Experienced Lawyers

The Mid-Level Leadership Academy—part of O’Melveny’s suite of customized training academies—brings the firm’s midlevels together to attend seminars, workshops, and panels that cover a range of topics, from people management and effective communication to “a day in the life” of firm counsel and partners. “I learned a lot about how to manage smaller teams and take the lead in meetings,” Tongco said. “They’re not skills you ever consciously think about developing, but they’re actually vital to your success as a workplace leader.”

The retreat also illuminated the power of human connection—and its potential to drive future growth. A self-described “people person,” Tongco leapt at the chance to socialize with colleagues she’d only ever met over email or Zoom. “It was such a fun experience that will hopefully open up a lot of opportunities,” she said. “Now I can follow up with other lawyers who participated and say, ‘Let’s find a project to work on together.’”

Since her promotion to counsel, Tongco has seen the lasting effects of the academy’s tutelage. “I wasn’t sure what my contributions would look like in a managerial role,” she explained. “But the retreat helped me get comfortable delegating so I can focus on providing strategic recommendations.”

Because counsel are looped into top-level strategy discussions as well as the nuts and bolts of case management, they are uniquely qualified to provide both upward and downward feedback. Tongco takes this responsibility seriously. “I can alert partners when a certain approach is not working for associates and suggest alternatives. That ensures we’re operating efficiently and training our people in the best way possible,” she said. “It’s also a great opportunity to take what I’ve learned throughout my career and at the leadership academy and use it to manage—and mentor—my teams. I want to pass on everything I know to my junior colleagues.”

In 2017, Rodriguez signed up for O’Melveny’s Associate Exchange Program, which sent him to Solórzano, Carvajal, González, y Pérez-Correa, S.C., a leading law firm in Mexico City, for a three-month stint. There, he handled a variety of international arbitration and commercial litigation matters for Latin American companies as well as US companies with cross-border operations. “It was an incredible experience,” he said. “I learned so much about the nuances of business development, client relations, and legal procedure in Mexico.”

Soon after Rodriguez returned to the Los Angeles office, he was assigned to a team representing a majority-owned subsidiary of the Mexican government in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit in federal court. Because O’Melveny had been hired to take over from another firm a week before the deadline to file the motion to dismiss, Rodriguez had to work quickly to get up to speed. “I came in with this specialized knowledge of Mexican law and the ability to communicate easily with my Spanish-speaking client, which proved critical when time was of the essence,” he said. “It made me realize how much value I can add through these particular tools in my toolkit.” The federal district court ultimately agreed with his team’s argument and dismissed the case, as did the Ninth Circuit.

In the years since, Rodriguez has amassed a substantial client roster of companies who do business in Latin America. He also engages with the broader Latinx community through his pro bono practice—which focuses primarily on immigration-related matters—and his civic contributions. Outside of O’Melveny, he serves as chair of the Board of Directors of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, one of the largest and most prominent public interest law offices in California.

Previously, Rodriguez was the head of O’Melveny’s Latinx Attorneys employee network, where he strengthened community ties through informal social events as well as substantive networking with other Latinx lawyers across the country. “As a first-generation law student, I was active in several different affinity groups during law school, which were a great source of mentorship,” he said. “I was really happy to see that O’Melveny had similar programs in place when I joined the firm. On my first day, the head of the Latinx network gave me the lay of the land. Now that I’m a leader at the firm, I want to give younger Latinx lawyers the support they need to succeed, too. I’m very proud of my heritage, and I’m thankful that O’Melveny has allowed me to honor it in so many ways.”