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Alena Brenner: Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Cornerstone Building Brands

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Alena Brenner “I realized—and it is a powerful attitude shifter—that everyone you encounter as you navigate your career is in a stage of development,” says Alena Brenner. “While we all have things we are working on, you can still learn from everyone and every interaction.” Brenner, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Cornerstone Building Brands, talks about how the immigrant experience influences her work, inventing her own career path to prioritize balance with longevity, networking in male-dominated industries and allowing mistakes to fuel her learning and growth trajectory.

Shaped By the Immigration Experience

When she was a girl, Brenner’s family escaped from Ukraine before the country achieved independence from the former Soviet Union, receiving asylum in the United States. While learning a new language and acclimating to a new culture, she watched her parents work multiple jobs to give their family a new start and a better life.

“The immigrant experience is core to who I am, and because it is so foundational to my identity, I have a natural tendency to put in the hard work it takes to recognize and seize opportunities to learn and grow,” says Brenner. “When my family left Ukraine to pursue a better life, I felt the benefit and burden to both live up to expectations and have gratitude for the opportunities available to me that I would not have had if my family had not immigrated to the United States.”

While she was in high school, she won a scholarship offered by her father’s union to children of union members which allowed Brenner to attend Cornell University. After college, as she considered opportunities to land in a ‘respectable’ field that would provide financial independence and allow her to pursue a variety of career options, she turned to law.

Upon graduating from Fordham University School of Law, Brenner spent nine years with a prestigious law firm, but knew she didn’t want to pursue the partner track. While Brenner was going through a divorce and raising two young children, an in-house opportunity at Anheuser-Busch InBev in New York City became available. Brenner accepted the challenge and went on to play a crucial role in helping integrate two companies after a merger to build the foundation for a new global enterprise.

Forging Her Own Career

“Everyone is on a different path. Some paths may not be linear and may depend on where you are in your life’s journey,” says Brenner. “You’re going to learn to prioritize different things at different stages in your life.”

As a global executive in a high-profile, high-stakes business, Brenner’s career was exciting. But while she loved her job and admired her boss, the pace the work required was not sustainable as she managed the challenges of being a single mother. Though still highly career-driven and ambitious, she realized she wanted to be closer to family and to have the support and balance that offered.

Brenner moved to Miami where her parents lived and accepted a position as corporate counsel with Ryder System, Inc.— a $9 billion transportation and logistics company. She was quickly promoted and eventually became Deputy General Counsel, having expanded the scope of her role significantly. Nine years later, she was tapped to lead Cornerstone Building Brands legal function, a C-Suite role she began in 2021.

Inquisitive and a planner/builder by nature, Brenner has always been interested in learning more about the “how” and “how can we make it better” in her work, which is one reason she was drawn to roles in logistics and manufacturing, including her current position with Cornerstone Building Brands, where she’s spent the last 12 months creating a more robust and effective legal, compliance and risk management team.

Additionally, Brenner knew she wanted to join an organization that believes strongly in cultivating a collaborative and inclusive culture. She found that under the leadership of President and CEO Rose Lee. “Rose has been breaking every ceiling imaginable,” says Brenner. “She strives every day to close the gender gap in our industry and to promote a workplace that is diverse and equitable. She is fostering a culture where team members are encouraged to engage in open dialogue around complex and often difficult topics. We’re also living our purpose through the company’s sustainability, ESG and DE&I mission and goals.”

Currently, Brenner is charged with laying the foundation for a new ESG team and is spearheading the development of a comprehensive, industry-leading sustainability program.

‘Everything Is My Job’

Having worked across a spectrum of male-dominated industries such as beer, tobacco, consumer packaged goods, transportation and now industrial manufacturing, Brenner’s aptitude has enabled her to build relationships with essential business partners. She has a strong track record of taking on strategic business challenges by committing to understand the issue at hand and collaborating with all those involved, at all levels, for context and understanding.

“I think people sense that I’m genuine and earnestly trying to help them be successful in their roles. I am willing to offer an honest, third-party assessment of any issue,” she says. “If you demonstrate that, people start coming to you for counsel and view you as a business partner.”

Brenner has adopted a mentor’s mantra: Everything is my job. Whether calling a manufacturer to solve a high-stakes challenge or running to FedEx to ensure a package goes out on time, anything that contributes to the company’s success is within her scope. “Everything that comes across your desk, you own it and you have a responsibility to make it better,” says Brenner. She looks for the same mindset and sense of ownership in new company hires, too.

Embracing Mistakes as Part of Growth

“I realized—and it is a powerful attitude shifter—that everyone you encounter as you navigate your career is in a stage of development,” says Brenner. “While we all have things we are working on, you can still learn from everyone and every interaction.”

Inclined toward perfectionism, Brenner received excellent advice from one boss on the importance of not being too hard on yourself: The only people who don’t make mistakes are the ones not doing anything. They’re not taking any risk or they’re delegating. Brenner says she was encouraged to make mistakes, which led her to learn more and grow confidence in her legal work and in areas outside of her field of expertise.

