Liana Lamour
I'm currently an undergraduate student at the University of South Florida, where I'll be graduating early next December. I've been pursuing my career aspirations in law for about 4 years now, starting in my senior year of high school. I'm really interested in the legal field, particularly intellectual property law, business law, and contractual law. Eventually, when I'm older, I'd love to go into diplomacy, but in my 20s and earlier career, I want to focus on working as a lawyer in these specialized areas. Last semester was a pivotal moment for me when I got accepted into a law exchange program in Paris, where I studied from August to December 2025. Being able to be a law student for a semester and take full law exams gave me a real taste of what it's like to learn specific types of law, which was incredibly valuable since we don't have law majors in undergrad here in the U.S. While in Paris, I volunteered and interned with Serve the City Paris, an organization I'm still working with remotely. I'm now in the process of trying to start my own non-profit organization with their help and some outside funding, focused on helping people experiencing homelessness through donation drives for essential items like blankets, hats, and gloves during the cold winter months. My days include going to school, coming home and working on drafting different ideas and approaches for creating my own NGO, and I also work at a Pilates studio and babysit part-time. I see myself working as a lawyer in a cross-cultural aspect, ideally as an in-house lawyer where I have the flexibility to travel to different places while doing my work.
• University of South Florida
• Graduating December 2025
• Law Exchange Program
• Paris
• France (August - December 2025)
• Acceptance into Law Exchange Program in Paris
• Kappa Delta Sorority
• Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity
• Undergraduate Law Review at University of South Florida
• Serve the City Paris
• Serve the City Paris (volunteering and interning
• Developing non-profit for homeless donation drives)
• Church volunteer (food drives and community service)
• Children's Cancer Center (3 years)
What do you attribute your success to?
I would say the key factor to my success is definitely discipline. I think motivation is a very important quality to have, but going into university can be very difficult, especially since in my family, both of my parents come from a different country. My dad is Haitian, and my mom grew up in Dominican Republic, so their university and their schooling was very different than my experience, so we were all kind of going through it together, the whole college application process, and what university looks like here versus in many other countries. I think it's very easy to sometimes feel frustrated going through it for the first time, and maybe sometimes you'll tell yourself, like, I don't really know where I'm going, or maybe I shouldn't be doing this, maybe I should do that. But I think kind of having a strong sense of self, and keeping a disciplined mindset, and saying, okay, like, this week, this is going to be the goal, and then this is my goal for next month, and do what I need to do to make it happen, and it makes it kind of easier, because then, no matter what your mood is, you're like, okay, but I still gotta get these things done. Really, you're able to give yourself a pat on the back, and when you look at it in the grand scheme of things, like, yes, things are very crazy, and a lot of things did happen, but you stuck to your word, and I think that's the most rewarding aspect of staying disciplined.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would definitely say have a clear vision, but also give yourself grace. Navigating something so big is especially challenging when going to law school in itself is a very tricky concept, just because, again, more limited resources in your undergrad than maybe some of the other career paths that have a direct leeway. So, yeah, have a very strong sense of self, and a clear vision for what you want, but still give yourself the grace to mess up, and maybe allow yourself to kind of pick back up from where you started. Maybe you need a week, okay, this week was bad, my exam grades weren't where I wanted to, or I can't land that internship that I want, and allow yourself to kind of wallow in it for a little bit, but be able to bounce back and kind of continue and have that momentum.
Locations
Serve the City Paris
Tampa, FL