In the mid-1990s, Verónica Guerrero, then in her late 20s and with three children, decided she wanted to shift her career from being a Bronx public school teacher to becoming a lawyer. Not knowing anyone in the legal field, she sent off a "mass-mail" letter to the state trial judges of the Bronx Supreme Court.

"I addressed the letters, 'Dear Judge,'" she recalls today. "It was such an innocent letter. It was basically, 'I'm a kid from the Bronx looking for an internship. Can you help me out?'"