The Legal Navigator - Fall 2019

FALL 2019

Insight into leading legal talent and issues affecting the legal market

Phyllis Harris

General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of the American Red Cross Building a career of excellence

M OME N T U M

Career insights from legal mavericks

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From BigLaw partner to recruiter

5 T H IN G S YO U DI D N’T KNOW Jennifer Cormano Associate at Nixon Peabody

TO LE A D Kirsten Keegan Vasquez Partner & Vice President, Law Firm Recruiting & Interim Legal Solutions

Major, Lindsey & Africa is the world’s leading legal search firm. The firm, founded in 1982, offers a range of specialized legal recruiting and advisory services to meet the ever-changing needs of law firms and legal departments and to support the career aspirations of talented lawyers and legal and compliance professionals. With more than 25 offices and 200-plus search consultants around the world, Major, Lindsey & Africa uses its market knowledge and experience to partner with organizations to fulfill their legal talent needs and provide solutions to increase team efficiency and effectiveness. Major, Lindsey & Africa is an Allegis Group company, the global leader in talent solutions.

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Cover Story

FA L L 2 01 9

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04 Phyllis Harris General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of the American Red Cross Building a career of excellence

Standards 10 Momentum Career insights from legal mavericks

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14 360 From BigLaw partner to recruiter

17 5 Things You Didn’t Know Jennifer Cormano Associate at Nixon Peabody 17

18 To Lead Kirsten Keegan Vasquez Partner & Vice President, Law Firm Recruiting & Interim Legal Solutions

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For reprints and permission, contact htravaglini@mlaglobal.com.

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COVER STORY

Phyllis Harris, General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of the American Red Cross INT E RVIE W W I T H

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hen Phyllis Harris accepted an invitation to the 150th Gala Celebration for Howard University Law School, little did she know it would turn into a walk down memory lane.

Not because she was an alumna, or because she was being honored. By random chance she ran into three people whom, over the course of her career, she had personally mentored—and in that moment, she had the opportunity to experience an overwhelming sense of pride in their career success: one a professor at Howard University, one an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Miami and one a lawyer at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Atlanta. After all these years, they were still great friends and colleagues. Seeing them together was very rewarding for Phyllis as mentoring and developing others has always been a priority for her.

When did you realize you wanted to be a lawyer?

Believe it or not, if you look in my high school yearbook under my senior picture, it says “criminal lawyer.” This is pretty amazing because I went to an all-black high school in Atlanta, and day to day you didn’t have role models who were black attorneys. A young black girl expressing that she wanted to be a lawyer and proclaiming it in the high school yearbook was unheard of.

I was also a very nerdy girl; at one time, I thought I wanted to go to medical school. But I got into either biology or chemistry in the 10th grade and made my

first “C” ever in life and I said, “Nope.” I loved to read, so I just navigated toward the law after that “C.” When you finished law school, how did you come to work for the Environmental Protection Agency?

The regional counsel of EPA came to the University of Florida, where I was attending law school. I didn’t understand why he came, particularly when he told me they didn’t have any openings. He said he hoped to have an opening in the future, so he conducted interviews and took resumes. At the end of my interview, he said that he was really impressed and if he got a position, he would call me—and he did.

In June of ’86, more than a year and a half later, he called and told me he could hire a part-time attorney and wanted to know if I was interested in the job. I was working at the Department of Health and Human Services; I hated what I was doing, but it was a full-time job. So, the question was: Do I stay in something that I hate because I’m going to make more money, or do I do something different for less money that I am probably going to like a lot more?

Ultimately, I took less money and just loved it, was promoted to full time in six months and received my first cash award for exceptional performance within a year.

You have had a very diverse career. What inspired you to make your first move from the government to an in-house role?

After 9/11, I was asked to go to D.C. to be the deputy assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance with the EPA. I had a great political appointee as a boss who eventually left the EPA to go to Walmart. >>> The Legal Navigator

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Very shortly after he joined Walmart, he asked me to consider joining him there. Twelve months after our initial conversation, I took him up on the offer to visit Bentonville, Arkansas. By then, he had moved to compliance and asked me if I would come and build an environmental compliance program—that’s what intrigued me.

As a family, we thought hard about the big transition of moving from D.C. to Bentonville. However, we wanted the financial opportunities that my family would have, particularly as we were beginning to think about college. It was equally important to have the opportunity to move in-house, leverage my regulatory knowledge and build an environmental program at the world’s largest retailer from the ground up.

When I landed at Walmart, it was a huge change but not in the way that most people think. In government, things were very structured and plodded along. At Walmart, things were fast. You’re in retail and change happens with the seasons. Getting acclimated to a business where you are rising and falling on meeting the needs of the customer in real time, and doing so in a support function, requires you to understand the business and be in lockstep with it. I loved it—especially learning about retail.

How did your role at Walmart prepare you for your general counsel role at the American Red Cross?

Walmart prepared me to face a breadth of issues. There are very few things at the Red Cross that I had not come across at Walmart, other than we have a trust and estates practice due to our generous donors and the issues associated with trusts and estates. Trusts and estates is the most significant area that I didn’t have any real exposure to or experiences to pull from. I did have exposure to nonprofits because my team at Walmart supported the Walmart Foundation and because of my significant nonprofit board experience.

At Walmart, the General Counsel had six or seven direct reports who were my peers. While there wasn’t a Deputy General Counsel, the portfolio that I managed aligned with that of a Deputy General Counsel’s. I managed the budget and built a legal operations function for the organization that received recognition from the Financial Times of London and the Association of Corporate Counsel. In addition, employment attorneys, technology attorneys, IP attorneys and privacy attorneys reported to me. It was a structure that allowed me to grow and learn the essential aspects of the in-house practice.

All these essential functions were led by a very highcaliber group of General Counsel Vice Presidents who provided me with the opportunity to learn about the specific practice areas they managed. I learned about employment law, board governance, M&A, IP and privacy from some of the best attorneys in corporate America. I will never be an employment, M&A or privacy attorney.

