Meet the Femmes
Our story began on the first day of orientation at UC Davis School of Law. We spotted each other—as queer femmes do—across a grassy hill littered with hundreds of nervous students and despite our best efforts to find our way to one another, we got lost in the masses. For the next week, our paths never crossed, until we unwittingly sat next to each other on the first day of class (Contracts with Professor Dodge, for those in the know). We instinctively reached out and clasped each other’s hands.“I’ve been looking for you!” Rachel said. Lyla literally responded,“we’re going to be best friends!” We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Starting a law firm together has a been a dream since our first year of law school. After graduating and going on to practice for five years in different areas of law, we decided it was finally time to make that dream a reality. What an honor.
Lyla is a mixed race, brasilian-american, nonbinary queer femme with more than fifteen years of experience working with others to create a more liberated world. Their work is indebted to the brilliance/power of Black feminism and Black liberation movements across the world.
Lyla is known for navigating complex and emotionally-charged legal situations with compassion & presence. After graduating law school in 2020, they worked at the Alternate Defender’s Office of Contra Costa County as a law clerk, where he co-wrote one of the first successful Racial Justice Act motions in California. They then went on to serve as a Public Defender in Contra Costa County, litigating four misdemeanor criminal trials, hundreds of motions, and an appeal before California’s First District Court of Appeal. Next, Lyla served as a Reentry Attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid, assisting system-impacted people with record expungement, employment discrimination and housing.
Today, they are honored to serve queer Californians and allies with their family creation and estate planning needs. In doing so, Lyla grounds their work in superb legal analysis, creative and relentless client advocacy.
Lyla was born from the seas of Brasil and raised in the colors and sounds of NYC. She currently lives on the sacred and unceded land of the Guaraní and Purí peoples, colonized as Rio de Janeiro. They are a lover of birds, bugs and all things water. When not working alongside their best friend, he loves to write, swim, drink tea and rest with their cat, Baiacu.
Lyla Bugara, J.D. (they/she/he)
Partner
Hampshire College, B.A. in Critical Race Studies, 2012
University of California, Davis - School of Law, J.D. 2020
Bar Admissions
California
Bar Memberships
Member, National Trans Bar Association
Member, National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, BALIF, an LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, CA Lawyers Association, Trusts & Estates section
Languages
English, Portuguese and Spanish
Rachel M. Schiff, J.D. (they/femme)
Partner
Yale University, B.A. in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2010
University of California, Davis - School of Law, J.D. 2020
Rachel is a vibrant queer Jewish femme that believes another world is possible, thanks to the wisdom of others, including their beloved Zayda (z’’l), Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Mariame Kaba, Audre Lorde, adrienne marie brown, Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Dori Midnight, Dean Spade, Prentis Hemphill, their beloved ancestors & family (chosen & blood) and many, many others.
In 2020, Rachel graduated law school Order of the Coif from UC Davis Law. Prior to starting femme & femme LLP, Rachel clerked for the Honorable Kimberly J. Mueller in the Eastern District of California, and worked at Munger, Tolles & Olson as a litigator on a variety of complex civil litigation cases. Rachel was proud to maintain a robust LGBT civil rights and criminal defense pro bono practice while at the firm too.
Rachel brings their compassionate heart, keen legal mind, and prior life experience to each client matter—helping individuals and families unpack their hopes and fears while keeping an eye on the tools and limits of the law.
Rachel dreams, moves and “hopes as a discipline” (Mariame Kaba) on Ohlone land in the Bay Area. When Rachel isn’t lawyering, you can find them adventuring with their pittiehuahua, improving their salsa or splashing in the nearest body of water. Rachel is proud and awed by their robust chosen family which they have tended to for decades in the Bay and beyond. Rachel hopes to dance more, sew more & learn water filtration practices in the coming year.
Bar Admissions
California
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
Bar Memberships
Member, National Trans Bar Association
Member, National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, BALIF, an LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, CA Lawyers Association, Trusts & Estates section
