Collaboration
Your plan is designed with you, one decision at a time. If you need to talk something over with your family first, take the time. Lema would rather you feel good about your choices than rushed.
Her story
From civil rights to estate planning.
Lema grew up in the U.S. Midwest and spent much of her life between the United States and Palestine. She studied Human Rights Studies as an undergraduate and went to law school intending to become a human rights lawyer.
In her first weeks of law school, the events of 9/11 changed her focus from international human rights to civil rights at home, because it felt urgent for her own community. She built a career on that work, in private practice, at a civil rights nonprofit and at the U.S. Department of Justice.
The day she took her oath as a civil servant, she promised to protect and defend the Constitution. She still thinks of her work that way: making sure people don’t lose what they’re owed, sometimes because of bad intent and sometimes because no one stepped in.
- Human Rights StudiesWhere it started: an idealist’s undergraduate degree.
- University of Nebraska College of LawInterned at two civil rights organizations, including one in Washington, D.C.
- Civil rights litigationA small law firm in D.C. representing individuals.
- Civil rights nonprofitAdvocating for communities, not just individual clients.
- U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights DivisionVoting Rights Section, enforcing language-access protections for voters.
- Bashir LawEstate planning for families across Virginia, Maryland and D.C.