BigLaw Women, I Want To Tell You What Partnership at FisherBroyles Has Done For Me

I used to write about work-life balance, as I struggled to commute into DC, provide the complete concentration needed for "part-time" litigation (which most of you know is really just part-time pay with full-time work expected) not miss a scheduling conference (which happened once)/client meeting/call, etc, and be the kind of mom I wanted to be for my three kids. You know, the kind that picks them up from pre-school and takes them to gymnastics or eats dinner with them at night.

My struggle was exacerbated when the third child, my only son, was born with no vision and required years, literally years, of vision and physical therapy. (He's fine now—a hulking, stinky, 15 year old teenager, but you can read the entire story of that journey here if you're interested.)

Then one of my kids began exhibiting mental health issues, which took years to diagnose properly and required ongoing therapy and constant squabbling with schools about accommodations. If you have mental health issues in your family then you know how expensive, exhausting, and time-consuming that could be.

Especially when I developed an auto-immune disorder of my own.

I was always the hard-working writer. The wind beneath a boss's wings. I could win a motion, write a cogent brief in record time, and provide insightful feedback. Clients loved me. Honestly, it was fine. I was making enough money and keeping my hand in the law. I was a perennial "senior associate" or "of counsel."

Busy with my kids and work, I did not think "more" was an option for me. What do I mean by "more"? Well, more of a voice, a bigger platform and presence, a firm that valued me not just with words but with compensation and partnership.

Enter FisherBroyles, LLP.

When I joined FisherBroyles in January 2016, I did not have the requisite book of business. I was scared. The daughter of an accountant and a lawyer always looking ahead for risk and how to mitigate it, I like routine, order,...and knowing my hourly rate and annual comp. Plus, my husband was starting a consulting company.

Payment based on collections? That's...novel. See, we issue payments with full transparency to all partners every two weeks based on real-time collections. So, you eat what you kill and what others kill with or for you. Collaboration is a core value here.

Joining this firm means you are taking a chance—betting on yourself and your ability to bring in and keep clients or work your butt off for another partner. 

One of my long-time sponsors and good friend, Paul Economon, fought to have me join the firm as what we call a "grinder," and what you might call a service partner. He absolutely sang my praises. See, an attorney can join FisherBroyles as a partner if another partner has enough work to support her. That said, partners Michael Cone and Ed Gildea asked me to draft up a business plan, and I did.

FisherBroyles took a chance on me, and I'm going to say that it was a pretty good bet for both of us.

My compensation has increased every year—it has more than doubled since my first year at the firm. I have a thriving practice, work with and for a large amount of my partners on their employment and litigation matters as they help mine with corporate, IP, and tax matters. I co-author our firm's employment discrimination blog, write client alerts, and initiated the firm's COVID-19 repository of information so we could serve our clients during this difficult time.

And, a year ago, Joel Ferdinand, our general counsel, asked me to serve as "Employment Counsel" to the firm and its employees. As an employment lawyer, this is a role I inhabited for my and other partners' clients. Firm management thought I could do this for the whole firm? Wow, I thought. Just wow. I still can't believe it. An entire company valued me enough to put me on their website with a title?

So what's the catch? 2500 billable hours per year? No.

Game-playing and politics? No. I set my own rates and can increase or decrease it at my discretion. All of our partners do this.

Shorter commute? Yep. Down my stairs to my basement office.

Full transparency about compensation? Yes.

Expert-level work from other partners? Yes. Notice I don't say partner-level because sometimes folks become partners at big firms based on reasons other than merit.

Where We Are Now.

So, I went from wanting to fly under the radar and just do my job well enough so I could take care of my kids to wanting it all, which I got. These were dreams I did not know I could dream. It's not just me though.

Ask Jessica Brown Wilson. Or Christina Bost Seaton. Or Rebecca Rettig, Cammi Jones, Lenore Horton, Julie Inmon. Or the hardest working person I know: our COO, Judy Cochran.

Over the past 4+ years since I joined, I have learned a lot. These other moms I work with have one, two, three, and four kids. On a recent firm videoconference, two babies made appearances. We work around our families' needs, and the firm's model and structure enables us - as parents - to do this. We can talk about our kids and problems and still be taken seriously. These lawyers have taught me so much, and I have grown immensely as a result.

Look, I'm certainly not the only female partner in a national law firm, but I bet that I am one of the happiest and most satisfied. So, women at BigLaw, I know you are loyal during these times, but if you are in any way hoping for something more and a firm where your value is recognized and your parenthood is celebrated, give me a call and I'll tell you the whole story of how FisherBroyles and I met. It's a continuing story.