By Erin H. Abrams (New York City)

“You need to be able to learn from someone who has the career and work life balance you aspire to,” said Lisa Bebchick, a 33-year old partner in the litigation department at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, explaining why she makes time in her busy schedule to mentor junior associates at her firm. Bebchick, who works in Fried Frank’s New York office, focuses her practice on all aspects of civil and criminal litigation, and has expertise in white collar criminal defense and internal investigations, among other areas. In addition to her billable work, Bebchick also manages to find time for pro bono work, as well as serving on numerous charity boards, taking on leadership initiatives at her firm and recruiting and mentoring the next generation of associates. That’s why Lisa Bebchick is one of the Glass Hammer’s 35 women under 35 to watch, because she is making a difference in the legal world.

The Glass Hammer recently caught up with Bebchick over lunch near her office in the Financial District to learn more about her career choices and her path to partnership at Fried Frank. Here, we share with the Glass Hammer readers some of her advice to aspiring attorneys on how to develop your professional careers, balance work and life, and have fun doing it all.

When asked how she got her start in the law, Bebchick said that she knew relatively early on in life that she wanted to be a lawyer. As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, Bebchick majored in political science and was fascinated with political communication. She worked on John Kerry’s re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate and in his press office the following year, working for his press secretary. However, she realized that she didn’t want to go into politics herself. She decided to become an attorney because the career seemed like a logical choice for someone with strong writing skills who enjoyed the art of effective communication. “Good communication and strong writing skills are at the heart of being a good litigator,” Bebchick explained. She also was committed to giving back to her community, and saw the legal profession as a great opportunity to do that. After college, she went to law school at Boston University, where she was a member of the Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude in 2001. She began her career as Fried Frank as a summer associate and worked as an associate for eight years before becoming a partner at the firm in the fall of 2009.

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By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Russian-born, Israeli-bred Natalie Kaminski has moxie. The chief executive and founder of FinCode Solutions came by herself to the United States at the tender age of eighteen, with only a high school diploma under her belt and a desire to build a career; in what, though, she wasn’t sure.

As a kid, Kaminski had her sights set on a variety of professions. “My preferences went from wanting to be a lawyer (because it was cool) to wanting to be a model to wanting to be a psychiatrist. I had no interest in either technology or finance. To be honest, I don’t know how I ended up in those. I didn’t even have a computer. I heard about the internet but didn’t even use it.”

Yet, she said, “when [the internship at a technology school in Minneapolis] came along, I just took it.”

After a few months the technology school hosted a job fair to introduce the interns to local businesses. “I came very prepared and handed out my resume to everyone. But, when two weeks later, I still hadn’t heard from anyone, I just picked up the phone and starting calling all of the people I’d met.” One of those conversations was with Steve Timmerman, the founder and CTO of SWAT Solutions. Kaminski recounted, “I said to him, ‘hire me for free, give me experience that I can put on my résumé so I can go on to find a paying job.’ And he said, ‘Just because you are being so bold, I’m going to hire you AND pay you.’”

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by Elizabeth Harrin (London)

“Anyone who sees employment law as “touchy feely” probably hasn’t had a HR problem,” says Caroline Doran, partner at London law firm Sprecher Grier Halberstam LLP. “HR problems need a lawyer who can be commercial simultaneously as dealing with understandably emotional clients who may be stressed about paying mortgages, school fees or, if a company, protecting the business and profits.”

And on top of that, the work changes with the economic climate – something employment lawyers have to keep up to date with and plan accordingly. “In the past few months we have seen a disturbing trend,” says Doran, “although thankfully the redundancies have slowed. Many employees are reporting that work ethics have deteriorated. A high flying executive in a London bank commented that it was as if she had been transported back 40 years in terms of the behaviour of the management and what was deemed acceptable. In her opinion, some appear to have the attitude that people are ‘lucky’ to have a job in this climate and will simply have to put up with boorish behaviour.”

Doran, who specialises in both contentious and non-contentious employment issues, is pragmatic about how the difficult economy is affecting those working with less-than-perfect management. She believes that there is an element of truth in the attitude that people have to keep their heads down and ignore work ethics that would have been unacceptable not that long ago. “Only the bravest or those who cannot face another day of mistreatment will jump ship in this economic climate,” she explains. “However, we expect a glut of claims in coming months and years using the current pattern of behaviour as evidence of mistreatment or discrimination.”

It’s something that Doran is well prepared for – she’s never wanted to be anything except an employment lawyer, after her original dream to be part of the Cagney and Lacey team faded. “My school work experience programme sent me to the Employment Tribunal which gave me an insight into the cut and thrust of employment issues for businesses and staff,” she says. “I saw first-hand the passion this issue was fought by both sides and the commercial impact of the decisions. I knew then that I was going to be an employment lawyer.”

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For our ongoing series, London-based writer Elizabeth Harrin spoke with Gayle Tait, a 32-year-old executive woman from cosmetics giant L’Oreal, about her career path, her international placement in Paris, and her ascension to general manager of Ireland and the UK.

General Manager of L’Oréal at the age of 32, Gayle Tait has come a long way—in a very short time—from the dreaming spires of Oxford. “Age doesn’t come into it,” she says. “As long as I do my job the best I can, I think people respond positively.”

“Initially I was interested in joining [the company] because it is a sector that appealed me personally,” Tait explained. “I did an internship in the summer between my second and third year at university and it was following that experience that I wanted to join L’Oréal permanently. The people, their energy and their passion, and the fact that I had so much responsibility so early on in my career, were very appealing to me.”

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by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Erika Serow joined Bain out of college, looking to consulting to help her figure out what she really wanted to do with her life. Bain sent her to work in London, Sydney, and then Milan, which ultimately allowed her to put her Italian major to good use.

After several years, she left to get her MBA from Stanford Business School, fully expecting to do something other than consulting when she came out; however, it was during school that she realized that she could advance faster in consulting than in any other industry and thus decided to return to Bain after graduation.

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