“Too often, people are reluctant to take on responsibilities outside of their areas of expertise or comfort zone for fear of failing or because they work in a culture that does not reasonably view mistakes as opportunities to learn, grow and innovate. As a leader, you have to be willing to support a degree of risk-taking to signal to others that making those leaps are supported and encouraged,” says Brenner.” You want to grow and develop people who have ambition and want to learn, so you act to support them and allow them to make mistakes, give the necessary feedback to avoid repeating them and move on to solutions.”

Brenner notes that if she makes a mistake, she might spend a few hours reflecting on what she would have done differently. When she wakes up the next morning, it’s a new start with a unique advantage. She is now better equipped for success because she can apply the lessons learned reflecting on her decision-making to achieve higher performance.

Finding Her Own Way

Working in industries where men tend to fill the highest ranks of leadership, Brenner has often found herself the lone woman in the room. This hasn’t come without challenges, including finding people willing to talk to her, sit next to her or include her in informal networking that is often critical to career advancement. She admits she’s over-prepared, an overachiever and works especially hard to prove her value.

Her networking strategy is to go to as many meetings as invited to, attend events regularly and visit manufacturing facilities with the intention not only to build connections, but also to learn about every aspect of the business.

Serving Others

When she’s not working, Brenner has spent her time working pro bono supporting refugees who have been victims of torture or scarred in some way on their asylum-seeking journeys. She has also helped female victims of domestic violence obtain green cards and gain independence from abusive partners. The work is life-changing for those it impacts, and though often intense, it is also immensely fulfilling.

With her children now 17 and 14, she’s focused on enjoying her time with them before they leave home to make their own mark on the world—one that she’s determined to continue to make better.

“If a certain approach isn’t working, then I know I need to pivot to achieve my goal instead of giving up on it,” says Brenner. “There are infinite ways to pursue your aspirations, so if one way doesn’t work, you can try others until you achieve your goal.”

By Aimee Hansen 

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Allison Yacker: Partner and Co-Chair, Investment Management and Funds, Katten

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Allison Yacker“From the moment I joined Katten, the attorneys most keen to invest in me — both personally and professionally — quickly became my mentors,” says Katten’s Allison Yacker.

“Reflecting on that moment, not only were those mentors some of the smartest and hardest working attorneys at Katten, but more importantly they were the ones who realized this was a two-way street.” Years later, Yacker now co-chairs the firm’s Investment Management and Funds practice and is based in New York.

Yacker offered insights on her journey to becoming a firm leader, and being recognized as a great mother and a go-to legal counsel for some of the largest global financial institutions.

Pivoting to Make Her Own Path, and Rising to Leadership at Katten

Throughout her 18 years at Katten, Yacker continues to rise through the firm ranks: from being selected as a summer associate, to becoming one of the youngest capital partners in the firm, to acting as a co-chair of the New York Financial Markets and Funds practice group and serving as a member of the firm’s Board of Directors.

“I knew Katten was a great place to work, and by the time I was a third-year associate I had solidified a terrific roster of mentors who happened to be all men,” Yacker said. “As I thrived in my career, I was determined to make capital partner by the time I was 40 and to serve in a leadership position at the firm because I wanted to prove to myself that it was possible and to help create a similar path for other women in the firm.”

And she did just that.

Yacker began her career at Katten in the corporate group, handling general securities work and mergers and acquisitions. She credits this experience with providing her the skillset that would serve as the foundation for her current practice. 

Soon Yacker was presented with the opportunity to be seconded to a major financial institution, where she gained practical legal experience in the derivatives and private funds market. Yacker relished the experience, and quickly found that the clients she enjoyed working with the most were traders and key decision-makers at hedge funds and private equity funds.

When she returned to the firm from her secondment, she quickly realized that she was one of only a few associates who could handle complex derivatives and structured products transactions for both the buy and sell sides. These types of transactions were regularly handled by the Financial Markets and Funds group, so when practice leaders invited her to join the group she knew it would provide her the platform needed to expand upon this niche. She jumped at the opportunity.

But in 2008, when the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted, she quickly realized that the complex derivatives transactions that she had spent a significant amount of time on were essentially regulated out of business. Good lawyers anticipate future risks; great lawyers identify it and pivot. It was at that moment Yacker decided to move away from derivatives and toward refocusing her practice on fund formation and investment management. There she found success faster than anticipated, and her clients quickly came and continue to rely on her to serve as their outsourced general counsel. Later on, she would pivot again – this time toward representing sophisticated investors looking to make investments in hedge funds, private equity funds, and other alternative financial products.  

Today Yacker represents hedge funds, private equity funds, commodity pools and managed account platforms that engage in a wide variety of strategies, including quantitative trading, private credit, distressed debt, futures, litigation finance, securitized products, affordable housing, renewable energy and carbon credits, to name a few. She also advises clients with regards to seed and early stage investment opportunities and global regulatory issues that arise in connection with investments in funds and managed accounts.

