October 2005

While the part-time option at the School of Law does not mesh with the traditional 9:00 to 5:00 work schedule, it has worked out great for one student. Vicki Rivas-Vazquez works part-time at the University of Miami Libraries’ Cuban Heritage Collection at the Otto G. Richter Library, right next door to the law school complex. Her part-time status allowed her to work during her first year and her job provided her with the flexibility and convenience necessary to survive the first year.

Born and raised in Miami, Vicki has moved back and forth between Miami and Washington since she moved to D.C. to attend college. Vicki received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Georgetown University. She stayed in D.C. after graduating to work as a legal assistant for an immigration attorney and as a staff writer for The Times of the Americas for one year. Then, Vicki moved back to Miami to work for Univision, the Spanish Television Network. While a television news producer for the Spanish language network, she got a call to return to D.C. It was an opportunity that was just too good to pass up. Vicki became Assistant Press Secretary for the White House under the Clinton-Gore Administration. Her tour of duty in the federal government also includes working at the Department of State as the Public Affairs Assistant to Ambassador Bill Richardson, the U.S. Representative to the United Nations, and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for Donna Shalala, then-U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. When Shalala assumed the presidency at the University of Miami in 2001, she hired Vicki as the Associate Vice President for Public Affairs. After two years in that position, Vicki enrolled in the School of Law. “Law school has been in the back of my mind since I was an undergraduate student. After eight years in government, I decided that a J.D. was in my best interest and I embarked on a new career. The part-time program offered me a great balance between studying and working.”

In the spring, Vicki will be a 3L at Miami Law and she expects to graduate in December of 2006, just a semester later than the class she entered with in the fall of 2003. Vicki is a member of the Cuban American Bar Association, the Hispanic Law Students Association, the International Law Society, and Associate Justice for the Student Bar Association. She is also a student ambassador, a mentor for new students, and she has interned with the School of Law’s Center for Ethics and Public Service. She worked at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and this spring Vicki will be a judicial intern for U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan.

Vicki’s favorite classes have been several of the skills development courses – Litigation Skills, Mediation, and Alternative Dispute Resolutions, taught by Professor Williamson, a former foreign service officer for the State Department.

Vicki is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of French and Italian. After law school, Vicki is interested in pursuing work in international litigation and arbitration.