The Jabot

Kate Reder Sheikh is a Managing Director at Major, Lindsey & Africa. She covers San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Her focus is on providing a concierge level of service to associates and clients alike. Leveraging her background as a litigator in San Francisco, Kate has unparalleled access to roles and firms in the Northern California market. Kate is an avid traveler—she and her husband have been to 27 countries together since 2011. A San Francisco native, Kate spent three years as an expat in Singapore and London before returning to the Bay Area in 2017. Stay tuned and enjoy!

Episode Resources

• https://www.mlaglobal.com/en
• https://www.mlaglobal.com/en/people/kate-reder-sheikh
• [email protected]

Episode Highlights

• Kate's expertise and background - 1:16
• Moving to Singapore - 2:11
• Being a legal recruiter - 3:10
• Transitioning to another job while pregnant - 5:16
• Difference between what is on paper and what you communicate - 6:35
• HR needs to take some issues seriously - 9:50
• Coaching people - 10:52
• Be firm and do not show weakness - 11:22
• Encouraging her clients - 12:45
• An issue that happens in big law - 14:07
• Kate's thoughts and challenges - 18:48
• Are women a default? - 20:00
• There's an issue with the word "unlimited" - 21:02
• Parent Programs - 24:56
• An issue that is not a women's issue - 25:39

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Lisa Kirby is the Chief Intelligence & Knowledge Sharing Officer at Diversity Lab. Lisa brings 20 years of experience in the legal profession: served as a practicing attorney, talent management professionals, and law firm consultant. Lisa began her career as a litigator, practicing at two large law firms. At Diversity Lab, among many other duties, Lisa has led the creation and implementation of the needle-moving Mansfield Rule, now in its second certification year. She is a sought-after speaker who has been featured as a keynote speaker, presenter, and panelist on a variety of topics related to diversity & inclusion in the legal profession. Lisa is also a prolific author, having contributed articles on innovative ideas in diversity and professional development to publications like The American Lawyer, Law Practice, and Professional Development Quarterly.

Episode Resources

• https://www.diversitylab.com/
• https://www.diversitylab.com/team_members/lisa-kirby/
• https://twitter.com/DiversityLabCo

Episode Highlights

• What is Diversity Lab - 1:32
• Diversity and Inclusion in the legal profession - 1:44
• Working with law firm partners - 3:19
• Diversity Lab's crew - 10:06
• Doing research - 10:20
• Their goal - 15:10
• Having a resource library - 15:31
• Some common misconceptions - 16:40
• Considering people - 17:47
• Future for the industry - 20:02
• Be as inclusive as possible - 20:40
• Lawyers with disabilities and inclusive practices - 21:33
• New considerations about the legal industry - 23:49
• Diversity of law schools - 24:56

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Kristin Tyler is a mom, wife, lawyer, legal tech entrepreneur, domestic enthusiast, and co-founder of LAWCLERK. She runs on coffee, wine, and all things gluten-free. Kristin is launching LAWCLERK's marketing and business development efforts, with a focus on helping busy attorneys to rethink their workflows with the LAWCLERK marketplace. Stay tuned and enjoy!

• https://www.lawclerk.legal/
• https://twitter.com/kristintyler?lang=en
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-tyler-49755713

• Kristin's background - 2:03
• Having political aspirations - 3:29
• Happy to be a lawyer - 4:57
• The process of leaving the bigger firm - 7:49
• LAWCLERK's foundation and services - 8:57
• A Freelance lawyers network - 11:30
• Attorneys with decades of experience - 13:11
• Her creative brand - 17:58
• Do your homework and talk to smart people - 18:44
• LAWCLERK's future - 10:13
• Focus on helping new customers - 20:47
• Tell people when you need help - 22:18
• Hiring freelance lawyers - 24:15

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Andrea (Andie) S. Kramer has a sophisticated and unique multidisciplinary legal practice that covers all aspects of financial transactions and derivatives: with a focus on taxation, regulation, contract design, trading operations, and documentation. She and Al Harris are lawyers and the authors of "It's Not You, It's your Workplace". They talk about their book that offers a fresh approach to understanding why women's relationships with other women at work can be difficult. Andie and Al challenge the positions that women are inherently nasty back-stabbers who cannot get along with each other. Stay tuned and enjoy!

