Co-head of Mayer Brown’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice

Co-head of Mayer Brown’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice

022 2

in Leadership

INTERNATIONAL

Education: BS, Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University; JD summa cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School Company Name: Mayer Brown LLP Industry: Law Company CEO: Jon Van Gorp, Chair Company Headquarters Location: n/a Number of Employees: Nearly 3,800 globally Your Location (if different from above): Washington, DC Words you live by: Eat dessert first. Personal Philosophy: Do what is right, not what is easy. What book are you reading: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley What was your first job: Working for my parents at their art gallery and framing store Favorite charity: Alice’s Kids in Alexandria, Virginia Interests: Baking with my nieces, competing in triathlons with my younger brother, and spoiling my dog Family: Two parents, two brothers, one sister-in-law, two nieces, and one dog

Remember, Clients and Colleagues Are Also People

The best advice I ever received was this: “Sometimes, you just need to chit chat,” meaning that it is important not just to do the job, but to get to know your colleagues.

After college and before I went to law school, I worked at a large consulting firm. I worked onsite at a client’s office; we were there to do a big project to update the client’s computer systems. One of my responsibilities was to schedule and run meetings great job with this project, but your meetings can’t be all work, work, work. Sometimes you just need to chit chat with the clients.”

She was right. I had been so focused on getting the work done, and doing a good job, that I had not really gotten to know our client representatives, or form personal relationships with them. Once I did that, it seemed like we all started working better together as a team. And we had a lot more fun—both on and off the

As I have progressed in my career, I have always remembered what my boss said about the importance of having good relationships with colleagues. ” “

with our client representatives about the project, where we’d talk about how things were going and what tasks we had to do next. I wanted to be very efficient in those meetings, because I wanted to show the client that we were doing a good job on the project, and I didn’t want to waste the client’s time.

I guess I came across as a bit too ruthlessly efficient, because one day, after a meeting, my boss pulled me aside and said something like, “Look, you’re doing a job. (I still remember when we finished the project and had team karaoke night.)

As I have progressed in my career, I have always remembered what my boss said about the importance of having good relationships with colleagues. And I have really enjoyed the friends I have made along the way. Looking back, I am so grateful that I had a boss who wanted me to be successful and gave me the feedback I needed so early in my career.