Started from the Bottom Now We're Here...

From time to time, a recruiter will write to me with a position that entices me away from building my law practice. The beauty of being a sole practitioner is the freedom and flexibility of doing what you want, subject to client-work demands, of course. That means, not having to wake up at 5 am to be at my desk at 7 am if I don't want to, and not having to adhere to nonsensical policies that serve to keep me at my desk. So many solopreneurs became solopreneurs because of the apparent freedom offered by being your own boss. That said, sometimes a job will come along that will be interesting enough to make you consider going back to being an employee.

One such job appeared last week. It would be a great opportunity to learn a new industry but still stay within transit. It could also be a way to make a difference. We shall see. That's not the point of this article. Rather, I want to talk about how it took me all weekend to draft a cover letter so that it accurately describes my unique skillset, my achievements, how I overcame some very real and serious obstacles and all in a page and a half.

When I embarked on adulthood at the age of 17 and a half to go to boarding school in Rome, Italy, and six months later my university career at the University of St. Andrews while my family was in the throes of a devastating bankruptcy that changed our lives forever, there was no way I could have foreseen where my life would take me a few decades later. Sitting in New York City now after thirty years of being abroad, I have come full circle. I am building a business and a life and legacy. It is not easy. But the hackneyed saying is that nothing worthwhile is easy. While I was drafting, redrafting, editing, and refining my cover letter, it hit me just how far I have traveled in my educational and professional life. I have had extreme highs and held extremely prestigious positions. And I have had devastating falls, primarily caused by my own naivety and troublesome third parties.

Younger lawyers sometimes write to me in awe of my career. But that, too, has not always been easy. Studying abroad with very little financial support from my family was tough enough. Then I went abroad to a new and totally foreign culture to learn a new industry while also learning how to be a lawyer. It was a very steep learning curve. But I climbed it without falling. Of course, there were times when I fell - rather, I fell after having been pushed by people who didn't want me around, who felt threatened because I sniffed out their corruption and their lack of qualifications - people who actively tried to destroy my life and my career - but I survived it, faced the dangerous obstacles that these bad actors threw in my path, bravely and without losing my marbles. When I was going through it, mature men would often turn to me and say, "You are very brave" to which I would reply, "I have no choice."

When I finally finished my cover letter and sent it off, I reflected on how far I have come. How I left my parents' house as a teenager full of naivety, excitement, and ideals only to come back to my parents' house with a library full of stories, a better understanding of how the world works, and, of course, with nearly twenty years of international legal experience. I didn't just grow as a lawyer, I grew as a person.

I will not copy and paste the entire cover letter here. If you want to read it, send me a direct message and I will share it with you. But I will share the final paragraph because it sums up the journey:

I refer to my time in Bahrain and Qatar as where I got a “Ph.D. in Street Smarts.” I intuited early that building relationships across the company and beyond is key to successful in-house lawyering. I developed a collaborative style of working with corporate stakeholders while also maintaining my ability to work independently. Everywhere I have worked, I earned goodwill with the top brass, while learning to negotiate the often-mystifying peculiarities of Middle Eastern corporate culture as an American woman. Studying in the UK and working in the multicultural Arab world taught me important soft skills like adaptability, resilience, patience, teamwork, respect, and tolerance. With nearly twenty years of work experience, and fifteen years as a licensed New York lawyer, I bring a lot to the table: a solid track record of problem-solving; timely and accurate delivery; a relentless work ethic; harmonious collaboration with stakeholders on complex transactions; discernment; maturity; versatility; a common-sense and commercially savvy approach to legal matters; a love of learning and the ability to assimilate and handle new subject matter quickly and proficiently; a confident, practiced, and professional approach to contract management; clear communication skills; and, strong interpersonal skills, emphasizing kindness and compassion.

And while my British credentials and international experience do not necessarily translate well in America, I would not give up my experiences for anything because, not only did I see the world and have some incredible (good and bad) experiences, I tested my mettle and know where the parameters of my grit, tenacity, abilities, and humility are. Even if you are not applying for a job, I highly recommend you write a cover letter as an exercise in temperature taking to mark where you started and where you got to so far.

In the words of Drake, "Started from the bottom now we're here." Don't accept normal.