Advocacy-Matters-Winter-2024

WORD TO THE WISE
Word to the Wise:
Paying Your Dues
Megan Keenberg (she/her), Keenberg & Co
As Mid-Career Advocates, we’ve all paid our dues
in the profession. We’ve done mind-numbing
doc review and pulled all-nighters on countless
research memos. We’ve prepared court materials
for hearings that others get to argue. We’ve
gone cross-eyed editing 8-point font citations.
We’ve drafted articles and case comments that
others claim authorship over. We’ve brought
in clients without credit for origination. We’ve
been yelled at. We’ve been ignored. We’ve been
assigned cases that we didn’t want. We’ve had
meetings and court appearances put in our
calendar without a thought for our availability.
We’ve cancelled vacations. We’ve worked evenings
and weekends. We’ve dealt with overt
and insidious sexism, racism, ageism and other
-isms from our clients, opposing counsel and
even our own colleagues.
We’ve endured all this as a means of learning
the ropes and earning status in our firms and in
the profession.
So now here we are, near the top of the hill,
coming into positions of power after long and
gruelling years. It feels good. It’s a relief. We now
have greater autonomy over our time, the cases
we take on, the clients and colleagues we work
with, and the trajectory of our careers. We’ve
learned a lot, and we have the battle scars to
prove it.
Many of us credit our current success with the
lessons learned in the pits. From our suffering,
we say, skills and wisdom emerged. We grew
thick skins in response to harsh, personal criticism.
We developed resilience by being yelled
at. We have made an art of multitasking in order
to hit billing targets while remaining fed and
watered. We perfected our poker faces, laughing
off aggressions (both micro and macro). So
now that we are in leadership positions in our
firms, we think that the next generation needs
to go through the same hazing process we endured
to gain the wisdom and skills we now enjoy.
The next generation disagrees. In an open
letter to “Gen X Boss” on LinkedIn, a millennial
woman had this to say:
“What if we aren’t successful because of the suffering we
endured in our dues-paying years, but despite it?”
This sounds like something a Gen Xer would have said to a Boomer boss 20 years ago. Have we become
Boomers? Gasp!
Let’s ask ourselves: was the suffering we endured worth it? Was it necessary to develop the skills and
traits that led us to be successful advocates? What if we aren’t successful because of the suffering we
endured in our dues-paying years, but despite it? What if we could have been even better if we only had
to focus on the steep learning curve of the practice of law, instead of juggling abuse, political dynamics,
and inconsideration? What if we can continue expanding our skillsets by critically assessing what worked
- and what didn’t - from our own training experiences and finding new ways to impart wisdom and skills
to the next generation with kindness. The practice of law is hard enough. The workplace need not be.
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