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However, I know enough to understand the issues that arise and how to manage these issues through the attorneys at the Red Cross. Like Walmart, the Red Cross has a large (17,000) workforce and an even larger number of volunteers. The Red Cross also has complex labor issues because of its labor unions. In addition, the Red Cross has a significant IP portfolio, substantial mission driven transactions, and a solid ethics and compliance function for which I am responsible. As I approach the legal issues of the Red Cross, I can’t help but think about similar scenarios that I was exposed to at Walmart.

In addition, my EPA experience provided me with a deep understanding of regulatory agencies and how to navigate a regulatory framework. The Red Cross’s Biomedical Business is heavily regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

While I haven’t had much experience with the FDA, having served for 20 years at an agency with a broad regulatory reach, I understand how regulators think and what they expect. The Red Cross also has a very robust Training Services business, in addition to humanitarian programs supporting international efforts and the military. My work at EPA in building capacity for international compliance programs provided exposure to a wide variety of international issues.

For the most part, the navigation of the Red Cross hasn’t been as difficult as I imagined. I have a great HR executive who laid out an outstanding onboarding plan that focused on me getting to know the organization and how it carries out its mission of alleviating human suffering and providing a safe blood supply.

It’s remarkable and a blessing how my entire career has, in many ways, prepared me for this role. I’m soaking it up like a sponge and am still learning a lot, but it’s been amazing how much I’ve been able to leverage from all the different things I’ve done over the course of my career. I’m quite fortunate and appreciative to have the opportunity to bring all these experiences together at the Red Cross.

What were some of the steps you took to acclimate yourself to gain trust and respect with your team and the rest of the leadership team at the American Red Cross?

I enjoy diving into issues of organizational effectiveness and developed a transparent 100-day plan when I took on the new role.

When I came into the Red Cross, I shared my 100-day plan with the team in the Office of General Counsel.

First and foremost, I wanted to get to know each of the members of the team. During the first 30 days, I set up 30-minute meetings with each attorney and legal professional. During the next 60 days, I held an off-site retreat with the entire group of attorneys where we discussed the current state of the office, our day-to-day mission and the vision for what we wanted the office to

Throughout my career, in more than one role, I was that person behind the person who was in charge— the person behind the leader, pushing them and supporting them. [...] I had to confront my doubts and embrace and be thankful for the opportunity. be. We discussed how we should function day to day in the Office of General Counsel in providing legal advice and counsel, defending the interests of the Red Cross, and creating an engaging workplace where everyone can thrive. I also challenged the team to think critically and strategically about where the business is going and to examine our ways of working to better support the mission of the Red Cross. We talked at length about the challenges facing the organization and how we may best align to ensure that we’re providing the best legal services to the business. We also had fun at the retreat, and the team had an opportunity, with the facilitation of our HR partners, to ask me anything that would provide greater context to my values, expectations and ways of working as the General Counsel at the Red Cross.

During this time, I also had conversations with key leaders of the business. I met with all of my peers and immersed myself in the business by visiting key Red Cross facilities and leaders in the field. I felt it was important to include my team on these visits so that they could have these experiences with me. I feel that a critical aspect of an onboarding process is to include the team on field visits so that you bond, grow and learn together. We visited our laboratories in Rockville, Maryland, and Charlotte, North Carolina, and our Humanitarian Operations Center in Fairfax, Virginia. These visits allowed us to meet key leaders in the business while gaining a deeper understanding of the biomed business and a deeper appreciation of how the business monitors, prepares for and responds during disasters. I was also very humbled to have had the opportunity to visit Walter Reed Army Hospital and meet some amazing and inspiring volunteers and service dogs.

All these experiences, especially the conversations with my team and leaders in the business, the strategic retreat, and my almost 30 years of leading people, helped me develop a “Strategy for the Future” for the Red Cross’s Office of General Counsel. Most significantly, all this was possible because I have an incredible role model and

COVER STORY

advocate in my CEO, Gail McGovern, who is truly one of the most inspirational leaders that I have ever worked with.

Early in your career at the EPA, you were asked to take that regional counsel role. In other interviews, you stated that you didn’t believe you were ready but you “got out of your own way and believed in the attributes that others saw in you.” How did you do that?

I had to believe that I was worthy and capable. The regional administrator at that point—a 6'8" guy from Ocala, Florida—would unabashedly say, “Yep. I’m a redneck.” At the same time, he was one of the best leaders I’ve ever worked with, and he just truly believed in me.

He called me up to his office when I was eight months pregnant and said, “The regional counsel is no longer here. I’ve asked around—I’ve asked the attorneys who should lead the office, and everyone said you.” While he was talking to me, I was just so timid, and I said it couldn’t be me right now because I’m eight months pregnant.

But he said, “Why can’t it be you?” He just never let up.

Throughout my career, in more than one role, I was that person behind the person who was in charge—the person behind the leader, pushing them and supporting them.

So, I felt very strongly that I could do the job and this was my opportunity. It was just very hard for me to understand why he was asking me—because in 1994 there were no diversity and inclusion initiatives, and he was so different from me. However, at the end of the day, at age 34, I was given the opportunity to take on the role as regional counsel because the regional administrator believed that I was the most qualified person. I had to confront my doubts and embrace and be thankful for the opportunity.

What qualities do you think it takes for somebody to be successful in your line of work?

Throughout my career, I’ve been very authentic; people have always known exactly where they stand with me, The Legal Navigator

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people who work for me, clients and mentees. I am a very proud black woman who was born and raised in Atlanta. My Atlanta upbringing, my family and my lifelong Atlanta friends have shaped who I am, and I embrace it; that’s just who I am, and you like that or you don’t.

I’m also very transparent. I will tell people what is not going well—what they need to improve on—and they know the “why” behind a tough conversation. I don’t have hidden agendas; I’m just trying to make the organization the best place to work and the individual a better attorney, professional and person. What you see and hear from me reflects this basic value.

You must also be good at what you do—technical competency and excellence is a given. The organization must also trust your judgment and ability to think critically. You must also be intuitive and have an ability to cut through the clutter to get to the heart of an issue.

