain't taking care of yourself, you ain't going to be good for nobody else. I always stress that to my law school students. And then it's another thing this is my mantra my motto. My students, they all know this about me, because I'm a person. I know what it's like to settle. And this is what I had to say to people.
You can settle a case, but don't settle in life. Just don't! Don't do it. Cause I mean the dirt settles. You don't need to settle. You don't need to settle for anything less than what you want and be confident and know what you want. You know, Don't settle in life, love, relationships, family relationships, anything like that. Don't settle, you know. Know your value even when you have job interviews and things like that. Job interviews internship interviews, you know, always, you know, go in there with an open mind yeah but if it's not working for you, then you can't settle.
That's not something you can afford to do. Not in life. And sure not in the practice of [00:34:00] law. But you can settle a personal injury case.
Charity Gates: [00:34:02] Now going more towards legacy building and how you see your career, where do you see yourself going in the next decade of your career?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:34:11] So I'm 31 now. Next decade I'll be forty-one dear Jesus! I would like to see myself on somebody's judicial bench, but also to maybe a tenured professor of law. And those are the two main options. But the third option is just, my firm will just be one of the largest IP firms. And I have a little system of how it's working and how I'm on a path to them.
Because I want to do things a little different. I'm very different. I'm very rare. I'm going to do things different from a normal, normal law firm.
Basically, no, I'm not going to say I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say I'm not going to say. I just want to do things differently than a normal law firm. I would have a few attorneys under me. I'll probably have a title company because that's in the works right now. As I said earlier, I used to be a Realtor.
So doing title work works for me. And you know, I'm doing trademarks and IP work. So, nobody else [00:35:00] in Louisiana is really doing that kind of work. So, I have decided to create a lane of my own and that's where I'm gonna stay at.
Charity Gates: [00:35:06] There you go. I love it. I love uniqueness. So I always end the podcast with the trademark question is who is your Sistah in Law?
And this could be anyone that you admire, any legal queen you admire famous or otherwise. But a Black woman that's really doing it in the legal field that you'd like to shout out.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:35:27] Can I shout out several?
Charity Gates: [00:35:28] Sure. Okay. We won't put a limit on greatness.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:35:32] Okay, good. I have several Sistahs in Law . First. I wanted to shout out Judge Trudy M. White is my boss. I want to shout out my friend Ashley Greenhouse. And then I'm going to shout out my other friend, Taryn Branson. And then I have some other friends in law. One is Glinnesa Gailliard out of New York, Ticora Davis, she's a star I admire her, and Ashley Kirkwood.
She's like my social media best friend. I really, really admire her. And I [00:36:00] also want to shout out Sonia Lakhany for helping me get into this trademark world. Lindsey Corbin with delegate. legal for helping me get into the trademark world. And those are really my Sistahs in Law. Those are my Sistahs in Law for real Oh, one other person, Natashia Carter Benoit, she's a Sistah in Law. And then there's another older attorney that I have she's really, really she's so cute and nice to me, her name is Etta Kay Hearn. And my ultimate ultimate ultimate she's not, I'm not putting this last, but, and I'm not saying it's least but I had to save the best one for last. My rock. she has done so much for me. She has been there for me through the divorce, through thick and thin. Oh my God. I don't know where I would be without her at all in any facet.
She was my mentor in law school and you know, they say, you have blood sisters, but you have sisters who you choose. She was definitely a God send and I don't know where I would be without her. She has helped me build my [00:37:00] firm. She has helped me in life. we are roommates.
Her parents are my parents, basically. Her kids are my nephews and her dogs a. My ultimate Sistah in Law is Lakisha Rechelle Vaughan. So, I don't know where I would be without her.
Charity Gates: [00:37:15] That's an incredible support system. Thank you so much for sharing that with the audience. So where can the audience find you and follow your work? Social media or a website that you'd like to share with the audience?
ReAzalia Allen: [00:37:29] Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn, under ReAzalia Allen. And you can type in Attorney Southern Belle and it'll pull up my LinkedIn. My website is attorneysouthernbelle.com. It's my blog. And so I write different articles and things like that. It's a very candid, transparent blog. And I'm on social media Attorney Southern Belle or you can find me under ReAzalia Allen, it might come up as ReAzalia Zanita but that's where y'all could find me. It I'm almost to the 5,000 friend mark. So, if people want to be [00:38:00] my friend, you better catch me while you can cause I'm on the rise, I'm on the move. So that is where you guys can find me and yeah. And Oh, on Instagram I'm Attorney SouthernBelle that's my handle. I do not have Twitter.
I will try to get a Twitter, but Twitter just. It ain't for me, but
Charity Gates: [00:38:15] It's another world, honestly.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:38:17] But if I can, but we'll see.
Charity Gates: [00:38:19] Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
ReAzalia Allen: [00:38:22] No problem. Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed it.
Charity Gates: [00:38:26] Thank you.
I just love talking with ReAzalia. She is so sweet and has such a poignant story. Please continue to follow her and her writing under Attorney Southern Belle. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, please leave us a review so that more people can hear these powerful discussions. Let us know your thoughts on the episode via social media and follow to get updates on the next episode. As always, please share the podcast with someone who may be interested or who may benefit from these discussions. You can find us on social media, Instagram @ [00:39:00] Sistahs in Law, on Twitter @ Sistahs in Law pod and like our Facebook page. For a full transcript of this week's episode, go to the website at wwwdotsistahsinlawdotorg.
Thank you for tuning in this week and stay tuned for our next Sistah in Law. Until then peace and love.
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