Leilah Rodriguez was raised in Orange County, California. She graduated Cum Laude from the University of Southern California in 2018, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and minored in Communication, Policy, and Law. Leilah was a Trustee Scholarship recipient, which is the highest merit-based scholarship awarded by the university. During her time at USC, Leilah founded what is now the school’s largest professional fraternity, Delta Phi Epsilon, worked as a USC Tour Guide, and earned a place on the Dean’s List for five consecutive semesters. Leilah also studied abroad in Athens, Greece for a semester where she volunteered with refugees for six months and honed her Arabic and Greek language skills. In addition, Leilah interned for Senator Diane Feinstein, worked as a public relations intern for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and gained experience as a candidacy researcher for NationBuilder.
After college, Leilah started her own successful business as an independent college counselor, called College Counseling with Leilah. Supporting others in finding and pursuing their dreams inspired Leilah to follow her own dream of becoming an attorney.
In 2020 Leilah began studying at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 2023. While at UCI Law, Leilah served as President of the Middle East and South Asian Law Student Association and Vice President of the Christian Legal Society for two years. Leilah was also a Finalist in the 2022 UCI Mock Trial competition and earned the award for Best Courtroom Presence. In the summer after her first year, Leilah clerked for the Law Offices of Amy Einstein, a firm specializing in dependency and family law. The following year, she spent eight months clerking for the General Counsel’s Office for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. Leilah also spent many hours volunteering pro bono on projects protecting the rights of survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, and consumers. Most notably, as an Advanced Student Clinician with UCI’s Civil Rights Litigation Clinic, Leilah contributed to multiple high profile international and domestic mass tort cases, some examples of which included lawsuits for human rights violations perpetrated by Chiquita Brands International and multiple claims regarding police brutality and civil rights violations at Black Lives Matter protests. The overall impact of those cases influenced Leilah’s decision to begin her career in Plaintiff’s side mass tort litigation with Andrews & Thornton.
In her free time, Leilah enjoys going to the beach, dancing, and watching college football (Fight On!).