I can be somewhat demanding but fair, and I’ve always believed in the power of recognition. Fundamentally my responsibility as a leader is to grow and develop new leaders. I do so by getting visibility for the attorneys and legal professionals who work with me on my team. So, I will prep them, prod them and then say, “Hey, I want you to go and give that presentation.” I may be present, but for me, my job is to get them ready so that there’s a pipeline of talent that the organization can draw from.

At the end of the day, nothing is a given. We joke about being hit by a bus, and I like to think that I’ve done a great job of building and preparing a pipeline of people to come behind me whenever that time comes.

At the end of the day, nothing is a given.

What would you say has been a highlight of your career thus far?

I had an opportunity when I was at Walmart to brief members of the board on a matter, and the chairman of the board was in that briefing. My boss at that time really put me through the wringer getting me ready for that briefing.

When I was finished with the presentation, the chairman of the board said, “I never get a chance to talk to lawyers; tell me about yourself.” This was my chance to give my 15second elevator speech. That was Rob Walton, and he’s probably one of the kindest people that I have ever met.

About three weeks later I was hosting a mentoring circle of about 15 women of color. In Arkansas, many women of color would come to work at Walmart and needed support with building professional and personal relationships to sustain a demanding corporate career. Hearing their stories inspired me to create a mentoring circle so that they could get to know each other while discussing career development topics. For this meeting we were at a restaurant, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the chairman come in. I turned around, and he was sitting behind me and said, “Hello, Phyllis.”

From there, I introduced my mentees to him. My circle had just talked about elevator speeches at a previous session, so I said this was their opportunity to do their elevator speeches.

Rob Walton took the time to listen to each one of them. It was indeed a highlight to have the opportunity to give a great presentation to the chairman and then three weeks later run into the chairman and introduce my mentees to him.

Are there any mentors or people that inspired and mentored you along the way?

At Walmart, JP Suarez would be at the top of my list of great mentors. JP recruited me to Walmart, having been my boss at the EPA, and was my culture coach. Another great mentor is the former chief administrative officer and General Counsel at Walmart, Tom Mars. He probably was one of the few people in my career who gave me authentic and direct feedback. His feedback could be very intense, and I wasn’t accustomed to that. He told you exactly how it was. But he was just as forthright and gracious with recognition. So, when you did something well, he would be the first to highfive you and recognize your accomplishments. I learned a great deal from him about strategy and executive presence.

Another great mentor was my last GC at Walmart, Karen Roberts. I observed how hard she worked day to day at being the best GC that she could be. At Walmart, there was something coming at you every day. Watching her navigate the pace prepared me for this role at the Red Cross.

Finally, one of my mentors who is also one of my dearest friends is the current CEO of Feeding America—Claire Babineaux-Fontenot. Claire is my “let me cry some tears mentor” who centers me and always shows me a better path. I am so grateful for her mentorship and friendship.

What motivates you to get involved in the community?

I think most attorneys get into this profession because they want to do something for the greater good. For me, there is truly a desire to do more in areas where I have a passion.

I’m very committed to education because it was my path to economic security for my family. I have spent a lot of time on the Board of Trustees of Converse College, one of the oldest women’s institutions in the South. I currently serve as the Chairwoman of the board. I am passionate about young women having the opportunity that I had to receive an exceptional education in a safe environment where they are enabled to find their voice and values while realizing the vision that they have for their future. I know that going to a women’s college was my foundation for leadership and contributed to my ability to lead with confidence.

It was liberating to be in a classroom setting where you didn’t have to worry about how you looked every day, didn’t have the distraction of men and could speak out boldly because you were part of a sisterhood of support.

I also served on the board of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and really loved that. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund focuses on historically black public colleges and universities. Being part of an organization focused on education and opportunity was a privilege and gave me great insights into the challenges that our least fortunate young people have in getting a college education.

I’m also on the board of the Council of Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO). I decided to join that board because CLEO provided me with the opportunity to go to a pre-law institute before law school with a scholarship that was instrumental to my success in law school.

There’s a common tie in that these organizations support education entities, because they have been so impactful in my life and have played a role in my achievements.

and corporations and ensure COVER STORY access to opportunity? It’s not enough to get a black, Hispanic or female in the door. They must know and see that their voice, opinion and work matter. The lack of access to opportunity is the most significant barrier to a more diverse and inclusive workplace and requires intentionality about how we’re developing young attorneys and preparing them for the rigors of practicing law. We must focus on getting young lawyers of color a seat at the table and ultimately an opportunity to move from the table into the “room where it happens.”

When I look back on my career—thinking specifically about the EPA, as a young attorney—I had a meaningful caseload and was given the opportunity to negotiate on behalf of the EPA as the lead chair from day one with major AmLaw firms. I was always the only female and the only black person in the room with environmental engineers, scientists and outside counsel. This gave me opportunities that were unheard of. Consequently, when a young attorney has this type of exposure, there isn’t too much that you are afraid of. You know you can handle yourself.

There aren’t many opportunities now for young lawyers to have the benefit of getting 20 matters and your manager telling you to go figure it out. It’s just not done. So now, the key is to get a partner or a corporate executive interested in your career, who wants to see you grow and develop to be the best that you can be.

What advice do you have for young lawyers?

I have a daughter who graduated from Howard Law School in May of this year. She just took the New York bar and is going to work for a big firm where it will be a pressure cooker. So, in thinking about her, my advice to her has been to listen to those who have been in your shoes. They have a lot of wisdom and corrections of errors to share with you.

How do you define diversity and how do you retain it?

Of course, diversity can be viewed from the classic definition of a collective group of individuals of different genders, races and ethnicities. But I do think there’s an aspect of diversity where you also seek out people who think differently. I have found that I am a lot more effective when I hire individuals who think differently than I think because they are of a different race, gender or ethnicity. However, I also work hard to ensure that I am intentional in the recruitment, hiring and retention of individuals who are underrepresented in the workplace.

I can come to a conclusion on a matter very quickly, so I try to hire people who I know will slow down my decision-making.

I also look to hire people who are intellectually curious. It’s critically important for me to have diversity of thought.

