Her Story
About Maya
Maya Peterson-Bailey is an attorney who began practicing in February 2026 after being admitted to the bar in December 2025. Her main area of expertise is family law, a path she chose because she cares deeply for clients and wants to help them solve issues so they can return to their normal lives. She hopes to transition into estate planning to help clients avoid legal issues proactively. Maya earned her JD from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2025 following her undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University, completed in 2021. She maintains professional memberships in the San Francisco Arts Association and the California Lawyers Association. She attributes her success to God and values family, organization, and problem solving in both her work and personal life. Her advice to young women entering the legal field is to be bold in pursuing righteous causes and achieving favorable outcomes, while she credits her mother with teaching her not to be afraid to ask questions.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maya
01What do you attribute your success to?
God is the only reason why I made it as far as I have.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
From my mother from a young age: don't be afraid to ask questions. Especially now that I'm in a new field and a new attorney, I'm gonna always be a student, it's called the practice of law, so I'm not gonna master anything, and there's always more to learn.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be bold. Whatever your heart's desire, if it's a righteous cause, be bold in pursuing it, and be bold in getting a favorable outcome.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges would definitely be access to legal services. I know at my firm and many other firms, we charge a lot, and I know people in my family wouldn't be able to retain firms that I am at. So there's an opportunity there for pro bono work, or just for more legal services in the rooms, so they don't have to go through lawyers, they could do it themselves, or obtain more self-help.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Top value is definitely family. I need to spend as much time as I can with them. Professionally, that would be organization and problem solving. I love to solve problems in the most inexpensive way, and the easiest way, there's no need to be complicated if it's not necessary.
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