“You need to be able to work dynamically within your industry to find a practice that makes sense for you — one in which you respect and like the client base, and, most importantly, one that you enjoy,” Yacker said. “Do not be reactionary when it comes to your career, be proactive, take the reins and make the tough decisions.” 

Being Her Personal and Professional Self

In 2018, Yacker was named Katten’s Working Mother of the Year by Working Mother magazine. The article profiling her pointed out how integration of personal and professional self is only growing in importance. 

“Personal and professional—the lines become blurred when you’re predominantly working from home in New York City and raising two children who are remote learning,” she said. “It’s definitely a challenge to shift back and forth between the mom hat, the teacher hat, and the lawyer hat,” says Yacker. “When it comes to my kids, I make every effort to do so with love and respect, and of course a sense of humor, which I know resonates with my children.”

All joking aside, she remarked that her career often dictates that she be deliberate and efficient with her time, and that she create boundaries for herself and her children so that no aspect of the services she provides to her clients is impacted. To that end, she noted that she periodically goes to Katten’s mostly empty midtown Manhattan office when she has an intense work day planned, and joked that she never thought she would enjoy going to an office as much as she does now.

Positive Vibes and Being the Difference

Yacker is most energized about her work when her clients commend her skillset, style and work ethic when it comes to servicing their needs.  

“My clients often remark that they see me as a true counselor — a person that they know will give them not only insightful legal advice and the answer under the law, but also an answer that will work for their businesses,” she says. “My clients know that I am not a scrivener, and that I don’t stop at ‘no you can’t’ when they have a difficult issue — I’m here to solve their problems, to be creative, and to use the resources of my firm to find the best possible solution to any problem they have and to get the deal done.”

Yacker primarily attributes her professional integrity and intense work ethic to her grandfather, whose first job after arriving in America after surviving the Holocaust was that of a janitor who made 65 cents an hour. Through incredibly hard work, her grandfather eventually built a successful business. Both of her grandfathers were incredibly hard workers but family came first to them. To Yacker, every day that she puts in a hard day at work is a testament to her grandparents and an attempt to honor their memory.

Learning Along the Way

Yacker gained valuable insight while ascending to become one of the firm’s youngest capital partners.

She recommends that young lawyers work with and learn from as many different lawyers as possible. 

“You learn different ways of thinking, different ways of networking, different analytical abilities, and different techniques for maintaining relationships and running a practice,” she observes. “I think that’s been critical to my success.”

Yacker also says that she has always worked hardest for the people who were fully invested in her.

“Seek out mentors who are looking to invest in you personally and professionally,” says Yacker. “And take those relationships as seriously as possible. And then, give back to younger associates in the same regard.”

And most importantly, she encourages young lawyers to take ownership of their careers — not to wait for an opportunity to be handed to them, but rather to take the initiative in building a successful practice and to think proactively and deliberately about their goals. 

Networking and Outreach

Yacker stays connected with her clients and colleagues — even in pandemic times. Whether it be a virtual group wine tasting, hosting socially-distanced cocktails and meals on her terrace, or virtual tea with clients in London, Yacker tries her best to proactively stay in touch with her clients both professionally and personally.

She has found it particularly fulfilling to work on pro bono matters,  providing legal counsel through the Small Business Legal Relief Alliance to small businesses in New York that are struggling during the global pandemic. 

Yacker also sits on the steering committee and national mentoring panel of the Katten Women’s Leadership Forum, which supports the growth of Katten’s women attorneys with professional development events, networking and practical advice. 

She is also one of the founding members of Katten’s Women in Finance Initiative, which seeks to build a strong community of women within the firm with a view toward driving cross-selling opportunities and driving more business to this community.

She is an Angel Member of 100 Women in Finance, an organization dedicated to empowering women in the finance and alternative investment industries through meaningful connections, high-impact programming and initiatives that help build the pipeline of future leaders in the industry.

Also close to her heart is the new Parents Affinity Group at Katten—a virtual support group for attorneys and business professionals to connect with each other and discuss approaches to navigating work and family responsibilities. 

Crowing Achievement

As committed as she is to her professional success, she views her crowning achievement as the balance she has struck between being a successful lawyer and being a successful mother.

“My children know that mommy’s business means I have to be available to my clients almost all the time, so I work a lot. I think they respect me for how hard I work at my job, but they 100 percent know that they come first and they always will,” Yacker said. 

Yacker’s “work hard, play hard” attitude has always resonated with her sons Jackson and Ashton, ages 8 and 12 respectively. She revels daily in how resilient they are, how kind they are to each other, and how hard they work to do their best in school, even under these extraordinary circumstances. Yacker said she finds inspiration from her kids, who make her want to be the best at anything she is doing.

Her most cherished daily moment is the time when it’s just her and her boys — whether they are on the baseball field, cuddling in bed, or laughing together in hysterics on the couch. Those are the moments she is most grateful for.

