Candidate for Director:
Ryan O. Manuel
To the FBANC Board and Active Members,
My name is Ryan Louie O. Manuel, and I submit this statement in support of my candidacy for Mentorship Director for the 2023-2024 FBANC Board. I am currently FBANC 42’s Co-Social Director and an associate at Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith LLP.
I have been an active member of FBANC since law school, having served as PALS Co-President at USF. I have had the privilege of serving as FBANC 42’s Co-Social Director this past year, meeting many of our members during our in-person picnic and holiday party.
It would be my honor to be FBANC 43’s Mentorship Director. I am prepared and experienced to take on this role, based on the network and community I have built as a paralegal before law school, as a law student, and as this year’s Co-Social director.
As FBANC’s Mentorship Director, I aim to strengthen our mentor and mentee program by further developing the “families” within FBANC’s mentors-mentees program. Incorporating social events that would allow our mentors and mentees to get to know each other better, as well as hold workshops led by mentors for the mentees to help prepare them with interviews, composing resumes, etc.
Additionally, I would like to incorporate a mentorship program for FBANC’s “young lawyers,” those attorneys who have only been practicing for 1-5 years. I believe that our “young lawyers” can benefit from the years of experience, skills, and knowledge of our more senior FBANC lawyers.
I would also like to include our FBANC changemakers in the mentorship program. Those FBANC members who took alternative career paths with their legal degree or changed career paths after practicing law. Our mentorship program can benefit from their insights and experiences.
I am equally excited to work with our law students to organize next year’s Komunidad and to support and guide our students in planning FBANC’s key full-day event. I look forward to collaborating with the law students and FBANC members for an event that will be insightful and productive for all attendees.
I am well suited to lead and organize Komunidad with our law students. I have extensive experience in event planning (i.e., FBANC 42 social events) and putting together a full-day symposium as USF Law Review’s Symposium Editor. I also coordinated numerous events in law school, including the revival of USF’s Judges of Color Panel, the first-ever USF PALS Grad, and USF Pride Grad. I also work well with law students as a tutor for law students while in law school.