Damaris Hernández’s Rotation History

“My first rotation involved a big 10b-5 securities case for Vivendi. After four months, I was taking depositions; after six, I was drafting summary judgment papers. Then I served as Beachmaster, which is a term, unique to Cravath, for the attorney who manages all the logistics of preparing for and going to trial. The term came from the Navy: the Beachmaster was the first person to land on the beach. He made sure all the artillery was there and determined how to stage the soldiers for a proper defense.

“Next, I rotated to an antitrust matter, a big airways merger. In my third rotation, I worked on the Merck Vioxx ERISA litigation. In the middle of that, I worked with another partner and went to Mexico for two weeks to do an FCPA investigation.

“In my 4th year, while working on the ERISA litigation, I became pregnant and my daughter was born at 25 weeks, very small and very ill. I took a year off to care for her.

“When I returned to Cravath, everyone was incredibly supportive. They made sure my work enabled me to continue developing professionally while also giving me the time I needed with my child. I started a rotation doing residential mortgage-backed securities work, subsequently worked on internal and corporate investigations, prepared for a False Claims Act trial, and then found out I was 3 months pregnant.

“While I was on my second maternity leave, it was announced that I made partner. This made me one of a very small number of Latina partners at top‑tier law firms, and I was subsequently featured in a New York Times article about my journey—from the daughter of Brooklyn bodega owners to Cravath partner.”