- What is your current role and practice area?
I’m counsel for T-Mobile, so my practice areas include consumer protection, regulatory compliance, crisis communications, social media, privacy, and IP. I’m truly a generalist with the will to problem solve on the fly. In addition to my day job, I sit on the boards of the Asian Bar Association of Washington and the Henry Art Gallery, and am President Elect to the Alumnae Association of my alma mater, Scripps College. I also volunteer with the University of Washington Entrepreneurial Law Clinic and Communities Rise.
- Since hindsight is 20/20, what is one thing you would have done differently in law school?
As a first-generation law student in my family, I put an obscene amount of pressure on myself to do well – letting the fear of debt and the possibility of failure guide me rather than my desire to thrive. I thought I had no fallback, and while financially true, I would have channeled my scrappy origins to figure it out. In hindsight, I would have prioritized my mental and physical health, as well as made time to have fun.
- What is something you wish you knew about the practice of law during your first 5 years of practice?
I started out in a large law firm and had no mentors. I also had no idea how to ask for help or guidance. What I didn’t grasp was what “my practice” meant – that is, I needed to form my own board of directors and view myself as the business (or “the practice”) and not expect that anyone else would define what my career would look like or just volunteer to help me.
- What is one myth you’d bust about being a lawyer?
That successful lawyers are always aggressive or always right (or think they're right). For me, the most successful lawyers are those that can form trusting relationships with their clients and sometimes, that means being nice and showing vulnerability.
- What is one prediction that you would make about the future of law?
What we’ve seen with new technologies and more recently, rapid changes in business and political environments is that lawyers, firms, and legal departments need to be just as willing and able to quickly change practice areas or focus, as well as operational and business models. I think these changes will only accelerate in the future – so the more flexible you or your firm/department positions itself, the better off you’ll be to meet your clients’ needs.
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