Meet Mariel Colón Miró —The 26-Year-Old Lawyer Defending Jeffrey Epstein And El Chapo
Her first two clients were notorious.
Instagram Imagine graduating from law school and immediately landing two enormous and infamous clients. That's what happened to 26-year-old Mariel Colón Miró. Back in April 2107, she was fresh out of law school and looking for a way to put her education to use while she waited for the results of the New York State bar exam. She answered a Craigslist ad for a Spanish-speaking paralegal, got an interview, and landed the job. The client was El Chapo, the leader of the Sinoloa drug cartel. Her next client was the late accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Who is Mariel Colón Miró?
1. She's from Brooklyn
Mariel Colón Miró grew up in Puerto Rico and attended Loyola University New Orleans, where she studied the music business. She enrolled in law school in Puerto Rico and transferred to Hofstra after one year. She sings in the choir of Hillsong, the "cool kids'" church that Justin Bieber, Chris Pratt and Kevin Durant attend. She has a small stud in her nose. She lives in Brooklyn and works for the Law Offices of Michael E. Lambert, according to her LinkedIn profile.
2. Meeting El Chapo
The first time Mariel Colón Miró met El Chapo she sat down across from him and said hello. He put his hand against the glass dividing him and she did the same — the closest thing to a handshake in a maximum security prison. She spent three hours with El Chapo talking about their backgrounds, politics and the upcoming elections in Mexico. She said: "He is a very likable person. It was like a click. This is meant to be my job. I felt very comfortable."
3. Impressing the bosses
Colón Miró joined El Chapo's trial team as an attorney. She impressed his defense attorneys so much that they asked her to join the defense team of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before he died. She's 26 and her first two clients are/were two of the most notorious and high-profile defendants in the country.
4. Saints and sinners
In an interview with New York Magazine, when it was pointed out how reviled El Chapo and Epstein are, Mariel replied, "We are all sinners. Some of us are sinners that happened to break the law."
5. She was witness to Jeffrey Epstein's will
In the days before he committed suicide, Colón Miró met with Epstein frequently. She was a witness to his will. She began receiving messages after this fact was revealed. Many of them asked her how she sleeps at night. She said: "I sleep with a clear conscience. If you have a moral dilemma with that, then this profession is not for you. It’s easy to lose that human perspective in this profession. You think that detaching makes it easier to do your job, but it makes it harder for your client. You can’t ever lose that perspective, that empathy, that caring for them. I don’t ever want to lose it. I think that’s what distinguishes me.”
6. She's working with El Chapo's wife
These days, Colón Miró is working on El Chapo's appeal. She is also helping El Chapo's wife with her fashion line — El Chapo Guzman: JGL. The line features hoodies, t-shirts and glow-in-the-dark cell phone cases with Guzman's signature on them.
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based writer and editor covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.