Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Program: JD
Graduation Date: May 2025
Current Position: Associate Attorney with Gottlieb & Wang LLP
Mackenzie Rawlings was born and raised in Oregon and earned her BS in Human Development and Family Sciences from Oregon State University. Thereafter, she earned her MS in Special Education from Portland State University. After graduating with her Masters, Mackenzie taught special education in the Portland metro area from 2016 to 2022. She graduated cum laude from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2025.
While she loved the kids and her work teaching, she felt her advocacy was limited by the confines of her classroom and the bureaucracy of the school district. That is, until she met a special education attorney. When Mackenzie went into teaching and disability advocacy, she did not ever consider special education law, simply because she didn’t even know it was a job someone could do. After much reflection on what her future of teaching looked like and what other options existed for disability advocacy, Mackenzie gleaned as much information as possible on special education law. She decided to take the risk of making a significant career change, quitting teaching and pursuing a legal education.
Around November of her 1L year, the Disability Allied Law Student Association (DALSA) received an email with a job posting from Gottlieb & Wang–a New York-based, fully remote firm–looking for a research assistant to help with a special education case. The job posting was specifically looking for a 3L. And while she was not a 3L, Mackenzie had all the background on special education, an area filled with endless acronyms and nuanced definitions, and decided to apply. What she lacked in research skills and legal knowledge, she made up for with content knowledge. Within days of her submitting her application, she was interviewed and was offered the job by the end of the week.
After completing her initial research project–an appellate brief for the Second Circuit (which we won!)–Mackenzie worked on and off for Gottlieb & Wang on a contractual basis over the course of law school in addition to other jobs with local attorneys. In the Summer of 2024, the firm offered her an associate position to begin after graduation the following year.
The firm, Gottlieb & Wang, is fully remote and very boutique, focusing mainly on special education law in New York state in addition to various civil rights cases including disability discrimination and employment discrimination. Mackenzie is licensed to practice in both Oregon and New York (she took the Uniform Bar Exam in Oregon and applied to New York through a UBE score transfer application).
What advice would you give to a graduating student who's looking for a job?
- If an opportunity comes up, even if you don’t meet every qualification requirement, consider what other experience and background you bring to the position and take a chance; the answer is always no if you don’t at least try.
- Communicate what you want and need from your future employer, but be prepared / open for opportunities that are different or outside the box.
- And finally, finding success in your career is a combination of luck and hard work, don’t get discouraged!