PARTNER, RESTRUCTURING NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL GRADUATION YEAR 2001 YEAR JOINED WEIL 2002 YEAR PROMOTED TO PARTNER 2010 HOMETOWN QUEENS, NY (UNTIL 12), THEN VIRGINIA BEACH, VA What did you want to be as a child? I was one of those kids who wanted to be a lawyer since the age of 5 or so. It’s because I was always arguing, negotiating, grilling adults with questions, and pointing out injustices (such as how unfair it was that my sister received a larger piece of cake than I did), and people said, “With your mouth, you should be a lawyer.” In college, I discovered a strong interest in economics and business, and boom, I was going to be a corporate lawyer. I never seriously considered doing anything else. What was your first job? My father owned IHOP restaurant franchises, so from my early teens, I worked at IHOP – starting as a hostess, then cashier, then waitress. Describe a time when you had to make an important professional decision and how you went about selecting your course of action. I started my career at a large Boston firm as a general corporate lawyer. I had decided that the New York “rat race” was not for me and, during the peak of the dot-com boom, corporate M&A seemed the perfect fit for me. My first day of work was September 10, 2001, meaning my second day of work was September 11. A recession was beginning, which meant corporate work was drying up. Being an eager beaver and having prepared myself with a lifetime of education to be in the position to use my brain to help clients and add value, I was miserable with having so little real work to do. After months of begging for work (which felt like squeezing water from a stone), I went to talk to the law school professor with whom I was closest, Professor Elizabeth Warren (yes, that same one, but she was not the household name she is now). She told me that I should just find a new job and leave that firm, even though I was only a first-year associate. And, given that I had done well in bankruptcy class and we were in a recession, why not try bankruptcy? Despite some initial reservations, I took her advice seriously, I did my research, and I figured I had nothing to lose by taking a leap. And in less than two months, moved to New York to start a position as a bankruptcy associate at Weil. Looking back, what did you stress over that was unnecessary? I was worried that people would think I was a flake for making such a big career change so young. But I learned, as Professor Warren suggested to me, that this is easier to do when you are young and just starting out, and I had a good story (which was also the truth). If you are not happy and it doesn’t look like things will improve, then it’s best to make a change sooner rather than later. What’s the best piece of professional advice you received? A female mentor once told me that one of the best things you can do if you feel slighted or annoyed by the way someone treats you is to ignore it; just be tough. The world is the way it is and not always the way it should be. If you let every bit of unfairness bother you, you will be wasting time, energy, and brain cells on things that are holding you back rather than things that will get you ahead. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t speak up for yourself, report mistreatment, or fight for real change, but not every incident is worthy of a real reaction. Letting it go is actually quite liberating. What does success mean to you? How has your definition of success evolved over time? For me, success means being a very good lawyer, providing great service to my clients, and adding value to any situation I am involved in, while also being true to my values. I used to wonder, naively, whether you could be a “good person” and still get ahead at a Big Law firm, and I made a decision at the very outset of my career that the ends do not justify the means – that I wouldn’t do “whatever it takes” to get ahead, especially trampling on other people as I climbed the ladder. If that meant that my career stagnated, I would choose another path. Thankfully, I learned that if you find the right environment, being a team player and a role model to others is valued and rewarded. That was the case for me at Weil, which is why I feel so at home here. What is your greatest success? My first big case at Weil was WorldCom, the largest bankruptcy case ever filed at the time. The case was led by Marcia Goldstein, who was the head of our group. I worked hard and learned a great deal from Marcia, whom I admired immensely. Fast forward almost 15 years, and Marcia and I were the lead Weil restructuring partners on the Takata case, one of the most complex Thankfully, I learned that if you find the right environment, being a team player and a role model to others is valued and rewarded. “ ” cross-border restructurings ever, and the Weil team achieved a successful result for the client. The feeling of jumping from first year associate to lead partner with Marcia (with 15 years of hard work in between) was the first time I felt “I made it.” I was recognized by Law360 as an MVP for my work on that deal, and I am super grateful to the firm for having provided me that opportunity, and to Marcia for having let me take such a lead role on the case. What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made and was it worth it? To be successful at a Big Law firm, you must inevitably sacrifice some personal time. You are not going to make every dinner with friends, watch hours of TV a day, or see your kids every morning and every night. To do the most complex, cutting-edge legal work, you will be dealing with “fire drills” and urgent deadlines, and those will cut into your personal life. But is it worth it? Absolutely for me. But the way I see it, every choice involves sacrifice. I know myself; I couldn’t be happy without also being busy and intellectually challenged. So you make sacrifices, but you also make choices to try to get the best of all worlds. I went on a flex-time schedule for two years when I felt I needed it after my second child was born, and then went back to full time once I felt I could manage it. I leave the office at 5:30 p.m. numerous times a week (most weeks) to spend time with my kids and get back online by 8 p.m. When I am with my kids, I am present and I try to maximize the quality of that time. And the kids have a happy, fulfilled mom (and hopefully a good role model too). 4 · WEIL WOMEN’S WISDOM
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