By Aimee Hansen

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Women’s History Month Offers an Opportunity to Reflect on the Importance of Women Leaders

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Laura MartinBy Laura Keidan Martin, National Chair of Katten Muchin Rosenman’s Women’s Leadership Forum and member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee

In honor of Women’s History Month, it’s important we take the time to celebrate our accomplishments and the progress we have made as working women but also to reflect on the work that lies ahead so women in all professions, particularly in the legal field and others that are traditionally male dominated, can achieve gender parity and equity – especially at the leadership and partnership levels.

At Katten, women attorneys are making a mark. Women are represented at every leadership level from practice head and office managing partner to the board of directors and the executive committee, which oversees all governance activities and sets policies for the firm.

This year, not only are Katten’s female attorneys garnering accolades for their hard work and many achievements, but the firm has also been recognized for its efforts to support the career advancement of women and improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Katten secured spots on the 2018 lists of Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies and 60 Best Law Firms for Women, as well as Yale Law Women’s Top Ten Female Friendly Firms. Katten also achieved Gold Standard certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum and is among National Association for Female Executives’ Top Companies for Executive Women.

But make no mistake: there are still more gains to be made as the number of women attorneys advancing to higher levels is sluggish among law firms in general. And the rate of female minorities ascending to positions of power has lagged even farther behind in the legal profession.

As National Chair of Katten’s Women’s Leadership Forum and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, I have a personal commitment to advancing and retaining women attorneys through mentoring, external networking, internal relationship-building and career development programs. We want to see women rise to the top at Katten. That’s why as leaders we aim to do more and to do better by offering firm programs and policies to help women climb the career ladder and develop the skills they need to advance to leadership roles.

Women leaders are integral to the success of empowering all women at all stages of their careers. And that’s why Katten’s female leaders are so vested in the development and implementation of programs and policies that help women reach their professional goals. We believe that women’s upfront involvement is critical to getting these initiatives right and vital to our success.

Our women leaders also serve on the firm’s National Mentoring Panel, which is made up of 17 successful female partners recognized as leaders in their fields. These women serve as role models and share their professional and personal experiences as a means of helping their colleagues. But the objective is to be more than just a mentor. Fellow board member Nadira Clarke likes to remind us, “Women leaders can impact how women get business, how they are compensated, whether or not their work is recognized, or whether or not they get promoted.”

Katten leaders continue to work hard to identify the next generation of female leaders at the firm and provide the tools they need to succeed, including diversity-focused initiatives, in which female attorneys of color participate. Such programs can assist in building leadership skills, developing client relationships and generating substantial books of business, which can go a long way toward a greater likelihood of career advancement – and it’s simply good business sense for the firm as well.

Katten is also committed to dedicating resources to set women on successful career paths. We want to empower our female attorneys at various stages in their careers so they see an attainable, upward trajectory at Katten.

And most importantly, we know we can’t achieve greater gender-balance alone. That’s why we collaborate with organizations at the forefront of generating innovative ideas and solutions that will assist us with improving the retention and promotion of our female attorneys. By working together we learn from each other’s best practices so that we can continue to create positive change.

That’s why we teamed with Diversity Lab’s Women in Law Hackathon, which brings together law firms across the nation to create solutions to boost the retention and advancement of women in law, and pledged our commitment to the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion initiative, dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

That’s why we signed on to the Mansfield Rule initiative (a winning idea from the 2016 Hackathon). It was a major milestone when Katten achieved certification for meeting Mansfield Rule standards by ensuring that women and attorneys of color make up at least 30 percent of the candidate pool for firm leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions and senior lateral positions. This year we are also participating in the Mansfield Rule 2.0 which expands our agreement to be even more mindful of diversity by tracking roles in client pitch meetings, including LGBTQ+ lawyers as part of the diverse candidate pool, and making sure that appointment and election processes are transparent to all lawyers.

All of these efforts combine to help push male-dominated industries to focus on creating diverse teams and to snuff out bias, whether intentional or unintentional. They help put more women in the room and at the table when key business decisions, promotions, or job offers are being made. They help transform what leadership looks like today and what it should look like tomorrow. They help encourage the next generation of women to pursue careers in these fields because they see more and more women represented in the industry.

This Women’s History Month, let’s celebrate the affirmative impact of women in the legal profession and renew our commitment to diversity, innovation and greater gender-balance in the workplace. We all have a role to play, to lean in, lead the way and be the change agents. Our careers, businesses and society will be stronger for it.

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Voice of Experience: Sarah Wolman; Senior Advisor; The LEGO Foundation

Sarah Wolman Passport PhotoWhen you consider your career, it’s vital to get clear on what brings you joy, says Sarah Wolman.

“You don’t have to choose between work that allows you to feel fulfilled and that would put food on the table,” she says, encouraging other new professionals to talk to people about what they do and ask good questions that help them understand how people spend their time. “Find out what will make you feel you’re making a meaningful contribution, and listen for those opportunities that mesh.”

And, she points out—it might take a whole career to find those. “Your career will be long, so the secret is to continue looking for those positions that combine what you’re good at with what you love,” she says, adding that this has been true of her own career. Each piece made sense after the last one.

