CBA Record July-August 2025

9 A few golden rules to live by Over the years, I have received many nuggets of advice that have been useful in my professional career as well as in my personal life. Here are a few: l Assume your mom knows whatever you do. Make her proud. l Always be honest and do the right thing. l Be willing to share what you know. l Return phone calls and emails promptly. l The ends do not always justify the means. l The law will let your dreams come true. Dream big. l There are no stupid questions. l Warren Buffet is right: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

10 l You are the guardian of your morals and of your clients. —Pamela Sakowicz Menaker, Communications Partner, Clifford Law Offices Be well rounded profession requires a lot more than that. You need to be able to successfully manage a legal practice, build relationships, market your skill set, be a good communicator, and do a hundred other things. Being a good lawyer is a necessary condition for success but is not enough to truly succeed in the law. —Trisha M. Rich, Partner, Holland & Knight “Just concentrate on being a good lawyer.” You must be a good lawyer, of course, but being successful in this

WORST ADVICE

1 Be like other attorneys be like other attorneys. When you’re new and you have no idea how to practice law, it’s comfortable to copy others. Although you can adopt techniques that work for you, you are an individual. What works for others won’t necessarily work for you. We learn from our mistakes, so make them and find who you are as an attorney. —Meredith Geller, Director of the Writing Lab, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law I gave myself the worst advice: that the only way to be successful was to

2 You can’t be a lawyer and a mother too I was clerking full-time for a law firm in Washington, DC, while attending law school at night. I got pregnant during my last year. When I mentioned this to the firm’s managing partner, he blushed (really!) and said, “We’ve never had anyone on the professional staff pregnant before.” He advised me to leave law school and said, “You won’t be able to have a legal career and a family, too.” I left the job instead. My son was born the day I graduated from law school—his initials are “J.D.” This was in 1979. I'm not naming the firm, and I'm sure things are very different there now. —Anne Ellis, Attorney at Law, 2E Services, LLC

3 Be willing to sacrifice your family and personal relationships for your career I think such advice is utterly myopic. My family and relationships provide support and motivation. Our shared experiences are integrated into my practice and into my professional sense of purpose, and these relationships reliably yield new busi ness. I am glad I ignored this advice—I would be very dissatisfied with my life and career otherwise. —Katherine Hanson, Program Director, Independent Practice Initiative, and Staff Attorney, The Law Offices of Chicago-Kent Employee Benefits Litigation Clinic

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BEST AND WORST ADVICE I RECEIVED AS A NEW LAWYER

CBA Record Editorial Board Member Clare McMahon polled col leagues at her law firm of Reed, Centracchio & Associates, LLC, for the best and worst advice they received as new lawyers. Here’s what they shared: Bryan V. Reed, Principal Attorney: “The first thing that came to my mind as "best advice" when I was a young attorney was from an attorney who told me to always "make the call." He said that any time I had bad news for a client or needed to have a difficult con versation, that I should make the call and have it. Too many people avoid it. I've tried to live by it.” Nicole Centracchio, Principal Attorney: “Be able to think on your feet. If you work off a script, you will get lost.” Ross Levey, Partner: “One piece of best advice I received was to make sure I treated court staff, clerks, coordinators, sheriffs, and

others with kindness and respect. They really control the court room and can help if you ever get in a jam.” Gabrielle DePrimio, Senior Associate Attorney: “Worst advice was being told not to work on a file where there were emergency hear ings every month and we weren't withdrawing.” Clare McMahon, Partner: “This is a business of relationships. We are in the business of building and maintaining relationships— with clients, other attorneys, the judiciary, the court staff, and experts and vendors. Also: open the courtroom door that has the side with the visible portion of the lock on it. This is not just advice about a courtroom in the Daley Center. It is advice to know what the rules, patterns, and practices are before your first time, even the rules that are not “the law.” You should walk into every room like you have been there before.”

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