I believe that the issue the legal profession must address is: How do we make everyone feel included at law firms

Find a mentor. Think about the things that you want to improve on and identify those people with whom you can have a very intentional mentoring relationship to support and be a resource to you on the journey. Mentors won’t always tell you want you want to hear. So, go into a mentorship with a purpose in mind. I would also say to young attorneys that they should have a career plan for the long game. Time passes quickly, and many organizations have a culture of up or out. Your time is limited and you don’t want to waste it. When you are purposeful about your career and have a plan, disappointment is easier because you have planned for the setbacks.

I also tell my daughter that first and foremost you are being judged on your work ethic, intellectual curiosity and ability to practice the law. I’ve counseled her to ask for unvarnished feedback and understand that feedback, good and bad, is a gift.

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MOMENTUM

Career insights from legal mavericks

A LYSSA A . GRIKSCHEIT Partner, Sidley Austin LLP Law became interesting to me in seventh grade. If I did well in Utah history at my public middle school, I could skip U.S. history and take a law class instead. In class, we held a moot court and I was one of the lawyers arguing a case in front of a real judge.

That was the first time it ever occurred to me that law was something I might want to do. I loved it.

the way that many LLM students did, having studied a lot of EU directives and regulations. I found case law very odd because my entry into studying U.S. law had been through a different channel. I was analyzing law from a comparative point of view even from my first year as a law student. That really cemented my desire to do something international.

Then when I met a Colombian while studying for the bar and decided to marry him, it became obvious that I should learn Spanish, and my focus shifted from Europe to Latin America.

In my senior year of college, I decided to apply for a variety of fellowships at the same time I was applying for law school. I was awarded a Rotary Fellowship to study in Australia, but I have always been interested in I asked if there was any way I could connecting to the world and helping go to a French-speaking country people invest across borders. I instead. I spoke French and wanted effectively created a practice area for to further improve my language skills myself; it cuts across fund formation before law school. The and transactions and I HAVE ALWAYS Rotary Foundation told is very focused on me France was full, but if I BEEN INTERESTED emerging markets, mostly IN CONNECTING could find an appropriate in Latin America. Most TO THE WORLD academic program in transactional lawyers AND HELPING Switzerland or Belgium, either form funds or do PEOPLE INVEST I could go. That’s how deals. What I found is they ACROSS BORDERS. I ended up getting a have a lot in common; my I EFFECTIVELY graduate degree at practice involves finding CREATED A The College of Europe. the best way to aggregate PRACTICE AREA Most of the students and deploy capital into FOR MYSELF. there were selected and difficult countries and funded by EU governments. It was a illiquid asset classes. What gets me tremendous academic environment up in the morning is figuring out how of people from different countries, I can help structure something that all studying law, economics and works for the asset manager and the administration of the EU. The investors from around the world to experience opened my eyes to other address a need in a particular country legal systems and cultures. or region. Sometimes we are creating something out of nothing, and this is When I started at University of Michigan the first time the manager is able to Law School a year later, I was thinking access capital across borders.

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For the past 12 years, I have been engaged in pro bono work in the area of financial inclusion for both Accion International and Women’s World Banking. This started as a niche project unrelated to my practice. In recent years, it has been exciting to see impact investing move from the nonprofit and development bank world to the mainstream and influence fund formation and deal making as a whole. Now, I find it even more fulfilling to work on funds and deals that have an impact investing angle. A lot of times my clients are aiming not only for financial returns but social returns as well, which is pretty exciting. When I closed my first impact investing deal in Myanmar, I decided I have the best day job I can imagine, even if I should have learned more U.S. history. That can be a retirement project someday.

L ATOYA ASIA

Director, Associate General Counsel, E*TRADE Financial Corporation Throughout my life, I have always been compelled to give back; it’s in my DNA. So, when the opportunity arose to take some time off from my law firm to go on a yearlong service trip to Niger, I decided to pursue it.

I had been working at my law firm for three years, and we had just finished up a two-month-long federal trial.

It felt like the right time to step away from the office. I was only intending to complete a one-week service mission, but I felt called to stay. A school in the capital city of Niamey was looking for teachers, and I had an aha moment. I knew it was something I was called to do. I had done so many smaller service trips throughout my life, it really made sense to take the opportunity to follow a path I had been passionate about for so long.

I felt so connected to the children at my school and at the orphanages in which I volunteered weekly. Despite the poverty and difficult conditions at the orphanages, the children were filled with excitement and happiness every day. I came back home to the U.S. with a greater perspective of what it’s like to live abroad in a developing country. Niger consistently ranks near the bottom in the United Nations’ Human Development Index, and much of the population lives in rural areas and has little access to advanced education.

My experience confirmed that there is so much we can do to help our local communities as well as the communities in need around the world. It inspired me to continue to give back.

I loved my firm, but it was difficult to return to a corporate setting after a year dedicated to teaching and interacting with children in the orphanages. I returned to the firm for one year, but subsequently ended up taking time away from law. In the end, I decided I needed to find a career that allowed me to travel and do the things I love while lending my expertise in what I was trained to do. I decided to pursue a career as in-house counsel, not only for the work-life balance but also to hone my focus in one area.

I NEEDED TO [...] DO THE THINGS I LOVE WHILE LENDING MY EXPERTISE IN WHAT I WAS TRAINED TO DO.

Since moving in-house, I’ve learned one business inside and out, which has helped me deliver greater value to the company and create deeper relationships with my colleagues.

I also have tremendous opportunities to serve in leadership capacities and give back to my local community. It’s rewarding to find a career that allows me to do what I love.

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MOME N T U M

Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP Law was never the plan for me until I was interning as a pharmacy student for a large pharmaceutical company on the East Coast. That internship was supposed to confirm my idea of pursuing a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry or pharmaceutical science. Instead, I met pharmacists there that had become lawyers. Their work as FDA lawyers, patent lawyers and products liability lawyers was fascinating. I attended law school thinking I’d become a patent lawyer and work for a large pharmaceutical company. But I quickly found my passion to be more focused on trademark and brand protection.

My vision of the future was I WOULD RATHER that things were only going HAVE A N ARROW to become more and more FOCUS AN INCH specialized, and I would WIDE AND A MILE rather have a narrow focus DEEP THAN A an inch wide and a mile MILE WIDE AND deep than a mile wide AN INCH DEEP. and an inch deep. There is something inside of me that has always wanted to improve and see excellence, so each career move has made perfect sense.

