Relationships with people and the law drive this lawyer’s career
Nearly every turn in my career has been driven by curiosity and my relationships with people. The law firm path that many take, generally working in the same practice their entire career, was never of interest to me. Law firms are a great place to practice and a wonderful training ground, but I quickly desired to know more. More about my practice – and other practice areas- and particularly more about the businesses we supported. In my time as a young associate at the law firm, I had a hard time pinpointing exactly what I wanted out of my career, except that I wanted to have a varied practice and work with a lot of people. The days of sitting alone in my office reviewing documents (there were some, but not a ton) had made me miserable, and made me realize that was not for me, and that I needed people interaction. My relationships with other trusted attorneys enabled me to feel comfortable in taking a nearly 50% pay cut to move to an in-house development position at an energy company.
Working as a non-lawyer was eye-opening and a wonderful experience, but it made me realize how much I valued my legal training, and how I really desired to get back into practicing law. The positions in which I have thrived the most are ones where I had supportive and friendly people surrounding me, and work that I felt was meaningful and of practical value. Working in-house in a legal position enabled me to feel that I was making a difference.
Becoming a manager of people is interesting, because no one teaches you how it’s “supposed to” be done. I drew on the behavior of my most important mentors, which were mostly the people who hired me for each position – from the partner I worked for at my first firm to the VP of development at the energy company – each had qualities that I really admired as a leader, mentor, and teacher. They made me feel smart and valued, but also helped me learn things I needed to learn. In co-managing my team now, I try to listen to and support the lawyers and paralegals with whom I work. I also stress the importance of continual learning and growing, and support many internal and external training programs. While it’s important to deliver high quality legal work to our clients, what motivates me the most is the relationships I develop along the way.
