David Rosen
Partner, Murphy Rosen Meylan & Davitt LLP
“My participation in YLFA (Youth Leadership in Action) had a profound impact on me.”
Dave took part in YLFA from 1982 to 1983. This year-long program started with workshops on leadership and interpersonal skills. “We were placed in direct contact with community leaders,” recalls Dave, “and taught about government, business, and law. We learned not only about the ‘process,’ but how to participate in the process. I learned how to conduct an interview, practicing on businesspeople and lawyers who volunteered their time.”
Dave also had two internships through YLFA, one at Lockheed Martin and one at a law firm. Both internships were very hands-on. “I shadowed my mentors, doing whatever they did,” he says. “I was taken to court, and sat in on meetings.” This was Dave’s first opportunity to experience law and business up close. He credits it as “a driving force in [his] decision to become a lawyer.”
The YLFA program helped Dave feel comfortable interacting with adults and community leaders. Learning how local government worked, Dave says, “I could maneuver my way through the bureaucracy.” He had good sense of what he wanted to do with his life, and developed adult contacts and resources. “Most importantly,” recounts Dave, “I was equipped with an arsenal of leadership skills — skills I have fallen back on my entire career.”
He went on to get his bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and his juris doctor from the University of Southern California Law School. Dave’s current practice focuses on complex business and commercial litigation.
Almost 30 years ago Dave wrote an article describing his CRF experience and said: “We spend our school lives striving, trying to learn about the ‘real world,’ and develop necessary skills. Then along came YLFA, which placed us in working environments, strengthened our skills, and introduced us to the people we have to know in order to get a head start on our future.”
- Featured Alumni: Stepehn Anderson | Alyse Cato | Fesia Devenport | Dora Duru | Gemma Jimenez | Kristina Levsky | Hon. Jackson Lucky | Asia McLain | Hon. Raquel Márquez-Britsch | Hon. Darrell Mavis | Natalie Robinson | David Rosen | Janet Sevilla