At its core, success to me is when I have a chance to deliver value and it’s appreciated. That can translate into all kinds of accolades that are wonderful. At the top of that list is the DuetsBlog that launched on March 5, 2009, aimed at two specific audiences—lawyers who may or may not know a lot about IP and marketers who could benefit from learning the pitfalls associated with IP. In 2008, one of the associates on my team suggested that we do a blog. When I was in law school, I had written a few articles on trademark topics for the Journal of Corporation Law. And over the course of my career, I’ve worked closely with designers, creatives and marketing professionals as a trademark lawyer. We surveyed the other blogs that were out there, and it just seemed that many were lawyers talking at a high level to other lawyers and they were not really accessible to non-lawyers. So the vision was to bridge the gap and present ourselves as having a different mindset. We wanted to create content that was actionable, interesting and entertaining, and would resonate with non-lawyers who care about brands. We’ve received such incredible accolades from people at the pinnacle of both groups, which is very humbling but also gratifying.

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DEBOR A H FARONE Author, Strategic Advisor and Former Chief Marketing Officer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore I reached a place in my career where I had done several different things—working at a global PR firm and in management consulting, and then, with two wonderful law firms—and I needed to do something different. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be. I thought of setting up a consulting firm, but at the same time, I was also approached by PLI about writing a book on legal marketing. They thought there was a need in the marketplace to tell both lawyers and marketers what today’s state of the profession was and what the best practices were around the globe. I saw it as a challenge, but I felt I might be able to do something that would be valuable to people.

When I started in law firm marketing, law firms were relatively new to the idea of thinking about branding or unique selling propositions. While I was fascinated by the law, I knew I did not want to be a lawyer, but I wanted to understand the whole ecosystem of how the legal business worked, from clients making a choice to hire a firm to how firms grew revenue, hired and recruited lawyers.

I KNEW I DID NOT WANT TO BE A LAWYER, BUT I WANTED TO UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE ECOSYSTEM OF HOW THE LEGAL BUSINESS WORKED.

At Cravath, I had to build the function from the ground up. I started from the beginning, working with the firm’s leadership to set the strategy and help familiarize the lawyers with what marketing was all about. Many of the successful New York firms grew out of partnerships between two or three lawyers, and they became very successful without contemplating things such as brand or recruiting material. So, it was worrying about the basics, from making sure the phones were answered the same way around the world to making sure that if someone wrote an article we had copyright permission to reprint it. It was explaining why you needed to have a logo and uniformity to a brand. Once that plumbing was in place, I was able to help law firms create business development strategies and begin growing their practices.

It was a challenge, but I always love jumping into a situation and trying to solve Gordian knots. To me, legal marketing was like a puzzle that needed to be figured out. It was also a challenge to be able to build something in an environment working with highcaliber professionals who were demanding, yet incredibly bright and very inquisitive. It was a puzzle worth figuring out.

[Our] vision was to bridge the gap [...]. We wa interesting and entertaining, and would reson 12

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H IR OA KI I NUYAMA

MOME N T U M

General Counsel at Air Liquide Japan I was born, brought up and educated in Japan. During my childhood, my family took a trip to Hawaii and Australia; this was my first experience traveling abroad. My mom had a friend in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, so for the first time, I saw a huge house and backyard. In Japan (especially in central Tokyo), houses are much smaller because it is densely populated.

I realized that around the world there was a totally new perspective for me to explore. It was then I decided I wanted to have a job in a business that was all around the globe.

After graduating from college in Tokyo, I took a job with a sogo shosha (large-scale international trade and investment company unique to Japan), which was actually a Fortune Global 500 company and did business in more than 60 countries. I never thought about being a lawyer, but I was assigned to the legal department as my first job. In Japan, it used to be very common to join a company without having a specific job description, so you didn’t know where you would be assigned. In my role, I reviewed and negotiated contracts, most of which were governed by U.S./English law. It turned out that reviewing and negotiating contracts were of great interest to me. I thought I should learn U.S. or English law and be fully familiar with the law if I was going to work with it.

I applied for a scholarship within my company and was chosen to be one of a few employees (out of 4,000) who could study abroad with a full scholarship. I then went to study at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed during the Revolutionary War. It was a fascinating experience learning U.S. law at UPenn, where the teaching style and in-class communication were much more interactive than I had experienced during the education that I had in the past.

I LEARNED HOW TO LISTEN TO PEOPLE, HOW TO GIVE FEEDBACK AND HOW TO MANAGE A TEAM.

I returned to Japan in 2004 as in-house legal counsel and represented the company, among others, in M&A transactions and upstream oil and gas and LNG projects in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Most of my counterparts in these transactions and projects were U.S.- or U.K.-qualified lawyers, and I found that because I had learned from a U.S. law school and became qualified as a New York lawyer, I was more confident in negotiation and communication in general.

However, as I took on new opportunities, particularly when I moved back to the U.S. in 2010, I realized I didn’t have much experience managing lawyers. Taking guidance from HR and advice from friends and colleagues, I learned how to listen to people, how to give feedback and how to manage a team.

Finally, I served as GC of a U.S. company, which made me feel confident both as a lawyer and as a manager. Throughout the past 20 years as a lawyer, I have been supported by my family, team members, colleagues and external lawyers who are around me. I am tremendously thankful for them being so supportive of me.

anted to create content that was actionable, nate with non-lawyers who care about brands.

- STEPHEN BAIRD

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360: From BigLaw Partner to Recruiter When thinking about the next phase of their legal career, many turn in-house from law firm life or go back to a law firm after a stint in the government. But a rare few choose to veer off the traditional path and explore an opportunity in recruiting.

That’s the story many of the recruiters at Major, Lindsey & Africa will tell you. For example, Ron Wood, a managing director and former BigLaw partner, was ready for the next phase of his career when Paul Allen, a partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa, came calling. Paul’s suggestion that Ron become a recruiter was intriguing, and once Ron was introduced to Laurie Caplane, senior executive director and managing partner of Law Firm Partner Search, and others, he never turned back.

