HEAD, REGULATORY TRANSACTIONS GROUP & ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICE CO-CHAIR, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE WASHINGTON, D.C. LAW SCHOOL GRADUATION YEAR 1988 YEAR JOINED WEIL 1987 YEAR PROMOTED TO PARTNER 2000 HOMETOWN METHUEN, MA What did you want to be as a child? I wanted to be a reporter. I liked to write, and I thought it was cool to take current events and explain them in a way that could benefit other people. I went to school to be a reporter. What was your first job? Washing tables at a lobster pound at the beach. At what point did you figure out that law was your path? I graduated from journalism school and went to work for a newspaper. I learned quickly that first, you did not make a lot of money in that field, and second, in order to be successful you needed to have some other credentials than just having graduated from Newhouse,* so I decided to apply to law school (much to my parent’s chagrin). My goal going into law school was not to be a lawyer. My goal was to build up my credentials and learn not to see the world in black and white so that I could bring a better perspective to being a reporter (I had hoped to cover government or courts). Then I went to law school, and it was a breeze. I decided that I should go to work as a lawyer. I enjoyed my summer at Weil – working at a firm was not something I had even thought about before. Some of the partners here suggested that if I wanted to go into another field, I should come to Weil for at least a few years to pay off my student loans and then move on to something else. I’ve been here ever since. I fell into a practice that I liked, and I was able to do many different things as an associate. I got to work on the regulatory side of the big American Airlines cases. I also did environmental law, which was really cool back then because you could do litigation, compliance and deals, which is what I primarily do now. What would younger you say if she could see you now? Wow, you really went in a different direction! I am quite liberal, and I really did always think that I would do something that was more in the public realm. She would be surprised that I didn’t stick to my plan to get the degree and work with the Boston Globe or Providence Journal. My younger self would be surprised that I was able to thrive in the legal field because I was enjoying it. When you think back to when you started out, is there anything that you would have done differently? I might have explored other opportunities. I got comfortable with what I was doing. The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. I would tell my younger self that it is O.K. to say “no.” I spent my younger days as an associate trying to do everything. I am like a sponge – there were many areas of law that I found interesting, so if there were opportunities that no one else would take, I did them. I sacrificed time with friends and family by not knowing how to say “no.” Looking back, what did you stress over that was unnecessary? I stressed about everything. I went to bed every night thinking that I did everything wrong. It took me a while to learn that not everything comes with affirmations – that knowing you did a good job needs to come from within. Now I try hard not to stress over things that are outside of my control. Today, I tell myself: “You can only do what you can do. There are things that are out of your control, and you have to accept that you just can’t do everything.” What does success mean to you? Success has a variety of factors. Success is balancing my life so that I do well at the office, take care of my clients and work well with my colleagues, and yet I make time for the people who are important to me. Because part of success for me is taking the time to smell the flowers. It’s nice to be honored by your peer groups, and I’ve gotten some of those honors; however, for me, success is to go home at night and feel like I did a good job and enjoy some time with family and friends. Has that changed over time? My idea of success early on was notching little victories – it was all about the to-do list and checking everything off. As I have gotten older, success is much broader and provides a little bit more peace. When I didn’t make partner the first time … it was devastating. I had been told all along that it was my future. I was a little worker bee, and I was very good at what I did. I did the extra things, all of the things you are supposed to do for success, and I did them well – but there wasn’t a business case for it. It was as if someone pulled the rug out from under me and I had no control over it. So I said to myself, “You could go to another firm, you could quit and do something else, you could go back to reporting.” Then I realized that I loved what I did. I had to learn to accept that my success has to come from me and not validation from others. How do you build your confidence back up when you begin to doubt yourself? At this stage in my career, I’m pretty good at what I do. When I am stressed, depending on the nature of the stress, I rely on my peers. At times I might just need a pick-me-up – I have a number of female colleagues that I can count on to provide me with perspective, or just to say “it’s O.K.” When it comes to subject matter, I rely on the people with whom I work. I am very comfortable saying I don’t know it all. I am confident in my abilities, but I am very open to the fact that the best solutions come from diverse ideas. If I’m stressed about a project, I’m going to walk into the office of one of the folks I work with and say “What do you think? Am I off-base? Do I not know what I’m talking about? Is there a different perspective that I’m not seeing that I should think about?” I’m not afraid at all to go to the people who are my peers and my pals to deal with my insecurities and doubts when it comes to work. I would tell younger Annemargaret to find a mentor, find people who are there to help you and be a team player yourself. I do a little bit of work with an organization called the Posse Foundation. One of the things I like about the organization is that it teaches kids that our success is often dependent upon teams – we’re not successful just on our own. My advice to my younger self is to find your “posse,” that team that will have your back, and you will go far. My advice to my younger self is to find your ‘posse,’ that team that will have your back, and you will go far. “ ” * The Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University 8 · WEIL WOMEN’S WISDOM
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