For Rachel, the decision to go to law school was a mixture of family influence and what her family called “an affinity for arguing.” From the outset of law school, she clerked at Cole Fisher and continued there as an attorney after passing the bar exam. She handles applicant Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability cases. “I get to help people who really need the help. Having been injured has been the worst experience of their lives. I have the opportunity to make their lives better in a very real way.” Family crises made law school a difficult start for Rachel, but “I got hands on assistance from professors that I probably would not have gotten elsewhere. They wanted me to succeed.” She met great friends and began dating a fellow student, Michael Mahoney, whom she had known since they were kids. Now they have three of their own.