Celebrating Remarkable Women at Reitler
Women’s History Month: Partner Highlight Series
Women’s History Month: Partner Highlight Series
March 2024
Partner
Princeton, New Jersey
Expertise: Venture Capital & Emerging Companies
Who is your inspiration?
The year after graduating from law school, I clerked for the Honorable Justice Marie Garibaldi. The Justice was the first woman President of the NJ State Bar Association and the first woman justice appointed to the NJ Supreme Court. She was a force of nature, having overcome childhood medical issues and gender discrimination to rise to a seat on the highest court of the State, and she did it with grace and good humor. She embodied the concept of paying it forward, always looking for ways to advance the careers of her clerks. She was a trailblazer whose incredible success was matched only by her humility. She truly was an inspiration.
Where do you want to hear more female voices?
Too often we hear female voices (our own) telling us we are not good enough, not smart enough, not resilient enough. We need fewer of those voices and more female voices in places like corporate Board rooms, executive committees of law firms, and in the Oval Office. We have come to understand the benefits of diversity—problems can be better addressed, and solutions better tailored, when individuals with different perspectives and experiences contribute their viewpoints to the process. Women’s perspectives and experiences are critical to those solutions, and we simply need to have more seats at more tables.
What excites you most about being a female leader in law?
There is a lot of wisdom that is gleaned not just from practicing law from day to day, but also from living life while practicing law. It excites me to share that wisdom with young women who either are considering whether to attend law school or have been admitted to the bar and are confronting the challenges of being a female lawyer in private practice. There are few issues that those who have come before haven’t experienced, and I think the best gift one can share with a younger colleague is the benefit of that wisdom.
You mention the “benefit of wisdom”? What is the one piece of advice would you offer to the younger generation of women who are trying to navigate life and a career?
"Be realistic about your expectations. You can have it all. It just depends on how you define “all”."
"Be realistic about your
expectations. You can have it all. It just
depends on how you define “all”."
Partner
New York, New York
Expertise: Commercial, Entertainment & IP, and Employment Litigatio
Who is your inspiration?
The late Ruth Bader Ginsberg was always an inspiration to me. In the face of tremendous adversity, she used her platform to be a champion for women’s rights and voices and bodies. She, along with Sandra Day O’Connor, blazed a trail of female success all the way to the highest echelons of the legal world, showing me I could forge a path in law too.
Where do you want to hear more female voices?
In the immortal words of RBG: all places where decisions are being made!
What excites you most about being a female leader in law?
I am so excited to work with the next generation of young female lawyers at our firm, to encourage them to use and harness their experiences as women, mothers, sisters, and daughters to become strong and confident advocates for themselves and for our clients. I am also thrilled to be part of the representation that young women need to see in law firm leadership.
Partner
New York, New York
Expertise: Employment, Appellate, and Commercial Litigation
Who is your inspiration?
a. Amelia Earhart – a woman who forged her own path at a time when women did not tend to do that;
b. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for all the obvious reasons; and
c. Patricia Hatry – a woman litigator at Davis & Gilbert (where I was a paralegal before law school).
Where do you want to hear more female voices?
In senior litigation roles in court. There are still too few women lead counsel in commercial litigation settings.
What excites you most about being a female leader in law?
Hopefully inspiring younger female attorneys and assisting younger female attorneys grow.
Partner
Washington, DC and Virginia
Expertise: Privacy & Consumer Compliance, Technology Agreements & Licensing, and Bankruptcy & Restructuring
Who is your inspiration?
The women in my life constantly inspire me. They show up every day for their work – their clients, customers, employees, patients – and their families. They show me the extraordinary in the ordinary. I knew that I could start a family during law school and be a great mom while working full time because I saw my mom do it as a physician who started our family during medical school. I see women attorneys leading matters, arguing in court, making partner at their firms, and applying for their dream jobs. My college friend founded a successful start-up and all of my college friends banded together to raise millions of dollars in a few weeks to save our women’s college. I am fortunate to belong to several networks of women who have successful careers in law, finance, and other fields, who serve on company boards, and who run companies and non-profit organizations. Seeing all of these women show and up succeed encouraged me to take big steps – to lead matters, to make partner, to get into the venture capital field, to take the General Counsel role, and to serve on a bank board and non-profit boards.
"Many of these women have faced difficult personal challenges and enormous loss – yet they keep showing up every day. So I keep showing up every day, even when it is hard."
"Many of these women have faced
difficult personal challenges and
enormous loss – yet they keep
showing up every day. So I keep
showing up every day, even when
it is hard."
Finally, I see the next generation of women – the young lawyers, the young professionals, and my two daughters; I am inspired by their resilience and fierceness and they give me confidence in the future of women in the workplace. Keep showing up ladies – your everyday actions are inspiring to me and so many others.
Where do you want to hear more female voices?
Despite our progress, women are still underrepresented in too many places. In my first ten years as a litigator, I never appeared before a female judge, despite appearing in hundreds of cases in multiple jurisdictions. To this day, I am still frequently the only women in the room (or on the zoom call) on both transactional and litigation matters – with the opposing counsel and decisionmakers for all parties being male. I have been the only woman in the C-suite and one of only two women on a board of directors. We need to see more women in all of these places – on the judicial bench, leading litigation matters, leading deals, in the C-suite, on corporate boards, and as decisionmakers for companies.
Importantly, we need male voices to speak up for more female voices. If the men in these male-dominated spaces are not advocating for more women in those spaces, then it will continue to be difficult for women to break into male-dominated spaces.
What excites you most about being a female leader in law?
The next generation of women leaders – in law and other fields. As I said earlier, I’m inspired by the resilience and fierceness of the next generation of young women professionals. It is important for me to continue to take on leadership roles to set an example for them and to make women in leadership roles the norm, rather than the exception. It is also important that all leaders in law, male and female, continue to mentor and support the next generation of female leaders.
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