Growing up in Miami, Florida, Kevin Hoyos ’19 wasn’t initially thinking about law school as a career path. His father was a car mechanic who owned his own shop, and Kevin worked alongside him since he was young. “Working with my Dad I learned about business and how to manage, how to think entrepreneurially, and how to communicate with customers,” Hoyos says.
After college, Hoyos wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, although he knew he was interested in business. But then he received an email from Hofstra Law. “Before that, I hadn’t thought about coming to New York,” he says. When I looked through the list of alumni and their various business-related practice areas and concentrations that interested me, it incentivized me. I took the LSAT at the last minute and applied. I thought New York might be a good opportunity for me. I thought I’d take the risk and see what happens. It was a last-minute decision,” he says. “But I ended up falling in love with the concrete jungle and its opportunities.”
Hoyos admits that “Law school is humbling and somewhat frightening when you realize that we must ultimately choose a discipline from among an unimaginable list of legal practice areas — litigation, corporate, IP, tax, etc.,” but the entire Hofstra Law staff helped me, guided me, talked to me, and provided the tools that allowed me to make crucial decisions about my career.”
New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship
Hoyos was a recipient of the 2017 New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship, a program that provides first-year law students from underrepresented populations the chance to spend a summer in one of New York City’s leading law firms and corporate/government law departments. “The staff in admissions recommended the New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship program. After considering the benefits, I was convinced that competing for this position — which at the time seemed like a long-shot process — would be the catalyst to my legal career.”
The Fellowship meant a great deal to Hoyos. “It was the number one most remarkable legal experience in every sense of the way,” he says. Placed at Brown Rudnick LLP as a summer associate in the business and corporate restructuring group, Hoyos was “thrown into the fast-paced financial restructuring world” where “I observed and learned first-hand from high profile litigators in the field. I realized that this was what I was looking for — it was law, but it had the business aspect that I love,” Hoyos explains. “That opportunity showed me, at a minimum, where my legal interests lay and where I could best apply my real-life skills to be most effective, and it provided opportunities to build strong relationships with lifelong mentors and receive much needed guidance.”
One of those lasting mentors was one of the law firm partners who sat on the interviewing panel for the Fellowship, Ronald T. Sarubbi, then Chair of the Financial Transactions group at Perkins Coie LLP, and now Managing Partner of their New York office. “My history with Ron dates back to my first year of law school, when I was just learning the ins and outs of the legal business. It has been an invaluable relationship. He has provided me with a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a nudge in the right direction — simply someone who is willing to have conversations to help me find my own answers. This was instrumental to my career, I believe, and for that I’m grateful,” Hoyos says. He emphasizes “This may easily be put in motion, but only if you put yourself out there and create the opportunities for yourself.”
Other Influential Hofstra Law Experiences
In addition to his participation in the Fellowship, Hoyos was a member of the Latino/a American Law Student Association (LALSA) and the Immigration Law Society (ILS). “Being part of LALSA and ILS gave me the opportunity to be involved, meet other students, and build friendships that encourage and support you in the tough but memorable times that law school occasions,” Hoyos says. His main focus, however, was the Hofstra Law Review, where he was an Associate Editor. “Most of my closest friends now I met during my time as an Editor of the Hofstra Law Review. I was lucky to build very strong relationships.”
After that first summer at Brown Rudnick, Hoyos was accepted into Hofstra Law’s Business Honors Concentration Program where enrolled in niche business courses on the topics of bankruptcy, litigation, and financial restructuring, which were taught by Federal Bankruptcy Judge Louis A. Scarcella ’77 and financial restructuring Partner John Bae ’89. “I developed a great relationship with Judge Scarcella,” he says. “After graduation I went on to be federal clerk for him. The reasoning, analysis, and cogitation of complex legal issues that occurs behind closed doors is remarkable and falls nothing short of an important milestone in a young lawyer’s career.”
“If it was not for these relationships, I might have missed out on amazing opportunities,” Hoyos says. “Law school is not just worrying about grades. Making meaningful connections and fostering these relationships is simple, but significant. It will present opportunities that galvanize your legal career, challenge you to think for yourself and find your own voice.”
Life After Law School
After completing his Federal Clerkship, Hoyos joined the Financial Restructuring group at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. “It was the first time I felt like an attorney, and I quickly began to understand the repercussions that the legal work I was doing may have on the real financial world. In other words, the work I was doing really mattered, and that just fueled me. I tried to soak up as much as I could and a keep a learner’s mind,” he says. “At this level, the caliber and quality of work must be high, and it is very demanding. But if you enjoy thinking critically, getting involved, and staying curious and eager to absorb new information, I would say you are on the right career path. I learned how to step outside of my comfort zone and doing so reinforced that financial restructuring is the kind of work I want to do,” he says. “I love the work, and it touches on so many different disciplines.”
“My favorite part of practicing law is the thinking,” Hoyos says. “I love it. I’ve learned not to work mechanically and to look at the 30,000-foot view, as Professor Sample used to say. I enjoy looking for legal connections to the issue that might make a difference. The partners I’ve worked for appreciate a straight answer, but the same partners have reminded me that I’m an attorney too, and my opinions and perspective provide value; expressing them is how I’ll learn.”
“As is common in the legal world, none of us know what we are doing, we just have to figure it out.” he says. “But putting in the same amount of effort into your work as you would like to extract from it will facilitate that. Only then will you have a chance to take the proverbial ‘shot’ to make a name for yourself and your career. But first, you have to learn to take a shot — and sometimes it pays off.”
Hoyos just completed his first year at Cadwalader in September. “But circumstances change,” he says. “Now I’m looking to come back home to Miami.” Hoyos recently married his high school sweetheart, a child psychologist for the Miami-Dade County school system. Seeking to settle down and return to his roots in Miami, be close to family, and continue building his legal career, Hoyos recently received an offer from Miami-based Greenberg Traurig LLP.
“My transition to Greenberg Traurig’s Global Restructuring and Bankruptcy practice will provide me with the opportunity to witness the ever-evolving legal landscape and learn, firsthand, some of the best-in-class approaches to promptly meeting the changing needs of clients on a global scale,” Hoyos says. “It is such a good opportunity, because Greenberg Traurig works across a number of offices around the world in addition to the US, and the firm brings in a significant amount of European and Latin American work. But if it weren’t for Hofstra Law and my other experiences, who knows if I would have been able to come back to Miami. The word appreciative falls short for all that Hofstra Law has contributed along the journey” he says.
The post Kevin Hoyos ’19 Discusses How Law School Connections Helped Guide His Career appeared first on Hofstra Law News.