SWLAW Blog
Defendant Turned Defender: How Ester Mendez ’24 Found Her Path to Advocacy
August 19, 2025
The first time Ester Mendez '24 appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom, she was wearing a jail-issued jumpsuit. Shackles bound her wrists, waist, and ankles. The next time, nearly a decade later, she walked into that same courtroom wearing a white suit. Her Zapotec braids were woven with ribbons—symbols of freedom, pride, and the years it took to return not as a defendant, but as an attorney.
