Today we’d like to introduce you to Merissa V. Grayson, Esq.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Merissa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve always wanted to be a Lawyer. I moved to California after Undergrad (Go Gators!) to go to law school. I didn’t know anyone in the Los Angeles area and was literally just chasing my dreams.
I worked part-time during law school for a prominent Attorney in Bel Air. I learned a lot from him…not only as it relates to “Lawyering,” but most importantly, I learned that I was destined to be my own boss when I became an attorney. Backstory: My pay rate was $13/hr. Sure, the wage may have been low for a college graduate at the time, but more important to me was the experience I would gain. Within a year, I got “promoted” and was assigned additional job duties; one included handling billing. My boss would give me a log of the hours he worked on each client file and my job was to add that time to the client’s bill. It was then that I learned that tasks I personally completely on the client file were billed at more than $200/hr! – by this time, I was now making approximately $15 of that $200. My first day handling billing is the day I decided to open my own Law Firm after I passed the bar, and I haven’t looked back since.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No smooth roads for me!
My first big struggle was passing the bar exam. I know a lot of people who passed the bar the first time…I am NOT that girl. After law school, it took me FOUR TIMES to pass the California bar exam. That’s two years of back to backtesting. It was dreadful.
Two of those times, I was pregnant and had severe morning sickness… The final time, I had to take my infant and toddler to Florida for months so my parents could help with my little ones while I studied. My husband had to work…so he stayed behind with our oldest son. It was one of the most stressful, discouraging, and frustrating times of my life. I knew I would pass eventually because I refused to give up, but man…I got some storrrrriiiiieeeessss for ya’ll. lol
Most of my struggles thereafter have been the typical Black Woman Professional struggles…You know, like being mistaken for the law clerk, paralegal, assistant, or even my client when I go to court (despite the fact that I have my business cards in hand, briefcase on deck, and am dressed in “Lawyer attire” like every other Attorney in the building🙄). Or the classic attempts to negotiate my fees by prospective clients who would likely not try it with other attorneys who don’t look like me, etc.
Thankfully I have an amazing support system and I’m pretty resilient. I pray and work and fail VERY HARD. In fact, I may actually be the QUEEN of failing. But you know what? My bounce back game is a BEAST.
Please tell us about The Collective Legal.
The Collective Legal: We are a team of highly skilled Lawyers, Experts, Change Agents, and Problem Solvers who were tired of seeing people who looked like us being misrepresented and recognized the need for a better way to serve clients, specifically, navigating legal issues on a comprehensive level from a cultural perspective.
Our mission:
– To provide exceptional legal and crisis management services to families and individuals in need.
– To provide a choice alternative to Black Businessmen, Businesswomen, Artists, Entertainers, Athletes, Celebrities, and others involved in high net worth or high profile cases currently represented by firms who care about your money💰but don’t care about YOU.
We provide the following services:
Family Law
Business & Intellectual Property
Criminal Defense
Case Strategy & Management
Negotiation & Dispute Resolution
Litigation
We understand that legal issues have a tendency to leave behind collateral damage. As such, our mission goes beyond solely handling your legal matter, and focuses on also helping our clients navigate other areas of their lives as necessary. For this reason, our team is comprised not only of successful attorneys but in-house therapists, financial advisors, business strategists, as well as personal development & crisis management professionals. In a nutshell, we want to see you win, both in and out of the courtroom.⠀
I am most proud that:
We are unapologetically Black.
We are Proud.
We are committed to our community & our culture and Provide a host of free resources.
We do great, meaningful work: our work is geared toward ensuring our community has access to critical knowledge, services and representation.
We also launched our local (& soon nationwide) initiatives (ex: our FREE expungement tour and Know Your Rights Campaign)
What sets us apart: We are not a “traditional” Law Firm. Though this is a business (and we charge for our services), We don’t solely care about your money, we care about YOU!
We won’t sit by and silently watch your mental health deteriorate. We won’t idly sit by while you wild out on Social Media. We won’t let you engage in pettiness that could ultimately hurt your children cause you’re mad. Want a team that cares enough about you to step up where other firms fall short, proactively identifying and helping our clients navigate the collateral damage that often accompanies legal battles, we got you!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I have to pick one thing, it would be to hire a team earlier on. Teamwork makes the dream work. And I’ve accomplished so much alone, but for me it’s much more enjoyable when you can share it with others.
But even with that said, I feel like everything I’ve done (or been through) prepared me for this life that I love and the work I enjoy, so even if I could, I probably wouldn’t change a thing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thecollectivelcm.com
- Phone: 424-777-2012
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecollectivelegal
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecollectivelegal
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/collectivelegal
Image Credit:
Leah Rae Photography: @leahraephotography (on Instagram) https://www.leahraephotos.com/; Dai @100kdai (on Instagram) https://www.100karotphotography.com/
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