Lawyer Celina Cabán ’04 excels at paying it forward. As a student at Chapin, she was surrounded by caring adults who guided her learning and nurtured her dreams. In the years since, she has herself become an empowering mentor dedicated to helping young people build brighter futures.
“It was very important to me to help cultivate a generation of students so they understood careers in law and also the importance of why the law matters,” explained Ms. Cabán, who grew up in the Bronx and entered Chapin in Class 9 as a Better Chance Scholar.
Motivated by this deeply held aspiration, in 2014, while she was at CUNY Law School, Ms. Cabán came up with an idea for an intensive summer enrichment initiative designed to expose 11th graders throughout New York City to careers in the legal profession. Determined to reduce high-school dropout rates, Ms. Cabán reached out to underprivileged students from diverse backgrounds, especially those attending schools with limited resources.
Guided by one of her trusted advisors – the Honorable Denny Chin, United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit – Ms. Cabán developed her program’s mission and recruited accomplished law professionals to lend their expertise. Through her perseverance, more than a dozen distinguished judges signed on to support the inaugural cohort of 17 high school students. “The first summer was a huge success!” she remarked.
In 2015, Ms. Cabán’s program merged with the Joint Minority Bar Judicial Internship Program to form the Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program, adding a law school component. As a result, high school students now have access to a greatly expanded network of judges, law students and mentors, and more young people are able to participate, including the 32 this summer. For four weeks, Mondays through Thursdays, the interns work in the chambers of the judges to whom they were assigned, assisting with online research and writing assignments and observing court proceedings. On Fridays, they attend educational and professional development workshops.
Ms. Cabán, who never forgot the first time she met the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor as a law student, wished to name her program for the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice and for her mother, Celina Baez Sotomayor. Their unbreakable relationship was detailed in Justice Sotomayor’s 2013 memoir, “My Beloved World,” which chronicled the Justice’s remarkable path from a trying childhood in Bronx public housing to her barrier-breaking career as a federal judge. “I know in the background was Justice Sotomayor’s mother, the silent giant on whose shoulders she stood,” Ms. Cabán said.
About a month after Ms. Cabán wrote to Justice Sotomayor asking for her permission to name the program in her honor, she heard back. Not only did Justice Sotomayor agree to the name, she generously offered to host an annual private reception for the interns, which is now a highlight of their summer experience. The name has proven to be a smart decision. “The high school students can identify with her and connect with her story,” she explained. “I hoped that would motivate them to go to law school.”
Incredibly, Ms. Cabán’s exhaustive volunteer work as secretary of the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program is on top of an already demanding career as a housing court lawyer advocating for clients facing evictions. “I’m so passionate about the mission of my program,” she remarked. “It’s a labor of love.”
Ms. Cabán also remains passionate about Chapin, at which she shone in both academics and sports as a three-season athlete (soccer, basketball and softball). “The education I received helped me develop into the leader I am today. I don’t take that for granted,” she noted. She felt exceptionally well prepared for Barnard College, where she pursued economics and Latin American studies.
During her precious off hours, Ms. Cabán, who was married in June 2018, enjoys cooking dishes celebrating her Puerto Rican heritage and her husband’s Indian heritage. She also loves to run in nearby Prospect Park and spend time with her close-knit family.
When asked if she considers herself a role model, Ms. Cabán reflects, “When a student asks, ‘Can you be my mentor?’ it is such an honor. So, yes, I think I am a role model because of those moments. I hope I am.”