Jessie Chen ’22 is an associate at Blank Rome, where she specializes in asset-based lending and agricultural financing. She’s built a reputation for taking initiative, earning the trust of clients and partners alike — and making sure the lawyers who come after her don’t have to figure things out alone.

As a Double Bruin and first-generation law student, Chen brought a self-starter ethos, cemented at UCLA School of Law, into a demanding big law environment. She’s spent the years since graduation deepening her expertise, mentoring junior associates, and reshaping alumni engagement as the youngest-ever member of the UCLA Law Alumni Association board.

Finding her path as a Double Bruin

Chen's decision to stay at UCLA for law school was strategic and personal. After working as a paralegal at a major solar development company during her gap years, she knew she wanted to pursue big law and transactional work. With deep L.A. roots and clear career goals, UCLA Law emerged as the natural choice to keep her connected to the California legal market she was determined to enter.

"Being a Double Bruin meant I was comfortable on campus from day one," Chen says. "That comfort enabled me to be more proactive and join extracurriculars that interested me right away."

Leadership through service

As a UCLA undergraduate, Chen was a dorm resident advisor. There, she learned the profound impact that one person can have on a community. "After I graduated, some of the freshmen who had been my residents reached out when they became juniors and seniors, saying I had inspired them to become RAs," she says.

This undergraduate experience eventually shaped her approach to law school leadership. As the president of UCLA Law’s Student Bar Association, she focused on creating memorable experiences — from the Barristers' Ball to the Supreme Court basketball game against USC’s law school at Pauley Pavilion. She also served on the Dean's Student Advisory Council and various faculty-student committees, including the DEI committee and the 1L Curriculum Reform Committee, helping implement changes that would benefit students for years to come.

From campus to practice

Chen’s experience in law school was split almost evenly between in-person courses and COVID-era remote learning. The experience of having nearly half of her law school years online gave her a special insight into the importance of community.

“It made me hyper-aware that networking is just as important as grades,” she says. “When I ask more seasoned attorneys for advice about how to grow and advance as a lawyer I hear over and over, ‘Stay in touch with your law school peers.’”

Finding her footing

Early in her career, Chen was asked to prepare a closing checklist from scratch — a document that comes up in almost every deal, but one she hadn’t tackled before. The partner was offline on the East Coast, so she turned to a more senior associate for guidance. She expected a quick pointer or two.

“Instead, she spent nearly 40 minutes screensharing with me, preparing the checklist in real time, walking me through where to pull certain information from, and different partner preferences to be aware of,” Chen says. “In a profession where time is a lawyer’s most valuable commodity, that kind of generosity made a lasting impression on me.”

Now a mid-level associate, Chen has made it a point to carry that same culture forward. “I really enjoy working with junior associates,” she says. “It’s been both grounding and rewarding — and it’s made me more aware of how much I’ve learned and how much responsibility I’m now able to handle.”

Chen’s practice centers on asset-based lending transactions, and she has built additional expertise in agricultural financing and researching industry-specific statutes and regulatory frameworks that inform contract drafting and directly shape outcomes for clients. “It’s fun to see the tangible effects of my work,” she says. “Like walking into a grocery store and realizing that certain produce items are on the shelves, at least in part, because of the legal work I do.”