What attracted each of you to the world of legal recruiting?

PAUL: Because MLA started in San Francisco, it was a company that I had been familiar with my whole career while working in-house and as a BigLaw partner. Part of the appeal was meeting Chuck Fanning and Marty Africa, who were personally very compelling, thoughtful people with very high emotional quotient (EQ). They had done their homework about me and laid out a vision for how we would be successful together and why a law firm partner and someone with an in-house background would be successful on this platform. The entrepreneurial aspects that they described were exciting and compelling, and the virtually unlimited upside that they talked about was pretty hard to resist. They presented it as a way to leverage 20 years of law practice, where the network of relationships I had built in the Bay Area would be extremely useful in building this new career.

RON: I had some familiarity with the recruiting industry.

In the late ’80s, I had an encounter with Marty Africa when I was looking to transition out of my first firm. I met with her not knowing anything about the recruiting 14

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industry. As my career advanced, I didn’t have need for a recruiter. But Paul, whom I knew from my time at Morgan Stanley, first broached the idea back in 2013. It came completely out of the blue, and I was closed to the idea because I had no interest in doing anything different.

But we talked again in the fall of 2018, as I hit the milestone of 31 years in the practice and felt like it was just going to be a lot more pie to eat if I continued to practice. I had often daydreamed about finding other talents I might have, other than trying to find arguments to attack new legal claims. In talking with Paul, he provided a 3D perspective on something I knew in only a 2D sense and added some context. I thought I could at least have a meeting and see what recruiting is about.

Thereafter, I began meeting MLA’s management team.

Each meeting became a little more interesting and built on the last one. I started to imagine life as a recruiter, and the whole notion of imagining, conceiving and believing I could do it gathered its own momentum as I went along.

What ultimately cinched it for me was when my daughters said they would still love me if I was no longer a lawyer. From

the time I was 20, I was either aspiring to be, or actually being a lawyer. It was tough to conceive taking off the uniform of a lawyer because it was my entire adult identity. But once I told my daughters I was interested in potentially leaving, they were like, “High-five, Dad! What took you so long?”

have been people who have a 360 really hard time with the lack of structure, so being self-directed is really important. Also, persistence, patience and someone who is determined and ready to build their own business.

How would you describe your transition from practicing law to recruiting?

RON: It has been seamless. From the day I decided that I would give this a go, it was like a switch went off; all the stress of worrying about other people’s problems, that for 31 years had been like an added weight, lifted from my shoulders. Now my days are spent being a brand ambassador and an intermediary, trying to make marriages between those who can and those who need.

PAUL: Someone who really likes people, genuinely roots for people to be successful, and wants to connect with new and interesting people every day; someone who is good at listening and being very present, asking questions and being curious. It’s a combination of high EQ and credibility.

For a candidate who is already established and successful, to get that person to share their hopes and dreams with you, that is only going to happen if you are effective and credible, if you’ve been a partner in a firm or well-established professionally some other way. It’s a fairly rare combination.

Is the job what you expected?

Why did you think Ron would be successful?

RON: I had no idea of the amount of data that is available at our fingertips or the amount of depth to be gained about the legal market. Having practiced in a particular area of the law, I knew a lot about the lawyers, issues and actors in that area. But, you know, other than passing encounters with other practice areas, I didn’t really know much, and I’m now submerging myself to learn those areas and it’s fun and interesting.

PAUL: Ron and I had worked together at Morgan Stanley.

The thing about Ron is that he doesn’t realize he’s a magnetic person. He’s somebody that people gravitate to and want to talk to. He’s also highly persuasive; I saw him in action on cases, and he is someone that when he articulates a position or proposition or an idea, he’s very good at making it sound right and compelling.

It’s a skill set that to me is ideal for this career. He’s an engaging person, and he’s got the perfect background.

Somebody that’s been a partner in an AmLaw 25 firm, in senior leadership in government at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and had an impressive career in-house as well. It’s extremely rare. I always knew Ron was ideal for this; it was just a matter of convincing him to do it.

What qualities make for a good legal recruiting career?

LAURIE: I had a conference call about 12 years ago where I brought together our most seasoned and successful recruiters and asked them what they thought was the number one skill or trait of successful recruiters. They all felt that you have to absolutely love to talk to people you don’t know. So, I’ve often used that when I’ve interviewed people and ask them if they like to do that.

LAURIE: Ron was already selected as a person we really wanted before I got to him. After I met him myself, I had to agree with everybody else’s opinion. He’s high-energy, extremely self-confident, engaging, friendly and very personable. Also, given his background, which Paul was talking about, he is ideal for this position.

[A good legal recruiter has] persistence [and] patience and [is] determined and ready to build their own business. - LAURIE CAPLANE In addition to that, I think it’s someone that can build relationships quickly. Someone that can handle the ups and downs of this business, because there are extreme highs and lows and there are some people that just can’t deal with that. Also, someone who is self-directed and focused, because as much as people have told me when I interview them how much they absolutely can’t stand having to be accountable for every minute, sometimes when they get into an environment like ours where we’re not micromanagers and they don’t have to account for their time, they can’t manage their time on their own. There

RON: Well, let me thank Paul and Laurie for being so nice and gracious. I would not have believed that about myself. I do what I do every day just because it’s what I do. It was really my belief in Paul, whom I hold in great regard.

When he said, a second time, after his first outreach years before, that he thought I could be good at this, and because I was open to exploring other talents, I thought I should at least talk to someone.

Laurie spread the breadcrumbs that led me to the right people whose own paths I could identify with. And each story was like another breadcrumb in the maze leading from what I was doing into a new thing. It’s the people on the team here, from leadership to those in the field, who make the story so compelling, and it evidences why they succeed. They meet somebody who is skeptical, or at least indifferent—like me—and walk them through the relevant analysis with the right kind of prompts. >>> The Legal Navigator

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What are the benefits to a career as a recruiter?

LAURIE: One benefit is that you can make really good money if you do well, so it doesn’t have to be a step down financially. Another thing is that it gives you a lot more flexibility. If you are self-directed, you don’t have to bill every 10 minutes or be accountable in the same way that you are accountable in a law firm.

