Make
It
Or
Break
It
Moments
The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “You are your choices.” As women attorneys (and really all women) develop their careers, even the smallest choices they make can lead them down paths that they never anticipated. Decisions women make about where to go to law school, where to work, and how to balance their lives are obviously
important in shaping their lives, but for
many women, it is the smaller, day-to-day
decisions that can have the most profound
impacts on their lives. It can be as simple
as a kind word said in passing or staying just another thirty minutes at an event that can spark a change that will come to define your life. This chapter walks through the decisions that put four different women attorneys on their trajectories to success. These women work across all fields of law, including private practice, public service, and academia, and they each have identified a critical decision that was instrumental in bringing them to where they are today.
Take the Shot
Alicia1 is a third-year law student in Washington, DC. She can pinpoint the exact moment when she
took one small step that wound up getting her a summer associate position at her top choice firm. During on-campus
interviewing at her law school, she interviewed with an attorney who worked at her target firm’s main office, but she was
interested in working in Chicago at one of their satellite offices. Her interviewer expressed during their meeting that he was very impressed with her qualifications and her poise, and the he hoped that she woul have a place at his firm. Further, he would recommend her in the firm’s recruiting system; however, he was not in a position to make any decisions regarding callbacks or hiring for the Chicago office. Three weeks later, Alicia had still not heard from this firm, but she was heading for another callback interview in Chicago. While she waited for
her flight to board, she decided to call her interviewer just to let him know that she was going to be in Chicago and that she was still very interested in his firm. Although she was apprehensive about reaching out to this attorney, thinking she would be inconveniencing him on a busy day or coming off as over-eager or obnoxious, she
dialed him up. As soon she introduced herself, he remembered who she was and told her that he was thrilled to have received her call. He asked her to hold for a few minutes, and by the time he came
back on the line, he had set up a full day of interviews at his firm’s Chicago office for the next day. The people that Alicia met at the Chicago office convinced her even more that it was the firm for her, and the feeling
was mutual. Just a couple of days later, Alicia
received a call from the Chicago office’s managing partner, offering her a summer
associate position. She very happily accepted, spent a fantastic summer there, and is eagerly looking forward to starting her full-time job there next fall. Because Alicia made a snap decision to spend ten minutes on the phone, she now has her dream job.
Be Friendly
Mary1 is a partner at a top law firm in San Francisco. Her make-it-or-break-it moment came right at the beginning of her career as a lawyer, and she suggests that women remember the importance of introducing themselves to everyone they can. After going to law school part time
while she raised her three children and
helped to run a family business, she became a first-year associate at a well-regarded
international law firm. While she knew that she would be working in the transactional group, she was still testing the waters to determine where she would specialize. Because she was new to the office and was working in the firm’s headquarters with hundreds of attorneys, she had not met most of the other attorneys in her office. Mary hopped on the elevator at 8:55 one morning, joining the rush of people speeding to get to
work on time. Inside the packed elevator, she noticed that the woman next to her had a price tag hanging from the back of her jacket. She discreetly mentioned it to the woman, who immediately became embarrassed and asked Mary to please pull it off before she reached her floor. As it turned out, both women stepped off the elevator at the same floor. The other woman turned to Mary and thanked her, then introduced herself. She was a junior partner in the firm’s project finance sub-group in the transactional department, and she asked Mary to walk with her so that she could learn a little more about her. By the time they
reached her office, the woman had come up with a project for Mary to work on for her. She became Mary’s mentor, and thanks to that relationship, Mary took on many assignments in project finance. One act of kindness led Mary to become the leading project finance partner in her firm.
Accept Help
Celia* is the policy director at a non-profit that advocates for women’s rights and women’s health. When she was a young attorney, Celia attended an event that brought together a wide variety of women who shared her strong belief in a woman’s right to choose. Over the course of the evening, she met a number of women and made a point of giving her card to each of them. She mentioned to a few of them that she was only a few years into her law practice and that she was still looking for ways to fulfill her passion for fighting for women’s rights while still working at a well-paying and prestigious law firm. The next day, she received an e-mail from a woman who was about ten years ahead Celia in her career. This woman said that she had been pleased to meet Celia and that she wanted to share some of her own experiences with her to help her find her way. Although Celia barely remembered having met this woman, she did not hesitate for a moment to accept the invitation to spend some time getting to know her. A few weeks later, the two met for lunch, and in the space of that hour, Celia became filled with both inspiration to commit herself to working toward her passion and ideas of how to get started. At her new friend’s urging, Celia joined boards for three different organizations whose work aligned with her own interests. As she had been advised, she made sure to find organizations that would attract the same people as those who work in women’s rights, but that were not exclusively focused on pro-choice activism so that she would meet diverse groups of people. Her work on these boards gave her credibility and notoriety among the other board members, and it was through those people that she was recommended for the job she has now. Because Celia was not afraid to accept a stranger’s advice, she was able to create a path to the career that she had always hoped to find. just as a law student will help you to effectively incorporate your strengths and achievements into your interview at appropriate moments, even when you are not directly asked about them.
Now think about your attitude. Imagine you are the interviewer. What do you want to see in a candidate? We all gravitate toward passionate, confident, positive people. You have examined your life in the first step and identified what you love to do and what you are proud of yourself. Now show your genuine passion with your eyes lit up, your voice excited, and your face radiated. Let your passion be contagious so your interviewers will remember you at the end of the day. A resume is merely a piece of paper, but passion makes a person stand-out from the two-dimensional page.
Learn about the employer and the people interviewing you. If you discover anything that resonates with your values, passion, characters, or experiences, connect it and present it in an impressive way. This was how Yingying turned an alternate interview into a callback. While researching the website of ABC law firm, one seemly common sentence struck her—“The history of ABC is a story of imagination, determination and hard work.” From a stay-at-home-mom to a law student, she felt this sentence perfectly depicted her life path. When she told her story in light of this sentence, the interviewers were impressed that she actually read their website and found the match.
by: Kelsey Green, Northwestern University School of Law
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