Amanda’s Professional Journey – Amanda Hassid Law & Mediation

Amanda's Professional Journey

Always clambering over the rocks to see what's next.

- Colorado

Born and raised in beautiful Glenwood Springs, I am of the mountains. I learned that if you misjudge your ability to jump across a creek, the return hike in wet socks will feel harder than the way up. Until I left for college, I never moved once

— Amherst College, Mass.

In 2003, I graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English literature from Amherst College with honors for my thesis. I cherish Amherst for affording an incredible, enriching education and lifetime friends – including my husband.

— Washington DC

For one summer and one year, I worked in Washington DC for the federal government. Before my junior year at Amherst, I interned with my local Colorado congressman, Scott McInnis (now retired).

I returned after graduating in 2003 as an honors paralegal for the USDOJ Antitrust Division. The year was devoted to challenging the merger of Oracle with rival PeopleSoft. The team moved to San Francisco for month-long trial, requiring the small paralegal team to work near-constant all-nighters (it seemed).

— UC Law San Francisco

UC Law SF grounded me in the law.

At UC Law SF (formerly UC Hastings), I was selected as a member of the Thurston Honor Society, and I served as a member and notes editor at the prestigious UC Law Journal (formerly Hastings Law Journal). I published an article on antitrust law drawing on my experience as a paralegal for the USDOJ challenging the Oracle/PeopleSoft merger. Also, I got married to my husband, Jon.

Six years in the bay area transformed me.

— Denver

For one summer and one year, I worked in Washington DC for the federal government. Before my junior year at Amherst, I interned with my local Colorado congressman, Scott McInnis (now retired).

— Sidley Austin and the SF Bay Area

I returned to the bay area, living in Berkeley and Oakland while commuting to SF to the commercial litigation department of Sidley Austin, where I had previously worked as a summer associate. The global financial crisis of 2008 had just set in, and law firms all around were dissolving, causing many to become absorbed as law partners at Sidley. I most cherish my time there working pro bono to secure legal status for a refugee mother and her two kids. I also enjoyed assisting low-income landlords (yes!) in Oakland in the midst of the real estate crash.

— Sydney

In 2010, I moved to Australia with my husband, Jon, who had just completed his PhD in political science at UC Berkeley. We were ecstatic when he was offered a five-year postdoc at a university in Sydney in the China research center.

To become a qualified solicitor in New South Wales, I briefly returned to law school – not a dream come true. (It did, however, give me recurring stress dreams that I have to repeat law school). I passed the courses, even earning two academic awards for high marks. I also volunteered with the Disability Rights Centre, working with dozens of clients with claims of unlawful discrimination.

In 2011, I started working as a solicitor in commercial litigation for Clayton Utz, one of the “big 6” Australian law firms. I worked in securities litigation, for instance representing the ratings company S&P.

We also had a baby girl!

— Ames, Iowa

In 2015, our family of three moved to Iowa, where my husband is a professor of political science at Iowa State here in Ames. I have proudly served the community since. After passing the bar exam, I joined Pasley & Singer, a century-old Ames law firm. I became a founding partner of New Point Law Firm following a merger with another Ames institution, Newbrough.

My practice has primarily been in litigation, including personal injury, discrimination and civil rights, contract disputes, real estate disputes, and agriculture. I have also practiced estate planning, family and juvenile law, employment law and other areas.