Young Lawyers Section Chair Marcella Jayne Is Ready To Aid New Attorneys
6.3.2026
As the new chair of the Young Lawyers Section, Marcella Jayne is ready to assist attorneys starting their careers.
Jayne said that student debt is one of the biggest concerns for new attorneys.
“It shapes our careers,” she said. “It drives our career decisions; it drives our family decisions… A lot of my colleagues don’t even feel like they can have children, because they feel like they have to stay in these high-pressure work environments that are not conducive to having families, because they have so much debt.”
To help with that, Jayne plans on having the Young Lawyers Section host a series of programs on dealing with debt.
“[It] will talk about debt from different angles,” said Jayne. “One of them is financial planning. One of them is about debt collection, and really learning the law about that, and consumer protection [and bankruptcy.] People need to know when and how they can discharge their student debt. Fundamentally, what we want to do is help young lawyers come up with a strategy for dealing with their debt – whatever way makes sense in their situation. Because what we don’t want to happen is for young lawyers to be completely burdened and incapacitated by debt, or stuck in jobs that they’re absolutely miserable at, doing things that don’t serve them or their community – just to pay off a debt.”
Work culture and artificial intelligence are other concerns that Jayne plans to address.
“We have a work culture that is not always conducive to promoting good mental health, promoting good mental health hygiene, promoting families, being accessible to people with disabilities, being inclusive to people of different minority groups,” said Jayne. “We have a lot of cultural problems as a profession, and we haven’t taken mental health seriously enough… I think younger generations are more progressive in this area, but I think we’re improving. There’s a lot of stigma around requesting help for mental health issues or addiction issues.”
Jayne is familiar with the struggle of young lawyers from when she was in law school as a single mother with young children.
“I moved to New York City in 2014 as a single mom with a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, and started going to law school at Fordham in the evening division,” Jayne said. “Which was unbelievably stressful and terrifying. I didn’t really have a backup plan, and I knew New York City was expensive, so that was a very delicate time.”
An antitrust scholarship from the New York State Bar Foundation enabled her to work at the Federal Trade Commission and stay in New York City.
“I did not have money to pay rent over the summer, so every summer I knew I had to have a paid internship, or we would be homeless,” said Jayne. “It’s really hard to get a paid internship on your 1L summer. It’s very difficult. And a friend of mine told me about this opportunity… They have a stipend, so you’ll be able to pay your rent and you can stay in New York. So that was a huge lifeline to me, and I was really passionate about antitrust.”
Jayne worked at Foley & Lardner until March 2025. She is currently a commercial litigator with a solo practice in New York City.
“I want to be a representative for all of New York, not just New York City,” said Jayne. “I’m in New York City, but my oldest daughter’s going to be going to SUNY Cobleskill, and we’re in Albany often. I really want to increase my presence at events throughout the state, and make sure that I’m representing rural voices and opinions as well as urban ones.”