Episode Resources

• https://andieandal.com/about/
• [email protected]
• https://www.facebook.com/breakingthroughbias/
• https://twitter.com/AndieandAl
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaskramer
• https://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-You-Workplace-Conflict/dp/1473697263

Episode Highlights

• Andie and Al's background - 1:52
• Being married - 2:52
• Stereotypes and women in work - 4:04
• Hating working with women? - 12:16
• Women do not get along well with other women - 5:58
• Complex relationships in the workplace - 6:48
• No evidence that women are mean - 8:17
• It's not women, it's the workplace - 9:04
• What is a gendered workplace? - 9:27
• Gender and workplaces - 12:16
• Stereotypes about women and social identities - 12:44
• Not me distinctive in expectations or race - 14:55
• What do we need to do? - 17:29
• Gendered workplaces - 18:20
• We need a new approach: diversity and inclusion training - 19:00
• Being prepared to try - 24:30
• The objective is to understand the other person - 25:03
• It's not about you, it's about understanding the other person - 25:32

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Jen Dawson is the Managing Director at Hemington Wealth Management, she helps clients get crystal clear about what's most important in life and feel connected to the financial plan that supports their vision. She advises clients with a focus on financial freedom, college funding tactics, tax reduction strategies, and proactive planning ahead for worst-case scenarios such as death or disability. Today, she's here to share with us her most recent experience as one of the authors of a new paper: What Do Breadwinner Women Lawyers Want? Stay tuned, learn, and enjoy!

• http://www.hemingtonwm.com/?team=jen-dawson
• [email protected]
• https://www.hemingtonwm.com/breadwinner-women-lawyers/

• A study of women and wealth - 1:47
• Defining a "Breadwinner Woman" - 1:57
• 65% of their advisors are women - 2:25
• Focusing on financial planning - 2:32
• Breadwinner Women Lawyer - 2:45
• Talking about the survey - 3:14
• Women associates and female doctors - 4:04
• Starting late and in debt - 6:00
• A key frustration that appears in the survey result - 7:00
• Leveraging your time - 10:02
• Download the study online - 11:09
• The second frustration that the survey identifies - 11:36
• It's all about progress, not perfection - 14:07
• Income and expenses - 16:05
• By the time you are 45 it is important to have a formal financial plan - 16:35
• Dissatisfaction with women lawyers? - 17:40
• Law firm mentality and the pressure of time - 20:05
• Helping clients with financial health -21:19
• Being clear of what is most important in life - 21:47
• Counsel for a brand-new lawyer - 23:07

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Lynnette D. Espy-Williams serves as the Cozen O'Connor Firm Chief Diversity Officer. Lynnette has experience in litigating a wide variety of civil and commercial matters including: those pertaining to mass and complex torts, professional liability, premises liability, products liability, contract disputes, and extracontractual disputes including defending bad faith claims. Lynnette also frequently defends various entities in premises liability matters involving acts of negligent third parties, negligent or improper maintenance of premises, and inadequate security.

Episode Resources

• https://www.cozen.com/people/bios/espy-williams-lynnette
• [email protected]
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnetteespywilliams

Episode Highlights

• Lynnette's decision to go to law school - 1:46
• Wanting to be a lawyer before knowing what that meant - 2:17
• Lynnette's background - 2:56
• Growing as a lawyer in a firm - 3:59
• Getting involved as a Chief Diversity Officer - 5:05
• Balancing being a Chief Diversity Officer and practicing law - 6:14
• Helping women and diverse culture - 10:18
• Is there a problem with diversity? - 10:40
• Educating and providing training for lawyers - 13:50
• Decisions made by two people behind closed doors - 17:26
• Sometimes all you need is consideration - 18:18
• What does true diversity look like in big law -21:56
• Making an impact on diversity inclusion - 25:00
• Bringing more diversity to the firm - 27:00
• A piece of advice for young diverse lawyers - 28:05

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Kate Baxter-Kauf is an attorney at Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. her practice focuses on firm's data breach, antitrust law, business litigation, and securities litigation practice groups. She represents individuals, consumers, financial institutions, and small businesses in litigation to protect their rights.

Episode Resources

• https://www.locklaw.com/kmbaxter-kauf/
• [email protected]
• https://twitter.com/kbaxterk
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/katebaxterkauf?trk=author_mini-profile_title

Episode Highlights

• Why Kate decided to study Law - 1:27
• Kate's background - 2:30
• Kate's experience with her first child - 4:14
• Doing the assignments in the library - 5:56
• A piece of advice - 6:55
• Getting everything done in college - 8:50
• Kate's legal work - 10:33
• Working for a firm - 15:08
• The challenges of litigating- 18:05
• The plaintiff's work - 18:36
• Policies for attorneys - 23:03
• Kate's feminist teaching work - 24:30
• The gay marriage legalization - 26:30
• Kate's favorite feminist t-shirts - 29:00
• The feminist t-shirt Friday experience - 30:00

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We live in a world today where it's even more important to focus on diversity in the workplace. Merle Vaughn, of Major, Lindsey & Africa tells us the importance of building a legal team that is not only diverse in race ethnicity, and gender but also in thought, experiences and perspective.