Building on Opportunities Where She Found Them

Majoring in comparative literature and French and Italian, Wolman wrapped up the majority of her coursework early, which allowed her to take classes in the sociology department, delving into her interest in policies around women, children and families. She left with an interest in policy work and took a position with the Office of the Mayor of the City of New York as a policy analyst, which provided the perfect birds-eye view into a wide variety of programs that existed, and also illuminated needs.

While there, she realized that the professionals above her all had obtained law degrees, so she thought that might be the best route to become a decision-maker. She attended law school, harboring no expectations of practicing law, but rather to further her ability to focus on issues of equity and social justice.

During her first summer of law school, Wolman did a Human Rights fellowship. During her second summer, her work was again funded by her law school Wolman through a public interest law fellowship that allowed her to do socially conscious work with a nonprofit called Legal Outreach. She ran a five-week law school-like internship for eighth graders, not designed to create future lawyers but rather to help motivate the students toward college and careers in general. “I remain so proud of what the kids accomplished over the years; they worked so hard every day after school, every Saturday and every summer, and ultimately they achieved their goals.”

The following year she returned and took a year-long course with the organization’s Executive Director. During the fall, she learned Family Law and a teaching methodology, and then in the spring, she and the other law students taught law in eighth grade social studies classes in Harlem. She describes her first day teaching as nerve-wracking, and yet standing on the subway platform, she called her husband and announced she had missed her calling—she was supposed to be a teacher. From that time, she remained involved with the organization for more than 10 years, including full-time, part-time and volunteer roles.

Yet when law school graduation rolled around, there were other factors at play. Her husband was still in law school, and so she took a stint at a large, corporate law firm for two years. She found a way to make it work for her, mostly by taking on lots of pro bono work. “There are different times for different things, and at the time, I was the primary breadwinner. Fortunately the firm understood where my interests lay and allowed me time to focus on my pro-bono passion.”

From there, Wolman transitioned to the Administration for Children’s Services and led their Policy & Procedure unit, all the while volunteering at Legal Outreach and joking with the Executive Director about opening a Brooklyn Office. While on her first maternity leave, she got the call to do just that, and she spent the subsequent five years running the site. She then transitioned to part-time after her second maternity leave.

By the time she moved to the New Jersey suburbs, Wolman was ready to be back to full-time. She took a position as the President & CEO of a community-based non-profit, where she was close to home and able to juggle a full schedule. The organization offered counseling programs, domestic violence services, an early childhood center, and other social service programs. She decided to build on the successful Legal Outreach model and start a similar program that would align kids with professionals in law, business and science. She reached out to the Merck Company Foundation to provide science mentors and was thrilled they wanted to support all three aspects of the program.

Following her third and final maternity leave, she decided the demands of the CEO position were too high and instead turned to consulting work; one of her first stints was covering another professional’s maternity leave at the Merck Company Foundation as Manager of the Education grants Portfolio.

Merging her passion for education with a new love for philanthropy, she was recruited by the LEGO Foundation; the only potential deal breaker was that the position was in Switzerland. Encouraged by her husband they dove in, and she has been with the LEGO Foundation ever since, returning to New York four years ago.

Currently she is excited to be working on a program designed to bring play to the youngest refugees in Bangladesh, Lebanon and Jordan in connection with Sesame Workshop. “The LEGO Foundation exists thanks to the incredible generosity of its owner family, which dedicates 25% of all profits of the LEGO Group to the Foundation. With living donors, the onus is on us to make a case for why something is timely and relevant. Displacement is in many ways the moral crisis of our day, so it makes so much sense for the Foundation to get deeply involved in this space. This new effort is a huge statement to the world that anyone who is doing humanitarian work needs to think about young children and their need to play and learn. It’s been a total privilege to work on this project.”

Finding Your Path, No Matter How Winding

As she looks back on a varied and full career, Wolman says that she wishes that younger people would realize that there is a diverse and rich range of options in the professional world. “When I was in law school, we were presented with two options—working in a law firm or legal aid,” Wolman says. “But the world is a more interesting place than that. Those are great options for some but there are so many ways to use a law degree – and so many interesting careers that don’t require one. It never occurred to me that the side of me that loves to be creative and playful would be able to merge with my interest in program development and policy.” Wolman speaks and trains around the world on the connection between learning through play, often traveling with a suitcase full of LEGO bricks. “Sometimes I wish I could see the faces of the airport staff scanning my luggage.”

While Wolman feels like she has arrived at a gratifying point in her career, she sees that the workplace generally hasn’t quite caught up with women’s ambitions and needs. “Success in one industry or workplace is perceived as primarily linear; we think about progressing up a ladder, one rung at a time, but this perspective can be limiting for working moms,” Wolman says. First, the needs of your family and your own personal and professional needs become much more complex, which is why her personal philosophy has always been to make plans one year at a time. “Who’s got what kind of commute? What are the kids’ needs? I always try to be on the lookout for high-impact opportunities that allow me to meet whatever needs we have in any given year. But it’s difficult to find that flexibility and quality of life when you’re looking at careers in a linear way.”

