Meet the Women Rainmakers: Maureen A. Sheehy Interviewed by Debra Forman September 2012 Name: Maureen A. Sheehy Firm Name: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton Address: Two Embarcadero Center #800, San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 415‐576‐0200 Nominated by: Debra Forman Interviewed by: Debra Forman Practice area: Intellectual Property Litigation Most successful/favorite rainmaking tip: Always approach business development with the attitude of “what can I do or offer to be of service to my client?” Your goal is to make the client or prospect look good. Sometimes it can be the small things that add real value or simply take something off your client’s desk. I had a client who was newly in‐house overseeing a very large patent group. She had determined that the in‐house team needed to restructure their approach to working with outside counsel and it was going to require putting in systems on the client side to support this new model. But my client had no idea where to start to build such a system. She reached out to me to find out what consultants my firm had used on a similar project to identify the right infrastructure solution to support our patent practice. I was able to give her a list of consultants and software that we had experience with and put her in touch with our Executive Director who had overseen similar projects in our firm. She was enormously grateful to me for providing a ready solution in an area that was entirely new to her. Biggest influence on career/best career advice: Never turn down an opportunity to grow and develop a new skill set. And NEVER think that you can’t do something, especially when someone else thinks you can! As lawyers, we are taught a pretty narrow set of skills and introduced to a fairly limited set of careers. Add to this that lawyers as a group tend to lack resilience. So taking chances is not in our DNA or our training. In order to remain feeling challenged and have new experiences, you need to be willing to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. I left the first law firm I worked six months before I was scheduled to make partner because my husband had a chance to work abroad. Our son was young and it was a perfect time to make a move for 2‐4 years. Living and working in Puerto Rico for two years with my husband, son and daughter (who was born there) was a great experience and an adventure. And it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t take the leap with the confidence that I could land on my feet when my husband’s job ended. www.lawpracticetoday.org
©American Bar Association 2012
And it is important to listen to others when they see skills and potential in you that you don’t necessarily see in yourself. I would never have imagined that I would be managing a $400 million organization when I came out of law school. But others saw potential in me that even I couldn’t see. And I took a chance in stepping away from my practice to learn a whole new set of skills and found a really rewarding job that has constantly challenged me to improve. Percentage of time devoted to marketing: Between 10‐20%. Proudest accomplishment: Being named Managing Partner of my firm. I appreciated the trust my partners felt in me and it was an enormous honor. In turn I consider it a wonderful opportunity to further develop a great organization with a mission to constantly improve how we serve our clients in a highly competitive legal market. I have learned a great deal from being in this role, everything from how to build consensus among a group of independent thinkers to understanding from a much closer vantage point, what clients are looking for and the issues they are struggling with. Interestingly, I think my firm management role has made me a better lawyer since I now see things from a client’s perspective in a way I never did before. Knowing what you know now, if you were starting out as a lawyer today, what would you do differently? I would have sought out the advice of others and asked for help more often. Successful lawyers like nothing more than to share how they got where they did. And I have never had anyone say no when I have gone to them and asked for their help in trying to grow my practice. Too often, I thought I needed to do it all on my own. As a young lawyer, I wish I had asked all the senior lawyers I worked with what they did that helped them build a successful practice. “What do you believe is the key to a successful client relationship?” I know now that there a dozen different answers to this question and many paths to creating that success. I also wish that I had asked for introductions to clients and opportunities to develop my skills, like taking a witness at trial, rather than waiting for someone to give me those introductions and opportunities. Tell me about one rainmaking strategy or tactic that you initially thought would work, but it failed. Why did it fail. One mistake I made as a younger lawyer was to focus on my credentials and the credentials of my team at a pitch meeting. Your abilities are a given in that setting. Instead I needed to focus on deeply learning about the client’s needs so that they feel assured that you understand what they are trying to accomplish and why. I have learned that business success comes primarily from strong relationships. I had enough confidence in my team that I knew it would present well and impress the client. I took the chance because I figured it would set us apart from the other firms who showed up with just the lead partners who might try the case, but not with the lawyers who would be in the trenches on a day to day basis. www.lawpracticetoday.org
©American Bar Association 2012
Tell me about one rainmaking strategy or tactic that you initially thought would fail, but it was a great success. Why was it successful? Taking the entire team to a pitch and having everyone contribute to the discussion. I thought it might be too many people or be perceived as overkill. But the client very much appreciated meeting everyone with whom they would be working, particularly the associates with whom they will be interacting the most. What has been your greatest frustration about trying to get new business or new clients? My biggest frustration with business development is that timing is everything. Sometimes that is great, because you happen to be in the right place at the right time. But sometimes you aren’t and you can spend a lot of time cultivating a set of relationships and then the GC leaves and you have to start all over again. It takes a lot of effort to remain top of mind. If you were mentoring a young woman lawyer, what advice would you give her regarding rainmaking? Constantly cultivate and refresh your network. Your peers today will be making purchasing decisions before long. For this reason, you just never know who might become a client someday. So staying in touch with your contacts from college and law school, and from earlier jobs is critical. Fortunately, it is easier these days to stay connected through social media and the myriad ways that exist to stay in touch. Would you say you ever had a mentor that made a genuine difference in how your career turned out? If yes, please describe. Having a person believe in you and tell you that you can accomplish something that you don’t necessarily believe you can is a very powerful experience. I had two mentors who encouraged me to think bigger and step into management roles that I hadn’t imagined for myself. Think about when you started out as a lawyer. Now think about the new female lawyers just starting out. What is different now compared to when you started? Client opportunities are more fluid; for better or worse, there are fewer “institutional” client relationships. This creates challenges but also opportunities to leverage your network. List words that best describe you: Driven Optimistic www.lawpracticetoday.org
©American Bar Association 2012