What are some things that a law firm partner or in-house counsel should consider about a career in recruiting?

RON: Practicing law is a great intellectual experience, but it does impose an emotional toll on you because you’re responsible for the affairs of others. And at some point, people get gassed out on that or just want to experience something else. I’ve met with a number of PAUL: The part that is the most fun is just having an excuse different partners at very prestigious places and positions to meet the absolute pinnacle of the profession every day. who say, “I want to not have to travel so much and not I get to know all the best and brightest partners in the top have to constantly try cases,” or “I want to go in-house” firms and the people who are involved in all of the most or “I want to go to a startup.” You look around and say, innovative technology what’s left? Is there another companies—the gamemountain I can climb? Being a changers in this profession.

[W]hen you practice law for a recruiter is working in the same After you have been doing professional space, just from this for a number of years long time, you get more and a different perspective and you have met virtually gathering different information. more specialized in a certain all of them, you talk to It’s an easy transition in that them regularly, you meet area, and it doesn’t really regard for someone who them for coffee or lunch, wants something different. pay to spend mindshare on you keep up with them and you are a part of that PAUL: A point that people learning about other things ecosystem. It is incredibly probably wouldn’t realize is [...]. This job is, to a certain rewarding and enjoyable. that when you practice law for a long time, you get more and extent, more sophisticated.

What are some of more specialized in a certain You have to have a working the challenges? area, and it doesn’t really pay to spend mindshare on knowledge of virtually every LAURIE: I think the ups learning about other things; practice area that a large and downs. It’s certainly you get pretty narrow. This job not consistent that is, to a certain extent, more firm might offer.

- PAUL ALLEN you’re always going to sophisticated. You have to have a great year. And I have a working knowledge think it’s very difficult for of virtually every practice area that a large firm might some people to deal with that. You can do everything offer. You have to know what the client base would be, right, and the candidate you are working with still what the ancillary practices would be and what support doesn’t move no matter how great the offer or the these people need in every practice area. You have to firm is. It’s got nothing to do with you, and that can understand everyone and be able to speak intelligently be very difficult to deal with because it’s beyond about every single practice and what would help that your control. So much is beyond your control. practice grow and what kind of things another firm could offer that would give somebody some tailwind in their PAUL: You have to be comfortable with uncertainty. There’s career. So, essentially, you’re learning so much more a deal cycle, and it’s all about individuals and their own about so many practice areas rather than just focusing on hopes and their fears. People who are going through life your own specific one. If you’re a curious entrepreneurial change like this where they’re making a career change, person, it’s a blast of fresh air. It’s just really fun. thinking about a new opportunity—sometimes they get indecisive or they get cold feet, or they change their minds, and you just have to be ready to go with the flow and help them make the right decision. It works out or it doesn’t. None of these deals are finished until they’re finished—they can go away at any time. You have to keep the pipeline of work going and deal with that kind of uncertainty all the time. It just becomes pretty routine.

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LAURIE: It’s also a way to utilize so much of what you know in a totally different environment and setting. I often say to people I interview that attorneys really like to work with recruiters who are attorneys, so you’re already “in the club” but your function is totally different.

PAUL: You end up mentoring people who are already highly accomplished. For somebody that enjoys that role, it’s great.

Jennifer Cormano practical about it. You put it in the space of science, and that’s something that’s useful for a lot of people.’”

2

Jennifer Cormano is an associate in Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles office representing both nonprofit and for-profit health care providers, including hospitals, physician groups, academic medical centers, surgery centers and other organizations affiliated with the health care industry.

And while her day job challenges her mind, her work as a yoga instructor centers her mind. Here are five things you should know about Jennifer and how practicing mindfulness, meditation and/or yoga can improve your legal practice.

Jennifer loves her yoga practice but didn’t intend to actually become a yoga instructor.

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“I was the only lawyer in the class, and my yoga instructor encouraged me to consider teaching yoga. He said I should teach to ‘my people’—meaning other lawyers. When I asked him why, he said, ‘You are very grounded about the practice of yoga and extremely

Our ability to handle stress or challenges is like a river.

“The amount and speed of the water in the river are the stress or challenge.

At times, there’s going to be a lot of fast-moving water, and at other times it’s going to be a trickle. Our ability to handle any amount of water/ stress is the riverbed itself. So stress management is twofold: First, what can you do to help reduce the amount of river flow? No matter what you do to reduce the water level, you’re still going to have running water—and if you have a very short, narrow riverbed, you’re still going to be stressed.

Secondly, you must take care of the riverbed. If something has happened to you in the past, that’s maybe a large rock in the middle of your riverbed and you must deal with that. It’s not about making dramatic external changes. It’s about making the internal perspective changes that you need for your riverbed to be solid.”

Yoga/meditation/ mindfulness impact the way that our brain functions.

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“If you’re doing yoga/mindfulness/ meditation, it helps change the way your brain works. Studies show it increases growth in areas of your brain that are important for learning, memory, emotional regulation, perspective taking and compassion—and for me, all those things are super critical in closing complex health care transactions.

They’re also critical to just enjoying life and having meaningful connections with other humans in the world.”

THINGS

YOU DIDN’T KNOW Meditation practices can change our response to stress and stressful people.

4

“When we have a stress response, our cortisol spikes and our fight or flight response kicks in. It is the response of ‘I see the tiger in the corner and I’m going to survive this.’ There are a lot of things that happen in your body in response to that. If you live in a constant fight or flight response, it has negative impacts on you in general.

Yoga/meditation/mindfulness can help reduce cortisol levels, so when you take a couple deep breaths, you’re telling your body, ‘Hey, I know you are programmed right now to have a stress response to the tiger, but that’s not a tiger—that’s opposing counsel.’

If you can do that, you’re helping to hit the reverse button.”

There is a difference between pleasure and happiness—and it’s an important one.

5

Pleasure is instant gratification and is linked in our brain to a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Happiness is long-term satisfaction—the feeling of accomplishment linked to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is linked to depressive disorders and dopamine is linked to addictive disorders. When you choose to go out for a drink or binge-watch something after a hard day, those actions are linked to your dopamine response. It is important to shift the focus of our “selfcare” efforts to activities that promote our brain’s production and absorption of serotonin—what makes us happy overall rather than a quick fix. We need to make sure people are actually having that feeling of accomplishment from their legal practice and their lives.”

