31 www.lawyer-monthly.com Lawyer Monthly Women in Law Awards 2024 Balancing a demanding legal career and a fulfilling personal life can be challenging. How do you manage this balance, and what activities help you recharge? The work/life balance struggle is real. My kids are 10, 8 and 6, and somehow, every one of them has an activity that requires a shocking amount of driving on all the days of the week. Trying to manage that chaos, with what sometimes feels like chaos at work, especially when there is a soccer game the same day summary judgment is due, can feel overwhelming. My goal is to be fully present in what I am doing, but that’s not usually possible – sometimes, I am on a work call at the soccer game or rescheduling a dentist appointment while I am working. What I have learned is that I have to give myself grace to allow my worlds to overlap. I am equal parts mom and attorney. I am just as much a member of the PTO as I am of NELA and I want to normalize that for myself and for all of the young lawyers who work with and for me. I can be a helping hand at Girls Scouts without compromising my work – it might mean I work a little later or don’t go to a lunch meeting, but I have found that I can coexist in both worlds, and that is an amazing feeling. You are in your second term as a board member for the National Employment Lawyers’ Association, and you are a member of the executive committee. What is NELA and how does your work for and with NELA impact your practice? NELA is one of those organizations that, once you find it, you wonder how you managed your practice without it. It is an association of lawyers who want to do good work and are willing to share their expertise without demanding anything in return. I have been honored to serve as a member of the board and on the executive committee. It has truly enhanced my practice at a personal level (I have met wonderful humans) and on a professional level (last-minute brief sharing for the win!). Sometimes the role of a Plaintiff’s lawyer feels very much like a David v. Goliath story – we are facing huge corporations with unlimited legal budgets and defense lawyers who are known for dragging litigation out for decades. It can feel isolating and to be honest, sometimes a little scary. NELA is the place I go to when I need encouragement, friendship and great ideas. What advice would you give to young lawyers, especially women, who are starting their careers in the challenging field of employment law? This is not a job for the faint of heart but if you are in it, you already know that. Do not ever let someone else define how you represent your clients. Find a legal mentor, find a legal peer/contemporary and find a legal friend – learn when you need these people and let them be your guiding forces. Learn to take constructive criticism but also find a way to give yourself grace. You will make mistakes. Clients will get mad at you. You will miss something. That is life. Being a lawyer does not make you perfect, it just makes you a lawyer. Most importantly, maintain your humanity. People come to lawyers for help – they don’t want to need you, but they do. Honor their struggle with respect. Dignity and kindness matter. Billable hours do too, but not really. Turn off your email and messages for at least one week per year. You are important but the world will not end when you go on vacation. You NEED a vacation. Most importantly, if you are writing the email out of anger, save it as a draft and come back to it the next day. You will never regret it. USA “This is not a job for the faint of heart but if you are in it, you already know that. Do not ever let someone else define how you represent your clients.”
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