VOE: Kit Chaskin, Partner and Firm-wide Chair of the Women’s Initiative Network of Reed Smith

The Glass Hammer Managing Editor Pamela Weinsaft recently spoke with attorney Kit Chaskin about Chaskin’s path from acting to the legal profession, her thoughts on tackling barriers to the advancement for women in law, and the importance of having a long-term vision for one’s career.

“I’m a third generation lawyer.  My grandfather hung out a shingle in 1929 and built a small firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which my father joined when he graduated from law school.  We always joked that we used the Socratic Method at our dinner table.  Being a lawyer was very much a part of the fabric of our lives,” said Kit Chaskin, a partner in the Insurance Recovery Group at international law firm Reed Smith and the director of the Women’s Initiative of Reed Smith.

Despite the virtual apprenticeship at an early age, she first pursued a career as an actress.  When she was ready to settle down and find a more financially rewarding career, the law was an obvious choice.  But she knew from day one that she wanted to have a life outside of law. “The fact that I had been out on a totally different career path put some perspective on law school.  I was more of a go-getter because it was such a privilege to be in law school and I appreciated the opportunity.  On the other hand, I had a life and I was already married.  I knew I was not going to put my life on hold until I made partner, which was the prevailing strategy for most of the women I went to law school with.  

She took on an extra role during her third year in law school, when her daughter was born.  The decision to become a mother while still in law school had a significant effect on her career. “I never had the luxury of being a lawyer without also being a mom.  So this plan formed in my head.  My grandfather and father influenced me as lawyers and I was inspired by their accomplishments, but I couldn’t see how I could have their careers without the support they had from my grandmother and mother. I thought to myself, I am going to have a family and be a lawyer, and I’m going to help other women figure out how to do that as well: that is going to be my vision for my career.”

 “[My husband and I] always worked together. We ran our careers as though we were in business together. Sometimes I had the luxury of focusing on my work while he went for it, and sometimes it was the other way around, but we always talked it through. We made five year plans, just like Stalin,” she joked.  “We had the baby plan, the career plan, the fiscal plan, the real estate plan.  We pretty much followed them.  Our first five-year career plan was that I was going to run as hard and as fast as I could as a young associate and get as many skills as I could because I knew that we wanted to have another child.  I knew that when we had two kids I wasn’t going to be able to work as hard. I was able to be a total go-getter young associate. I worked really hard.”

“Then we had our second child in 1992, and, as I had predicted, all hell broke loose,” Chaskin said.  Following the ABA guidelines in place at the time, she asked her firm if she could come back part-time; the firm was less than receptive.  Her mentor, Mike Howlett, suggested that she do what his wife had done, which was join the Cook County State’s Attorneys office to do criminal appeals part-time.  “So I made the total switch to doing appellate work. It was a plum job and I loved it, but it was not a career enhancing move for me.” This was the five-year plan in which my husband got his Ph.D., and I scaled back my career.”

But the experience turned out to be invaluable to her development as an attorney.  “I had the freedom to develop my own style.  Because law firms tend to be more rigid and hierarchical and you are in a class with your peers, there are few incentives for creativity and individuality.  At the State’s Attorney’s office, I was able to take risks, and enjoy my own successes.  I loosened up as a lawyer and become very confident in what I was good at,” explained Chaskin. 

After four years, she returned to private practice, but on a reduced schedule. During that time she learned an important lesson about choices and tradeoffs.  “All the men that I had started with made partner before I did and I perceived that as my failure at the time.  It killed me because I knew I was as smart and as good. But I realize now that my perception was wrong. I made peace with the fact that my career was a winding road on which I formed great relationships and learned a lot about life. While I was doing that, they were working – hard.  I was not on the same track as they were. If you are going to work less, you are going to advance more slowly, no matter how good you think you are.  But life is long.  If you practice until you are 65, are the additional five, six, seven, or eight years it takes to reach your goals really going to make that much of difference?  I’m finding out now that in some ways they do make a difference, and in other ways they don’t” 

She points out that women in law are at an advantage in some ways because they are socialized to have certain skills that make for great lawyers. “Women are taught to listen more.   Women are socialized to meet needs as well.  These are incredible client skills.  If women work hard in other areas such as business development and leadership skills and add those skills to the listening and the great service, I think women actually have an edge over men.”

Adds Chaskin, “One of the biggest challenges is that women get mired down in day-to-day responsibilities and fail to have the big vision for their careers.  I know there were times when I lost my vision, which was to achieve a balanced life without sacrificing my family or my career. Money is not a vision. Although if we didn’t need money we’d all be surfing instructors, money is not a very inspired vision for your career.” 

“Women can do all the right things at work,” she continued, “but, without that driving force of vision behind it, it will be difficult [for them to succeed].  Acquiring vision really takes giving yourself enough space—the time, emotional space, distance—to get back to the core about what you are passionate about, what moves you, what gets you out of bed in the morning. And then, instead of working for undefined things, that vision works for you.”