About Rebecca Mariscal
Rebecca Mariscal is the editorial assistant on Super Lawyers’ staff. She serves as a writer for multiple Super Lawyers magazines and consumer articles, as well as being a fact-checker and proofreader. She manages the Super Lawyers Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social profiles. She studied communication and journalism at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota where she was also a senior reporter for the university’s news site TommieMedia. She has previously worked for newspapers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her work has been featured in the Pioneer Press, Duluth News Tribune, Star-Observer and more.
Articles written by Rebecca Mariscal
Good Behavior
Beth Hutchens’ behavioral therapy background brings depth to her immigration practiceAfter graduating from UNC with a political science degree, Beth Hutchens moved to San Francisco, planning to work on political campaigns. Instead, she took the first job she was offered, as a behavioral therapist. “I ended up loving it,” she says. The nonprofit FACES provided services to children with autism. Hutchens had an interest in psychology as an undergrad, but to prepare for the new role she attended classes at the University of Nevada at Reno followed by six weeks of training, and …
Paying It Forward
Why Payal Salsburg averages two hours a day of volunteer workWhen Payal Salsburg moved to Boston from Florida in 2012, the walk to her office took her six minutes. Today, it’s closer to 20. “I’m standing and talking to everybody, ‘Hey, I’ll see you next Sunday,’” she says. After starting a white-collar criminal defense practice at Laredo & Smith, Salsburg began volunteering as a way to feel more connected to the community—helping out at places like Rice Sticks and Tea Asian Food Pantry, St. Francis House day shelter, and Massachusetts …
How a Domestic Partnership Compares to a Marriage, Legally Speaking
What the law says in New YorkWhen Obergefell v. Hodges was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015, legalizing same-sex marriage throughout the country, the legal protections for domestic partnerships in some states ended or were phased out. New York, however, has maintained such protections for all interested couples. A domestic partnership is, simply put, a legal relationship for close and committed couples. “It’s a recognition that they are in a special committed relationship while affording some of the rights …
Protecting the Future
Thirty-two moments, cases and people that have defined Kathleen Flynn Peterson’s careerAfter working for a few years as a nurse, Kathleen Flynn Peterson transitioned to the law in 1981. In the years since, she’s become one of the most celebrated medical malpractice attorneys in the state. We asked Peterson to share some of the most important elements of her life and career—so far. 1. Graduating with a bachelor of arts in nursing from St. Catherine University in 1976. 2. Her nursing experience—an asset in every case she’s handled. “The ability to understand the …
Travels With Nathalie
How Nathalie Bougenies’ travels helped shape her practiceNathalie Bougenies grew up in Ath, Belgium, surrounded by family who rarely left their small town, and her parents were determined that wouldn’t be her. So each year, starting when Bougenies was 9 months old, the family took a trip abroad. A visit to Tunisia when she was 10 or 11 stands out in her mind. “It was the first time that we went to a non-European country and where I felt very different because I looked so different,” she says. “People spoke my language, but the food, the …
Something Had to Be Done
How Annie Andrews led reform of the Charleston County Juvenile Detention CenterAnnie Andrews’ first visit to the Charleston County Juvenile Detention Center as a public defender was a shock. “I was immediately just taken aback by the conditions of the facility,” she says. The building had been constructed in the ’60s and never renovated. “There were plumbing issues where fecal matter and urine came up through the drains and into rooms where the kids slept on the floor due to overcrowding. There was barbaric punishment, all sorts of awful civil rights …
Where Native Culture and American Jurisprudence Meet
How Judy Dworkin’s Indian law practice led her to the tribal court benchIf there’s a common element in Judy Dworkin’s winding path to practicing Indian law and becoming a tribal court judge, it’s water. After earning a Ph.D. in geographical sciences with an emphasis on water resources at Clark University in Massachusetts in 1978, she taught at the University of Toronto before moving to the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona. There she worked for the U.S. Water Resources Council on various groundwater laws and management …
Belonging Somewhere
After many years, Rasha Zeyadeh Thompson has found a place in her countryGrowing up, Rasha Zeyadeh Thompson didn’t always have a strong sense of home. She is of Palestinian descent, but was born in Kuwait, where her grandparents immigrated in 1948. She arrived during the Gulf War, in a hospital that had been annexed by Iraq, giving her an Iraqi birth certificate. Her parents fled the conflict immediately thereafter, packing up everything they could in their car and heading to Jordan. “I just remember stories my dad would tell about passing these dead …
Nothing for Granted
A near-death experience helped Keith Fuicelli relate to his clients—and remember what’s importantWhen he’s in trial, Keith Fuicelli starts every day with the same routine. He laces up his sneakers and heads out into the Colorado morning for a run. The feel of his feet on the pavement and the sun rising over Sloan’s Lake allow him to think through his upcoming day in court. “There’s nothing better than jogging as far as giving your mind a place to wander, free from distractions of everyday life,” he says. “I like to run and think through the different arguments, closings, …
For Better and for Better
Megan Pastrana breaks down borders to bring couples togetherThe wall of Megan Pastrana’s office is full of happy moments. An immigration attorney focusing on couples, Pastrana saves each picture, wedding invitation and birth announcement she receives from the clients she’s helped. “It’s really nice to just see all of the lives that I’ve impacted on my wall, and remember why I’m doing what I’m doing,” she says. Her own photo could be among those smiling faces. Pastrana had just returned from studying abroad in 2009 when she was …
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