A profile in profeSSionAliSm

Secretary James A. Baker, iii and his wife, Susan Baker JAmeS A. BAKer, iii

61st U.S. Secretary of State, Senior Partner, Baker Botts L.L.P.

Professionalism is not specific to any one line of work or craft. Rather, it is an attention to detail, an intellectual curiosity, a strong ethical code and other personal traits that help a person do their very best in any chosen field. A professional approach is just as important to the success of a lawyer or a doctor as it is to a plumber or a nurse.

One of the traits that has helped me most in life has been my adherence to a maxim that my father called the Five P’s—which stands for Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. My father, James A. Baker, Jr., was a tough but fair taskmaster who routinely drilled the Five P’s into my consciousness as a young man.

Along the way, I discovered that he was absolutely right. If I got up a little earlier in the morning and worked a little longer at night, then I would be better prepared than the attorneys on the other side of the table. The same was true for my negotiations with world leaders when I was Secretary of State.

My father was a fine attorney with the law firm that is now Baker Botts, as was his father and grandfather before him. His father, and my grandfather, Captain James A. Baker, was president of the Houston Bar Association during the depths of the Depression in 1931. He often told young attorneys coming to work for the firm to “work hard, study and keep out of politics.”

I jokingly say that I followed the first two of my grandfather’s pieces of advice. Working hard and studying as an attorney helped me build a professional approach to my legal career that later greatly assisted me in my subsequent careers in politics and public service. In many ways, the message of both my father and grandfather was the same—the path of professionalism is paved by hard work and attention to detail. That means dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s.”

Some may consider the 5 P’s to be merely an aphorism that adults tell children. But I listened to my father, followed his advice and even at the age of 90, I routinely observe the 5 P’s when I start a new project, and I do so without embarrassment.

If you look at the statue of me at Baker Common along Buffalo Bayou near the intersection of Smith and Preston in downtown Houston, you will see “5 P’s” inscribed at the base of the monument. They have been and remain a critical building block of my legal career and everything I do.

Kate McConnico: ‘Accidental Sailor’ Draws Connections to Law

By elizABeth fUrlow

Kate McConnico,1 a divorce, family law, and estate planning attorney, knows how to navigate stormy seas, both in and out of the courtroom. A passionate sailor in her free time, Kate has used the lessons she has learned on the water to inform her legal

practice.

Kate first sailed as a freshman in high school, when a friend took her out on a boat on Clear Lake. Throughout high school, she only sailed when a friend happened to invite her out on a boat. For that reason, she describes herself as an “accidental sailor.” When she went to college at Vassar, she wanted to join the sailing team, and they were kind enough to accept a novice into their fold. There she sailed on the Hudson Houston Yacht Club, wrote my name in pencil on a volunteer crew list, and put it on a bulletin board.” She received a few calls in the following days, and soon she was back on the water again.

Now, Kate has been practicing law for 25 years, and sailing for 20. She loves to sail in Galveston Bay, where the wind is good and the motor traffic is light, and she regularly participates in regattas.

Kate draws many connections between sailing and the law. “The rules of sailing are as strict as the rules of evidence and procedure,” she says. “Once you know the rules and follow them, you gain a lot of confidence.” She notes that, for example, in sailing, “If you know the rules of the race, you can look at the traffic, look at the wind on the water, and watch how the wind shifts. My job is on the foredeck. I’ll stand with my back to the mast, scan 180 degrees for the wind, and if I see more wind on starboard or port, I will sail into it. When

we get into the wind, the boat sails faster to the mark. It’s really exciting to target a patch of wind.” In the same way, Kate says that sailing has taught her to understand how she can get her clients from “Point A to Point B in a way they understand, that fits with their personality and their goals.” It has also taught her the importance of bracing herself, and her clients, for unexpected challenges. Kate has been thrown off a boat twice. “It’s like being thrown off a horse, except the horse keeps going down the water with the wind and you can’t catch it,” she says. She recalls that a skipper threw her a line, which was difficult to catch because of the choppy swales and waves. She swam as fast and hard as she could River with the Vassar sailing team, Kate McConnico, right, says sailing has taught her the skipper pulled her up into the boat. where the temperature often dipped so importance of bracing yourself for unexpected challenges. These and other sailing experiences low in the spring that ice floated past her as she sailed. have given Kate a sense of perspective about life. “When you’re out

After college, Kate put sailing on pause for several years, focus- on a regatta next to the Ship Channel and see a Kuwaiti tanker baring her attention on law school and learning her practice. After five reling forward at 20 miles per hour, and you’re wondering if you can years as a lawyer, she realized that she needed to start sailing again. get out of the way in time, you look back at land and think, pshaw.” Kate recalls her first effort to return to the sport: “I wasn’t a mem- Sailing has also given Kate a way to give back. She supports Sailber of a yacht club and I didn’t own a boat, so I went down to the ors for the Sea, a nonprofit organization that works through various

to catch the line, reached it, and the campaigns to preserve the oceans.

Kate encourages others to try their hand at sailing, too. “Something that is that transforming and powerful—even if you do it only one time—changes your perspective on the world.” She has found that the “best lawyers have things outside of their legal careers that delight them and inspire them.” For Kate, that delight comes from angling a boat through the water and from perfectly

catching a patch of wind. Elizabeth Furlow is a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.LP. She is

the Off the Record editor for The Houston Lawyer.

endnotes

1. Kate McConnico practices divorce and family law, as well as estate planning and probate law. She was selected to Super Lawyers for 2010-2020. She is a member of The

Houston Lawyer editorial board.