What is your history with Husch Blackwell?
I was a summer associate in 2000 and an associate from 2001-2007, when I left the firm to join the growing in-house counsel team at Conagra Brands. In early 2017, I returned to Husch Blackwell as a partner in the Kansas City office. I then went back in-house as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at The Scoular Co. Husch Blackwell has been a trusted and strategic partner for me throughout my in-house career.
Describe your current community service role.
I serve in a variety of community service roles, with a primary focus on supporting the development and empowerment of women leading in the practice of law. I undertake that work in a variety of roles, from running my own organization (Drinks Among Friends) to serving on other national boards and working groups, including serving on the host committee for Ms. JD’s LaddHer Up 2020 conference. I also regularly speak and publish on leadership and development topics for lawyers and, in particular, for women lawyers. I also serve as a Trustee at the Brownell Talbot School, where my two daughters attend school.
What prompted you to get involved in this particular community service?
After obtaining my first in-house leadership role, and between 2012 and 2014, I participated in a robust development program for women in-house counsel who aspired to be general counsel, and I went through a robust round of executive coaching. These experiences showed me how powerful development and leadership training can be for lawyers aspiring to lead. I subsequently started Drinks Among Friends in 2014 to provide similar resources to women in the Omaha legal community, agnostic of their practice venue. Drinks Among Friends crowdsources the resources of members and provides high-level leadership, development and business acumen training to women lawyers at no or very low cost in their community. The group now offers these opportunities in Omaha, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. That work led me to participate in leading with other national efforts that focus on the same or similar types of work, such as Ms. JD, the Nebraska State Bar Association’s Women in the Law section, and the Women, Influence & Power in Law Conference.
What kind of results have you been able to see?
I see the impact that one person, one program, or one resource that demystifies the path forward can have on a career. We can all reflect on the course of a career and the impact that one person or experience had on changing the outlook or the trajectory of the climb. Being able to share sponsorship or mentorship, experiences and inside information with a lawyer aspiring to lead is very powerful. More directly, with Drinks Among Friends, I have seen impactful relationships form between the women in the group, resulting in myriad benefits such as development opportunities, facilitating job offers and creating business generation opportunities for women within the group.
I also want to highlight the incredible impact that Ms. JD’s LaddHer Up conference has on the women associates who attend the program. I participated last year as one of 50 women general counsel who provided thought leadership and mentorship to the attending law firm associates. It was one of the most highly influential and valuable development events in which I have ever participated. The associates had access to 50 women in-house leaders who were very focused on their success, making a wonderful personal and business development opportunity for them. I would have loved an opportunity like that early in my private practice career and feel it would have been helpful in unlocking the "how" to get to the next level of leadership and business generation. In addition, it’s a wonderful benefit for the general counsel who are always looking to build a pipeline of junior and senior associates to support the work of their teams as outside counsel.
What kind of time commitment is this for you?
I spend much of my professional investment time with these efforts because it is personally fulfilling and has the multiplier effect of supporting me in my career development by growing my network and relationships in unexpected and powerful ways. It has been transformative for me to expand my national network around the common goal of lifting up and driving greater inclusion in the legal profession and better leadership practices for the profession. My participation and support of these efforts have been some of the most beneficial investments for my career and for my continued engagement in the practice of law.
What actions do you suggest for women aspiring to lead in law?
It is a time of significant disruption, and as a result, of significant opportunity. Women (or any lawyers) aspiring to lead in law should leverage the current disruption to their developmental and leadership benefit. Here are a few ways lawyers can do it:
- They can seek out avenues to make their strengths and expertise visible to others to find new ways to lead. Also, lawyers can assess their own personal brand, build a strategic plan around that brand and leverage both to their benefit. For example, offering to host a benchmarking call for a subset of an in-house network, thinking about a new practice expansion or boosting the lawyer's online brand through LinkedIn are all good options.
- During downtime, they can dust off their own individual development plan (or build a new one) and think about how to tackle the next three to 12 months of development, keeping key career goals in mind. Reading Designing Your Work Life and the affiliated workbook is a robust starting point.
- They can look for resources for support, spend time assessing one or more podcasts for women leading in law and check out organizations that offer programming and thought leadership, such as Ms. JD and the National Association of Women Lawyers. Even better, think about starting your own organization. In addition, lawyers can begin curating online connections to include key leaders who offer free, impactful career development and leadership advice through their feeds and shared content.
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