FINDING JOY IN NEGOTIATION: THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN-CENTERED LAWYERING

By Amy Kluesner

I heard recently that one of the greatest predictors of a person’s future success is whether they had an entrepreneurial spirit when they were young, meaning did they work to understand the needs of others and think of creative ways to fulfill them. No doubt, many DeW members can remember one of your first business ideas or how you were always itching to solve a problem. Women are particularly good at anticipating needs, rolling up our sleeves, and doing what needs to be done in order to advance the common good. We tend to be entrepreneurial to our very core. Perhaps like me, you thought you had to ignore that core part of yourself in order to fit a certain mold in your professional life. I would like to share a few highlights of how I found joy in my legal career by learning to embrace my entrepreneurial spirit and following my inclination to keep the human person at the center of every negotiation. My hope is that you will be able to identify with similarities in your journey.

I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and was the first in my family to earn a college degree. I attended Vanderbilt and had considered going to law school since high school, but I had a nagging feeling that I was supposed to explore a much less traditional path.

The summer before my junior year, I went on a trip to Italy with fellow students. While standing in line to tour the Basilica of Saint Paul, I encountered a religious Sister in full habit with a Southern accent. It just so happened that she was from a religious community based in Nashville. When I returned to campus that fall, I made a point to attend a retreat at the Sisters’ convent. I was very surprised by what I encountered. The Sisters were full of joy and knew how to have fun while living a life immersed in prayer and serving others. Despite having a boyfriend and promising career ahead of me, I longed for more of the peace and fulfillment the Sisters had. So after graduation, I entered the convent and spent the next five years discerning whether God was calling me to live as a religious Sister. Those were very fruitful years and I would not trade a single day for the self-knowledge, discipline, and charity that I learned living in community with over 200 Sisters. Ultimately, it was evident that God wanted me to experience the beauty of religious life for a time and then take that experience to further my vocation as a wife, mother, and lawyer.

Three years after leaving the convent, I realized my life’s dream of graduating from Notre Dame Law School. I met my husband during law school and began practicing at a mid-size firm in Indianapolis where we had our first two sons. Those early years of practicing law were grueling and it was easy to lose sight of the wisdom and greater purpose I had gained in religious life. Now I was deeply entrenched in the struggle vibrantly familiar to many of you: how to have a family and career and feel like you are not miserably failing at both.

As I was learning to balance my career and young family, I accepted an opportunity to move to Atlanta and join a larger law firm. I was eager to get back to my Southern roots and I wanted to focus more on mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare space, which this opportunity afforded. Atlanta proved to be a great move for our family and I loved the sophistication of deals with which I was engaged. My amazing mentor taught me about each phase of a healthcare deal, key regulatory matters, the use of precise language when drafting documents, and how to effectively negotiate terms on behalf of clients. Most importantly, she allowed me to learn from my mistakes. Nevertheless, even with that support, I allowed myself to get caught up in trying to fit into a persona that was not truly me because I lacked the confidence to embrace the authentic version of myself.

Not long after having our third son, I decided to leave that firm and take a break from the intense grind that often accompanies large law firm life. My next step spoke to my entrepreneurial nature and pursuit for balance. As an inhouse lawyer, I had the opportunity to play a pivotal role in business decisions with the benefit of a more flexible schedule. I served as General Counsel for two privateequity backed healthcare companies, including a DSO. I found that I really enjoyed working with dentists and shared their mindset of striving to use professional skills to build something that would have a lasting impact on the human person.

The General Counsel role enabled me to step back into the person I was and remember the entrepreneurial creativity I possessed as a child. As General Counsel, I had to constantly think on my feet with few resources. I learned to communicate complex legal concepts to business leaders who had very little time for overly burdensome explanations. Each company was in rapid growth mode with its own set of distinct adversities. I learned to appreciate every aspect of how business teams approach a deal, from the initial letter of intent to full integration of the practice. As we completed acquisitions, I got to know selling dentists who worked so hard to make their dreams a reality. I identified with their career transitions and the opportunities they gained for themselves and their families. My legal services helped them fulfill their dreams. Through triumph and failure, I developed confidence and candor. Negotiating a deal and managing the legal function of a business can be highly emotional for all parties involved. When I can tell that emotions are rising, I draw on my experience of living within a large community of different personalities in the convent, and remember that there is a greater purpose beyond what we may see in the present moment.

Armed with the new confidence I gained while working as a General Counsel, I decided to return to private practice in December. I feel called to fulfill my entrepreneurial dreams of building a legal practice focused on advising dentists and healthcare entities. Nothing is more exhilarating for me than understanding each person’s ‘why’ and listening to their distinct stories. In the convent, our life was focused on loving and being loved, on contemplation and giving to others the fruits of our contemplation. Only by living a life that is humancentered can we attain true happiness and the fullness of human flourishing. Finding courage to chart a path unique to my experience has allowed me to integrate my deepest beliefs into a profession that I love. My skill as a negotiator is precisely because of who I am and the challenges I overcame, not in spite of them.

Thinking back to what I heard about how one of the greatest predictors of a person’s success is whether the entrepreneurial spirit existed from a young age, I think it is really about overcoming adversity, as many DeW members have. Our careers might not go as planned, but the entrepreneurial soul is able to envision creative courses of action in order to make the best of the realities we face. Similarly, negotiating a deal may not go as planned, but by focusing on the human element at the center of every transaction I can bring people together and craft a deal beneficial for all. As entrepreneurs, we are people first and cannot lose sight of the passion that has driven us since we were young.

About the author:

Amy Kluesner is an attorney based in the Atlanta office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, a full-service law firm with over 800 legal professionals throughout 23 offices. As an experienced deal lawyer, Amy is valued for her responsiveness and tactful negotiation skills while focusing on business objectives and regulatory compliance. She is particularly adept at providing outside general counsel services to growing companies, including mergers and acquisitions in the dental and healthcare space.