Young Chicagoan Lands Opportunity at Big Law Firm through Summer Jobs Program

Jessica Martinez spent the summer between her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college assisting full-time as a floating secretary at the Chicago office of KattenMuchinRosenman LLP, a nationally recognized law firm specializing in more than 50 practice areas.

Jessica clearly isn’t one to shy away from hard work. As she prepared for her first year of college at DePaul University, she was leaning towards a pre-med curriculum. She’s dreamed of becoming a doctor from the time she was a young girl growing up in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.

“I was never afraid to go to a doctor, to get a shot. I was always interested, Jessica said. “I want to help people.”

Help people is just what Jessica did as an intern at KattenMuchinRosenman. From everyday secretarial work, to backing up the HR coordinator who handles RTA checks, to organizing special events, “we’ve pulled her into everything, and she’s just wowed us,” said Patricia Franklin, Jessica’s immediate supervisor. “You show her what to do and she can take the ball and run with it.”

Jessica even helped the firm organize a book fair to benefit the local chapter of the American Cancer Society

She applied for a job through Mayor Daley’s Youth Ready Chicago to earn money for school. “I figured this would be a good experience, and it was,” Jessica said.

As her summer job came to a close, Jessica’s colleagues at KattenMuchinRosenman were such fans that they hired her as a year-round, part-time employee during the school year.

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