Trisha Ryan is a self-made lawyer. When she was 30, she had only a high-school education and was a divorced mother of two, working 60 hours per week managing an Arby’s in Bonita Springs, Fla. She knew she needed a way out, and that education would be that way. Trisha went to college and got a job as a paralegal, but quickly realized that she wouldn’t be happy preparing documents for others. She went to law school and started her own firm, where she keeps her rates reasonable enough that she previously could have afforded them. “If you need legal services, you deserve legal services, you are entitled to legal services. Just because you can’t pay $400 an hour doesn’t mean you should go without an attorney. That’s my philosophy.” Trisha also volunteers as a spokesperson for Dress for Success, an organization that helped her with professional clothes when she was looking for her first paralegal job.