She finds that women who press pause to have children and plan to jump back in at the same level may be doing themselves a disservice. “It’s easy to underestimate how you will feel when you come back in, and how you need to privilege certain parts of your life at certain times, but I believe most fields haven’t caught up to the idea that these needs will vary. The workplace is often not imaginative enough to appreciate the value of individual people and how to make things work for them quite yet.”

That’s where your own personal imagination has to kick in, much like Wolman’s has in building her own ideal career, brick by brick.

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Voice of Experience: Marci Eisenstein, Managing Partner; Schiff Hardin

Marci EisensteinHave optimism and be proactive, Marci Eisenstein advises young women.

“Work on developing your professional excellence and seize the opportunities that are presented,” she says, adding that she wishes she herself had known earlier the value of never being afraid to speak in your own voice. “People will appreciate your authenticity, and you’ll be more effective the quicker you learn that you should be who you are.”

But that includes balancing confidence with humility, since, as she points out, no one wants to work with lawyers who are know-it-alls. “Often women err the other way and project insecurity, so it’s also important not to be self-deprecating or downplay your work, but ask for the opportunities to grow,” advice she has put into practice throughout her career.

Setting Records With Nearly 40 Years at the Firm

With a father who was a doctor, Eisenstein always knew she wanted to be a professional, and law appeared to be an excellent fit, given her love of writing and speaking – and distaste for blood. She went directly from college to law school, joining Schiff Hardin immediately after graduation, and has spent an illustrious near-four decades there.

Although she knew she wanted to be a litigator, she has decided that the placement of her office helped dictate her future career path, sandwiched as it was right between the head of litigation and the first lieutenant. They stopped in her office and asked her if she would participate in some class action work for a long-standing client, to which she enthusiastically responded yes, knowing now that those first days helped guide her career.

Eisenstein became a class action litigator, handling numerous cases in the insurance space. Along the way she became the longest tenured female lawyer at the firm, a rank she will hold until she leaves, as the women who were more senior when she arrived have moved on. Three years ago she became the firm’s first female managing partner in its 150-year history.

“It’s gratifying to have had a seat on the firm’s executive committee to have influence in helping maintain our independence and unique culture,” she says. For Schiff Hardin that includes maintaining values focused on collegiality — mentoring and supporting a diverse group – as well as a commitment to pro bono work and loyalty to one another. “This is a place where we enjoy working together and develop deep, strong client relationships,” she says. “As a group we have an unwavering commitment to professional excellence, and having a role in maintaining that special culture has been a source of great personal and professional pride.”

In addition, Eisenstein is proud of the body of work she has built up, most notably helping secure a reversal of a case that had resulted in a billion dollar judgment. “Going through the process and achieving that reversal taught me an enormous amount about how to lead a team through tough times with tenacity,” she says.

Developing Opportunities for Women

Currently Eisenstein is proud of the firm’s leadership in the #MeToo movement in the Chicago area; having recently participated in a regional effort organized by the Chicago Foundation for Women that encouraged all participating businesses to host facilitated discussions for employees around a set of questions about how the issue manifests itself in their professional and personal lives.

All six offices of the firm took a lunch break and brought in the entire workforce, from staff to the most senior people, to talk about these issues. She participated in a session that included nearly 80 people — men and women, from new staff members to practice group leaders. “The dialogue was so open and authentic, and I was proud to be in a place that fosters this type of discussion,” she says, adding that she believes they were the only law firm that participated.

“We addressed a lot of issues and while we don’t have all the answers, the idea that there can be such frank and open discussion was very gratifying and goes back to the values of our firm we are able to maintain,” she says.

She herself sees that one of the main barriers for women relates to the gender imbalance in equity partnership throughout the industry, since it’s easier for young women to see a path to success when there are ample role models. While there are strides to be made, she is proud that Schiff Hardin is ahead of its peer firms in terms of equity partnership with 25% being women, compared to the industry average of 19%. “I like to believe this is a place that attracts women based on our model,” she says, adding that the perspectives offered by diverse teams has helped their own decision making. “We look for every opportunity to make sure we put forward the best team from experience and expertise, and that includes the diversity perspective,” Eisenstein says.

For initiatives to be successful, they have to emanate from the top down, she notes, and as the founder and original chair of the Diversity Committee, she has seen high levels of support to help it grow into a powerhouse committee where partners participate actively and associates participate in the firm’s multiple affinity groups.

Another barrier many women may face is the continued focus on hours over performance. “Too frequently workplaces value the time clock more than the effectiveness and efficiency of the work, and that approach can negatively affect women and how we manage all our responsibilities,” she says.

When she first started at the firm, there weren’t the same type of women-oriented mentoring or advocacy programs that there are today, so she did what she could, initially finding another colleague who was pregnant at the same time and working together to develop a proposal for how their maternity leave should be handled. Now of course, the firm offers numerous programs for gender-neutral parental leave, mindful return and other online courses that help parents navigate this tricky time.