Episode Resources

• https://www.mlaglobal.com/

Episode Highlights

• Working as a partner recruiter - 1:40
• Focusing on diversity - 2:05
• Merle shares her background - 3:11
• The focus on recruiting - 4:10
• When she started to focus on diversity - 5:22
• Lawyers that undersell themselves - 7:30
• Merle recommends minorities be more confident in their legal skills - 8:11
• Talking about diverse candidates - 9:18
• Increasing diversity within partnerships - 11:11
• We need to re-evaluate the recruitment system - 11:41
• Being subjective while hiring somebody to work in a law firm - 12:30
• Sometimes a big firm is not a fit for you - 17:26
• What to do if you do not feel well at a big law firm - 18:00
• Creating the career that you want for yourself - 19:00
• Trying to change diversity patterns at top levels - 20:30
• Merle tells us she wants to see diverse candidates to hire - 23:33
• Investing in diverse talent - 24:03
• Diversity advice for law school students - 24:35

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Amy Impellizzeri is here today to talk about her journey transitioning from a corporate job in Big Law to becoming a novelist. Stay tuned to hear how it all started as a sabbatical year, how she found her first publishing contract and her recommendations for those who want to take the leap out of Big Law as well!

Episode Resources

• http://www.amyimpellizzeri.com/why-we-lie.html

Episode Highlights

• How Amy ended up going to law school - 1:50
• Why did she decide to leave the law - 3:20
• How a sabbatical year became an exploratory exercise for Amy - 5:00
• She started to get ideas for a book - 6:00
• Four years later Amy got her first publishing contract - 6:30
• How the practice of law is different from what she expected a a child - 7:00
• A law degree can be very versatile - 9:00
• Amy's advice for other litigators wanting to publish a novel - 9:30
• It isn't a 1-2-3 steps process - 10:00
• Litigators are a good fit for this road because of their perseverance - 11:20
• There are hundreds of amazing manuscripts that don't make the cut - 12:00
• How this era of "self-publication" has changed the journey - 13:00
• How Amy keeps up with her writing - 15:10
• They discuss why Amy's fourth book focuses so much on abused women - 17:20
• Amy's thoughts on the legal clerk scandal - 20:00
• The social media app in her book and the recent college scandal - 22:10
• The story behind her non-fictional novel: Lawyer Interrupted - 23:12
• Her advice for people who are wanting to leave Big Law but are too afraid to do so - 26:20

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Is there room for fashion in the practice of law? Join us and find out on this new episode, as we are joined by Victoria S. Nugent, who is a Partner at Cohen Milstein and Co-Chair of the Public Client practice group. She has been with Cohen Milstein since 2000, and her work has been primarily focused on consumer protection and public health and safety, but she also has a hobby: writing a fashion blog. Stay tuned to listen to Victoria's amazing experience and to get some great tips on how to dress for work in style.

Episode Resources

• https://www.cohenmilstein.com/professional/victoria-s-nugent
• [email protected]

Episode Highlights

• Why start a style blog? - 1:25
• Help from her husband - 1:55
• Starting law school - 2:42
• A classic courtroom litigator - 4:00
• When she decided to create a blog - 4:34
• Getting dressed for work - 4:49
• Spending an hour to write a post - 5:47
• Victoria's style philosophy - 6:29
• Expressing yourself by the way that you dress - 7:39
• Women lawyers and fashion - 8:05
• All work days are not the same - 8:35
• How to dress for a client meeting - 9:07
• Accessories and colors to wear for work - 10:10
• Where she buys her clothes - 11:40
• Doing most of the shopping online - 12:40
• The best fashion finding that Victoria has made - 14:26
• Styles that she doesn't like - 15:39
• Using crop tops and why - 17:00
• Clothes that Victorias uses for work - 18:30
• A blazer is always worth spending money on - 19:50
• Colors for a bag - 21:25
• How big the bag should be - 21:55
• Scared of using bright colors at work? - 22:56
• Victoria's fashion disasters - 25:08
• Experiment with a new style - 27:18
• The stomach should never be shown at work - 28:27

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