Advocacy-Matters-Winter-2024
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WORD TO THE WISE<br />
Word to the Wise:<br />
Paying Your Dues<br />
Megan Keenberg (she/her), Keenberg & Co<br />
As Mid-Career Advocates, we’ve all paid our dues<br />
in the profession. We’ve done mind-numbing<br />
doc review and pulled all-nighters on countless<br />
research memos. We’ve prepared court materials<br />
for hearings that others get to argue. We’ve<br />
gone cross-eyed editing 8-point font citations.<br />
We’ve drafted articles and case comments that<br />
others claim authorship over. We’ve brought<br />
in clients without credit for origination. We’ve<br />
been yelled at. We’ve been ignored. We’ve been<br />
assigned cases that we didn’t want. We’ve had<br />
meetings and court appearances put in our<br />
calendar without a thought for our availability.<br />
We’ve cancelled vacations. We’ve worked evenings<br />
and weekends. We’ve dealt with overt<br />
and insidious sexism, racism, ageism and other<br />
-isms from our clients, opposing counsel and<br />
even our own colleagues.<br />
We’ve endured all this as a means of learning<br />
the ropes and earning status in our firms and in<br />
the profession.<br />
So now here we are, near the top of the hill,<br />
coming into positions of power after long and<br />
gruelling years. It feels good. It’s a relief. We now<br />
have greater autonomy over our time, the cases<br />
we take on, the clients and colleagues we work<br />
with, and the trajectory of our careers. We’ve<br />
learned a lot, and we have the battle scars to<br />
prove it.<br />
Many of us credit our current success with the<br />
lessons learned in the pits. From our suffering,<br />
we say, skills and wisdom emerged. We grew<br />
thick skins in response to harsh, personal criticism.<br />
We developed resilience by being yelled<br />
at. We have made an art of multitasking in order<br />
to hit billing targets while remaining fed and<br />
watered. We perfected our poker faces, laughing<br />
off aggressions (both micro and macro). So<br />
now that we are in leadership positions in our<br />
firms, we think that the next generation needs<br />
to go through the same hazing process we endured<br />
to gain the wisdom and skills we now enjoy.<br />
The next generation disagrees. In an open<br />
letter to “Gen X Boss” on LinkedIn, a millennial<br />
woman had this to say:<br />
“What if we aren’t successful because of the suffering we<br />
endured in our dues-paying years, but despite it?”<br />
This sounds like something a Gen Xer would have said to a Boomer boss 20 years ago. Have we become<br />
Boomers? Gasp!<br />
Let’s ask ourselves: was the suffering we endured worth it? Was it necessary to develop the skills and<br />
traits that led us to be successful advocates? What if we aren’t successful because of the suffering we<br />
endured in our dues-paying years, but despite it? What if we could have been even better if we only had<br />
to focus on the steep learning curve of the practice of law, instead of juggling abuse, political dynamics,<br />
and inconsideration? What if we can continue expanding our skillsets by critically assessing what worked<br />
- and what didn’t - from our own training experiences and finding new ways to impart wisdom and skills<br />
to the next generation with kindness. The practice of law is hard enough. The workplace need not be.<br />
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