A Passion for A Cause

Eisenstein’s oldest daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of three, when Eisenstein had just became a new partner. That insight into raising a child with a chronic condition has confirmed her family’s dedication to raising funds for finding a cure. She has served as chair for the Chicago gala, raising more than $5 million for JDRF research, and remains active in the Illinois chapter of JDRF. “When you are moving an organization through change and also taking care of a child with a condition they face day in and day out, you have to have resilience and optimism in life and work,” she says.

Eisenstein also enjoys spending time with her husband of 42 years, and her four granddaughters who all live locally.

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Men Who Get It: Andrew Glincher, CEO/Managing Partner, Nixon Peabody

Andrew Glincher
“Each time I receive a diversity award, I think to myself that we will know we’re doing the right thing when we’re no longer giving out awards for doing the right thing,” says Andrew Glincher, CEO and Managing Partner of international law firm Nixon Peabody LLP.
Understanding Diversity Through Personal Experience

As the head of Nixon Peabody, Glincher leads 1,500 colleagues, including more than 650 attorneys who collaborate across practice areas in cities throughout the U.S. and with alliance firms around the world. But he came to this lofty position from a humble background, as a first-generation college graduate who grew up in less affluent circumstances than many of his peers, paying for his education 100 percent through work, scholarships and loans. “That different socioeconomic background gives me a heart for underdogs and a great appreciation for anyone who has had challenges,” he says.

Glincher brings a business background to the field, including teaching for 23 years for the business school at his alma mater Boston College. While he’s been at Nixon Peabody his entire career, he says that it has been about five different firms during his tenure, growing from 60 to 1,500 professionals. He has been the CEO for eight years and prior to that was the managing partner in Boston, the firm’s largest office, for seven years, at Peabody & Brown, NP’s predecessor. He was also elected to the firm’s executive committee when he was elected equity partner.

The Business Case for Diversity

Glincher believes that different perspectives yield better results and better teams, but they also makes the workplace more fun. “I enjoy bringing out the best in people, and it’s easy when you’re working with people you like, who have tremendous skills to succeed and that you want to be successful. Our team here is passionate about what they do, and that engagement makes my job a lot easier,” he says, adding that it reminds him of the two decades he spent teaching. “When you’re engaging with different types of people and personalities, it makes the workday so much more fun, and better outcomes are a great byproduct.”

His belief is that when all else is equal, it’s important to support the diverse person. “That can be controversial, but it’s necessary until we have a diverse workforce that mirrors our clients. Once we are caught up and are fully diversified in a way that’s representative of our client base then maybe we are there,” he says. But he notes, lawyers focus on what’s measurable, so requirements for diversity keep people accountable.

Seeing Blind Spots Clearly

A supporter of mandatory implicit and unconscious bias training, Glincher says it’s important for everyone to realize we all have blind spots since we’re a function of our perspectives and how we grew up. “It’s something to be aware of, but not ashamed of, but understanding your biases can help you overcome them.”

He says that while he wouldn’t hesitate to politely mention a bias on display…such as if someone made a remark about a woman candidate that they wouldn’t have made about a male…he finds that it’s almost always due to ignorance rather than intent. “I want to create awareness, but not embarrass people.”

In evaluating talent, he always looks toward the end game. “It’s not fair to compare someone who is just starting out to where another person is ending when you are looking for a replacement. I will often point out that someone else was in the exact same position themselves when I promoted them.” He learned early on that it’s key not to look at what someone has accomplished to date since that might not be a fair yardstick for comparison, but instead their potential. “You wouldn’t compare a new Minor Leaguer to a Major League baseball player at the end of his career. You have to give talent an opportunity to show what they can do, rather than comparing them to the success of someone in a role they’ve not yet held.”

Promoting Work/Life Balance

And of course, women can be their own worst critics, such as when they ask to be considered for counsel rather than partner, but Glincher will encourage them to live up to their potential and then figure out how to make it work. The firm’s policies help, as they are proactive in helping women—and all employees—achieve a better work/life balance. That includes generous maternity and paternity leave policies and supportive on-ramping when women return. For example, even if they come back at full-time pay, new mothers are only required to do 80 percent of the work for the first six months. “They can take that time to figure out how they are going to balance, and then we are open to other arrangements if they decide they need that,” he says, adding that the firm has made partners from associates who work part time.

“Our priority is to attract, retain and promote diverse individuals by creating more opportunities for attorneys from all backgrounds, races, genders and religions. Having a variety of perspectives enables us to create even more innovation for our clients,” he points out.

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Motivating Millennial Lawyers: More About Possibility Than Precedent

 By Aimee Hansen

Lawyer

Image via Shutterstock

“Millennials bring new ideas and expectations to the workplace, as did the generations before them,” states a 2016 Thomson-Reuters report on The Generational Shift in Legal Departments. But, as the story goes, senior lawyers are resisting those changes.

By 2025, Millennials will comprise 75% of the workforce. The real question is not if change will happen, but how it will unfold.