The Legal Navigator

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The “Type A” personality many of us lawyers are purported to possess is often a blessing for our career choice. But is it a curse on our ability to take care of ourselves? We are high achievers, perfectionists and, too often, workaholics. Our work requires meticulous attention to detail, competitiveness and long hours, so being Type A feels like a plus. However, the stress associated with being all of those things takes its toll on our well-being—something we rarely take the time to consider as a top priority in our daily routine. That thinking needs to change.

Many articles have emerged recently that speak to the stressful nature of the legal profession and the effects the pressure and responsibility of being a lawyer have on the mental and physical health of those in practice. In my time as a litigator, there were many stressful days where I took a backseat to filing deadlines, the relentless ring of the phone and advocating for the best interests of my clients. I was not finding time to put my best interests first.

That’s where yoga came in.

The hour a day I would—and still do—take for myself melted away the rest of the world and allowed me to focus on myself, even for just those few moments. I will confess, then and now as MLA’s VP, my pre-yoga-class “intention” is often a professional one, so yoga hasn’t stopped the Type A. What it does do is enable more measured responses, enhanced clarity of thought and better problem-solving skills. And it allows a recalibration of negative states of mind like anger and worry. Perhaps it’s the oxygen benefits of deep breathing. Perhaps it’s the meditative aspect of the practice. Perhaps it’s simply an hour of stretching. Whatever the case, I am healthier AND better at my work when I take this care.

Of course, most of us don’t believe we have an hour to spare for ourselves. This is especially true if you are a law firm lawyer, where time quite literally equals money. How can you take 30 minutes out of your day to meditate or go for a run when that “break” is going to keep you from the more important work you can bill for your firm? Finding value in clearing one’s mind is elusive because doing so too often increases stress. You hear the virtual cash register ringing up the cost of those 18

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minutes; you know you’ll need to “make them up” and you can’t clear your head. How can we convert that thinking to a healthier perspective?

If we insist on putting a dollar value on our time, maybe we need to put a dollar value on our health—both physical and mental. What if, like I have, others find that their thoughts and work product improve when they step away? Perhaps we are shorting ourselves professionally in a measurableby-dollars way by not taking more care. Perhaps we are missing key legal issues when we are stressed? How many lawyers experience the “shower epiphany?” Most! If the brief respite we get in the shower helps our practice, why do we forgo the chance to make that more deliberate and see what comes from 30 minutes or an hour of something relaxing and rejuvenating? Missed opportunity.

A word about feeling weak: If we get a cold or break a bone, we go to the doctor. If we get stressed, feel burnout or slide into depression or anxiety, we tell ourselves we must be strong enough to heal naturally. And we believe seeking assistance when our injuries are intangible or invisible is a sign of weakness. As we often tell our clients who come to us late for representation they didn’t think they needed, knowing when one needs help right when that help can be most impactful is a sign of both smarts and strength. So too we must endeavor to take care of ourselves BEFORE damage is done. As in law practice, we must be intentional in our actions. We must know our bodies and our minds and commit to detecting the early signs of our need for more self-care. As people who love to-do lists—and checking things off those lists (ah, sweet, sweet satisfaction!)—we need to add self-care to that daily rundown of obligations.

Of course, adding a half hour of meditation or an hour of SoulCycle to your day will feel unnatural at first. It will take a shift in your mindset; it will take developing a habit. Forming a habit takes 66 days—a little over two months of constant commitment. If you were to stick with something for 66 days, wouldn’t you feel a sense of accomplishment? That achievement should tickle your Type A accomplishment bone! And so will the routine that comes thereafter.

Need some basic science to get motivated? As Jennifer Cormano points out in “5 Things You Didn’t Know,” meditation practices can change our response to stress and stressful people. She says, “When we have a stress response, our cortisol spikes and our fight or flight response kicks in… If you live in a constant fight or flight response, it has negative impacts on you in general. Yoga/ meditation/mindfulness can help reduce cortisol levels, so when you take a couple deep breaths, you’re telling your body, ‘Hey, I know you are programmed right now to have a stress response to the tiger, but that’s not a tiger; that’s opposing counsel.’ If you can do that, you’re helping to hit the reverse button.” Whether your body’s initial reaction

is fight or flight, creating TO LEA D awareness that there’s no tiger is of huge professional benefit to you AND your client. You will be a more valuable, potent advocate. And, with a cortisol reduction, maybe you don’t need quite as much time on the cardio machines!

Let’s talk about bragging because we all do it: Declaring how busy one is has become a source of pride. In our chosen career, busy is inevitable. Indeed, NOT busy is a harbinger of very bad things. Why are we bragging about busy? Wouldn’t it sound silly to say, “You think you’re unhealthy and unbalanced, but be assured that I am far more so. Honestly, you don’t know unbalanced until you’ve been in these shoes!” That would be crazy and would likely damage our careers.

But it’s essentially what we are saying when we brag too much about being “slammed.”

Conversely, there’s also no need to brag or even communicate about your self-care intentions. If self-care is as critical as, say, eating, to remaining healthy, you’ll realize that no one needs to know the whens and wheres. We don’t brag that “Just so you know, I took in calories today, so my body doesn’t shut down.” Similarly, we don’t need to broadcast that “I took 30 minutes to reset my stress response today, so my mind doesn’t shut down.”

(Hypocrisy of my writing this piece acknowledged, and your forgiveness requested.)

Add a half hour of relaxation to your to-do list.

Make it a habit and make yourself more of a priority.

And make it no one’s business but your own.

Bottom line: Add a half hour of relaxation to your to-do list.

Make it a habit and make yourself more of a priority. And make it no one’s business but your own. You are no good to anyone else if you are not good to yourself. You are at your most powerful and valuable for everyone when you are best to yourself.

By Kirsten Keegan Vasquez, Partner & Vice President, Law Firm Recruiting & Interim Legal Solutions

The Legal Navigator

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