Her Story
About Michele
My whole career has been in the legal industry. After graduating college, I thought I would go to law school and be a lawyer, so I went to work as a temporary paralegal at a law firm. I hated everything about billable hours, but what I really, really loved was the people - they were smart, fun to be around, and collegial. I had a really great mentor and champion who started me off on this professional career inside law firms, which I never really even knew existed. My first adventure was doing recruiting - recruiting law students and lawyers to come work at my first firm. I spent about 11 years doing that. Then I moved to learning how lawyers learned and training them to be the best possible lawyer and the most successful lawyer they could be. I started a professional development department at another firm, focusing on critical skills they don't teach you in law school - leadership skills, giving feedback, receiving feedback, communications, and building relationships. After that, I had the opportunity to bring it all together - the recruiting piece and the professional development piece - and really think about the whole life cycle of being an attorney, from the first moment of entering law school all the way up to promotion to partner, or figuring out what your path could be. That led me to my next law firm, Steptoe and Johnson, where the managing partner was amazing. I knew the minute I met her that I wanted to work with her, and I had 8 or 9 years of working with her and seeing how she operates as an amazing leader. Most recently, I was a talent advisor and coach, which I really enjoyed because it got me into the coaching world and helped people think about what their career path could be. What's been important throughout my career is always the opportunity to build something from the ground up - they were kind of first-of positions within firms that allowed me to build a foundation for the firm and for my personal growth as well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michele
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it goes back to my parents. My mom was a nurse, and my dad worked in the mill, and they were just hardworking and instilled that work ethic in us since we were little kids. Those are both very hard professions, and working in a mill like that, you were laid off and then brought back, so many ups and downs. But we would have never known as kids - we would have never known that there was anything wrong or that there was any kind of struggle, because they just were such wonderful, wonderful parents and gave us a wonderful life. They really told us, you know, if you work hard, you will accomplish those things that you want to do.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I see specifically in the legal industry some realignment and consolidation happening. There are tiers of firms - the top 20, the top 50, the top 100, the top 200 - and there's a realignment of the industry, which I have felt very recently. When thinking about the talent function, the challenge is how do we still recruit the best and brightest to our firm? Everybody's looking for the same person, and everybody wants the same person, but what's going to be the differentiator? Is it the pro bono work that you do? Is it the innovation work that you're doing around AI? What is going to be the thing that makes you stand out to continue to be able to recruit those very top students? But then also, how do you treat them when they're there? How are we treating people while they're there? How are we living up to their expectations and meeting their expectations? And then how are we also gracefully exiting people when that needs to happen? Because we certainly don't want to burn any bridges, and we really want to help people find what their next step is going to be.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Servant leadership has been a big part of my path, and that's what really, really energizes me - the opportunity to help someone achieve their goals. I really enjoy helping others, and what gets me up and what motivates me is really helping others. I've developed a deep commitment to people and to purpose, and to understanding that each person's purpose is a little different. I think remembering that everybody's coming from a different place is really important. We may all look alike on paper, but we are not alike as individuals. What I truly love is giving back - that is my end goal. I really like to give back to my community, and being able to be the board president of Jazz Empowers is very fulfilling for me.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Tennessee
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.