Renewed Identity Helping Small Businesses Thrive
After consulting some practicing lawyers, she shifted her focus to hands-on courses and opportunities. She enrolled in negotiation classes, created an independent study, and discovered the New Business Community Law Clinic — and a renewed purpose.
“I am putting myself in positions where I’m learning things I want to learn, but also getting skills and tools I can use,” says Ajanaku, who also served as the Sports and Entertainment Law Society’s alumni chair and the Law Students of African Descent’s co-president and 1L representative.
Renewed Identity Helping Small Businesses Thrive
After consulting some practicing lawyers, she shifted her focus to hands-on courses and opportunities. She enrolled in negotiation classes, created an independent study, and discovered the New Business Community Law Clinic — and a renewed purpose.
“I am putting myself in positions where I’m learning things I want to learn, but also getting skills and tools I can use,” says Ajanaku, who also served as the Sports and Entertainment Law Society’s alumni chair and the Law Students of African Descent’s co-president and 1L representative.
“They all touched on a part of my identity, what’s important to me, and what I want to pursue,” says Ajanaku, who envisions working as a general counsel for a Black-owned entertainment company.
She and her clinic teammates helped the film company secure the proper legal protections to produce its first independent film festival. They also helped a California organization that invests in Black food economies and supports prison-impacted Black mothers and caregivers form a worker-directed nonprofit and apply for a trademark.
“They’re giving these women jobs and important skills,” Ajanaku says. “As a Black woman, I have a strong desire to see people in my community thrive beyond just surviving.”
“It feels good to know that giving them these tools and skills will have a lasting impact on their business.”
With the consulting organization, which helps employers respond better to workers’ mental health needs, Ajanaku helped set up a limited liability company, developed subscription and services agreements, and advanced website terms of use and privacy policies.
She says the personal one-on-one connections with her clients gave her the motivation and spark she had missed as a 1L.
“It feels good to know that giving them these tools and skills will have a lasting impact on their business,” says Ajanaku, who cites drafting contracts and emails, working on a legal team, and giving presentations as critical skills she learned in the clinic.
Ajanaku also took part in the virtual Villanova Esports Negotiation Competition, where she was one of very few women participating. In addition, she wrote for the Berkeley Business Law Journal on how artificial intelligence affects people of color and the future of musical festivals after the 2021 Astroworld Festival deaths, wrote for the Berkeley Journal of Black Law & Policy, and got involved in the Womxn of Color Collective.
“Before I leave BigLaw, I hope someone creates a Black production company that’s doing really well,” says Ajanaku, who is headed to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman after graduation. “I would love to work with Issa Rae — that would be a dream job.” — Sarah Weld