What Do Millennials Want?

“Working round the clock for high pay and status is not what motivates many young lawyers today” states the FT, noting, “the partnership track has ruptured.”

Millennials work preferences are characterized as valuing mentorship (vs bossing) and collaboration (vs hierarchy), wishing to be involved in processes and decision-making, receiving regular feedback, having opportunities for growth, working for a firm that aligns to their values, and desiring work/life flexibility.

According to an article in the National Law Review, managing Millennials “means an almost 180-degree change in the way associates have been managed in the past.”

With Millennials, It’s Not About Precedent

Acknowledging the resistance of those who have paid their dues, “Old Lady Lawyer” Jill Switzer notes “The problem with the philosophy of ‘suck it up, this is the way it’s always been’ is that it doesn’t seem to really work with millennials.”

The Thomson-Reuters report agrees, “…in-house leaders must prepare to oversee junior lawyers who will not accept doing things a certain way simply because that’s what has been done before, whether it’s the billable hour or using a more formal tone in communications.”

So what can senior lawyers do to motivate Millennial associates?

Make Mentorship Your Management Style

The first step is to meet the individual in front of you.

“I think we all ought to be sensitive to the concept that stereotypes don’t always play out in individual people, and individual people are where it’s at,” Co-chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Fellows Committee and King & Spalding partner Dixie Johnson told theglasshammer. “I personally don’t ever start out a relationship thinking okay, you’re a millennial – here’s how I should relate to you. And I don’t think it’s healthy to do that.”

A Deloitte study found that Millennials who intended to stay with their current organization were more than twice as likely to have a mentor (68 percent) than not (32 percent), but only six percent of corporate legal departments have a formal mentoring program.

If yours doesn’t yet, then consider making mentorship your management style.

“I don’t think of ‘inclusive mentorship’ as a new thing that is needed by Millennials in a way that was not needed by prior generations,” says Johnson. “I just think that my job is to be a mentor and I should look for opportunities to help people who work with me. Part of my job as a senior lawyer is to train younger lawyers about what they need to do really well as lawyers…in the middle of all the work we do.”

Motivate with Context

As stated in The National Law Review, Millennials “are not content to receive a directive such as, ‘Research a particular point of law and prepare an annotated brief on the subject.’ Instead, they want to know about the case, why the research is important for the case and how it will be used to benefit the case.”

Millennials wish to learn and grow through the experience of doing the work, as opposed to just get the job done. They are “Generation Why.” The value in whatever they are being asked to contribute needs to be explicitly connected to the whole, both to the overall project and their personal growth.

“I do think young lawyers who enter the profession recognize some of the work is tedious and not as exciting, but you can learn from everything that comes your way,“ Johnson says. “It’s on us, the more senior lawyers, to help people understand what they can learn from projects.”

Make Feedback Work For You, Too

Growing up in a digital world where everything is “available at their fingertips”, Millennials desire (and expect) regular feedback (not just performance reviews). Iterative feedback may take more time, but it may also deliver more fluid performance improvements while building more mutual respect.

“I do think that we are more successful as managers when we give more feedback.” says Johnson. “I find that when I label a conversation with ‘I want to give you some feedback’  (eg. on relating to clients, on speech patterns) young lawyers are hungry to hear it, and they do take it well. They want to go back and think about it.”

Lead the One You’re With

Thomson-Reuters found that other generations see Millennials more so as “hoppers” and “disloyal” than they see themselves. 76% of Gen X and Boomers thought Millennials would stay at their current job for less than 5 years. 38% of Millennials intended to leave while 47% intended to stay. Still, a longitudinal study found a third of lawyers had changed jobs once only three years out of law school.

Resisting the assertion that job-jumping is a new trend among associate lawyers, Johnson states, “It’s important for more senior lawyers to recognize that part of the cost structure that is built into their firm is that they will spend a lot of time training somebody who then will go off to do other things. And I think that’s a good thing, frankly. At one point I counted up 40 people (that I helped train) that were in different spots in the federal government, and that makes me feel great.”

“I think approaching a work relationship with the reality that you’re both there by choice, and it may not last forever, is just the reality of it,” says Johnson. ”And it has been for a long time.”

Embrace Change

Millennials bring technology into firms, as a lens through which they’ve always interacted with the world. They are also more globally minded  and gender equal in their outlook, and will offer that to the workplace.

“That’s a really exciting thing about having young people who have really not known anything other than technology joining our teams,” says Johnson. ”They will bring to the teams technical advances and a way of thinking about projects that can helps us do a better job.”

This will also change how lawyers work, in a way that brings greater gender equality. The number of legal employees working remotely is rising. The FT points out that the firm Mr. Beedle now employs lawyers on a “consultancy basis”, meaning “full control over hours they work in exchange for a fluctuating salary.”

In order to stay, Millennials need to feel as though they are being valued and developed as leaders, and making a difference at work. In order for managers to motivate the next generation of lawyers, it will require a perspective less bent on precedent and more open to possibility.

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