About

Hi! I’m Irene and I am a proud child of Korean immigrants. I grew up in Los Angeles Area, moved to San Francisco Bay Area during high school, and attended college and law school in Philadelphia. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with my JD and Master’s in Social Policy in May 2018, and I’m currently based in San Francisco as an Associate Attorney at a big law firm.

This blog is my attempt at consolidating the things I’ve learned over the years and sharing lessons learned. I didn’t make it here alone — I owe everything to the people who have dealt with (and graciously continue to deal with) the good, bad, and ugly of my life journey. There’s no reason why the lack of access to information should be an impediment to anyone’s success, so I hope you’re able to find some helpful insights here!

Click here to see all of my blog posts in one place (the Blog section below only shows the three most recent posts).

Blog

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The Ultimate Guide to How I Passed the California Bar Exam

It’s that time of year again! 3Ls everywhere are either enjoying their last semester of school ever or scrambling to learn all of Securities Regulation in the few days before finals. And somewhere in the back of their minds, the black box of bar prep looms in the distance.

Now, a year after taking and passing the California Bar Exam, I want to share with you the mistakes made, lessons learned, and what I would do differently if I could rewind to my first day of bar prep.

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The $$$ Talk: What I Wish I Knew Before Investing in Law School

As the first person in my family tree to attend law school, I didn’t have the luxury of pursuing higher education debt-free. However, I know I can, and will, make a positive impact in the world, and I see my debt as a reflection of how much I believe in myself to make this happen. And at the end of the day, I’m willing to put in the time and effort to make the financial investment worthwhile.

Contact

Currently based in San Francisco Bay Area. Feel free to reach out at irenehong [at] alumni [dot] upenn [dot] edu if you’d like to talk law, social policy, politics, civic activism, or anything else.

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