Laura Schulkind received her JD from New York University, where she focused on public service law, and she has been practicing for thirty years. Growing from her deep belief in the importance of free public education for all, she specializes in representing public school and community college districts throughout California. She is a past president of her statewide professional organization, the California Council of School Attorneys, and is a sought-after speaker throughout the state on issues of diversity and equity in education.
“I write poetry and fiction,” Schulkind says, “because, lawyer that I am, I believe in the power of a well-told story. However, in law I am entrusted with others’ stories. Through poetry and fiction I tell my own.” Her chapbook, Lost in Tall Grass (Finishing Line Press), was released in May 2014, and her new chapbook, The Long Arc of Grief, also with FLP, will be coming out in 2019. Her work has also appeared in many journals, most recently The Broad River Review, Gold Man Review, Origins, Reed Magazine, Reunion Journal (forthcoming), Valparaiso Review, and Voices de la Luna. Links to her published work (along with musings on why “lawyer-poet” isn’t an oxymoron) can also be found on her website, lauraschulkind.com.