About Jemima Maria
Jemima Maria Galan earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine in 2014. She continued her legal education at the University of La Verne College of Law, receiving her J.D. in 2017. Her academic background combined a humanities perspective with three years of legal training that included practical work inside a public defender’s office.
Galan’s early legal work began while she was still in law school. In 2015 she worked as a summer law clerk in the Office of the Public Defender in Riverside, then served as a certified law clerk there in 2016. After graduation she took a post-bar clerk position in 2017 at the Law Office of Erik J. Hammett. That same year she became a partner at Hammett & Galan Lawyers at Law. The following year she returned to her alma mater as a visiting assistant professor at the Center for Academic and Bar Readiness at the University of La Verne College of Law, teaching recent graduates preparing for bar exams and early practice.
The sequence of public defender clerkships and private practice roles gave Galan early courtroom exposure and client-facing experience. Her time in the public defender’s office involved case preparation and trial-related tasks. In private practice she moved quickly into a leadership role, taking on responsibilities that included case management and litigation oversight. Colleagues describe her trajectory as one that moved from training positions to positions of supervision and practice responsibility in a short period of time.
Galan is licensed to practice in California. She has balanced practice duties with a brief stint in legal education, which informed her approach to training young lawyers and helping recent graduates bridge the gap between law school and practice. She remains active at Hammett & Galan Lawyers at Law, where she practices in California state courts. Her current work includes courtroom representation and case handling in matters arising under California law.
