Big Law Partner on Balancing Motherhood and Work (Perspective)

Editor’s Note: This post is written by a legal consultant. It is part of a series of interviews with leaders in the legal industry about diversity and inclusion.

I recently sat down with Jennifer Mikulina on The Resilient Lawyer podcast. She is a partner with McDermott Will & Emery in the Intellectual Property practice group. We discussed her work on the Gender Diversity Committee, balancing law practice with motherhood, the practice she uses to keep calm in difficult situations, and trends in client service.

Below is a transcript of our conversation.

Jeena Cho: You started with McDermott right out of law school. Did you think you would still be here 15 years later?

Jennifer Mikulina: I think so. I frequently tell people to look at the five or six-year timeline, regroup and ask “Is my career heading on the same path that I thought I’d be on? Are there changes I want to make? Would I do this for the next five years?”

Every few years when I’ve had that discussion with myself, I said — I love the people I work with and really enjoy my clients. A lot of the clients I have are the same companies and people I’ve worked with since I started here, which is great.

The entrepreneurial atmosphere here has been great for developing programs and other things related to our women’s initiative.

Cho: Can you tell me about some of those changes?

Mikulina: One of the reasons I got involved originally with our Gender Diversity Committee here was the experience I had when I returned from my first maternity leave. My daughter is nine now, so that was almost 10 years ago. I had a lot of friends at the firm who had just had babies or were getting ready to have babies. We really felt like we were missing out in terms of having a network of women.

I formed a mom’s group here in our Chicago office to build that network internally. We gave each other advice on birthday parties and how much to pay for childcare. It continues to be a great environment with a lot of resources to ask questions like, “How did you handle this when your child transitioned to going to school all day? What did you do with your nanny?” “What did you do when you had your second maternity leave, how did you balance everything?”

The program has expanded beyond our Chicago office now. McDermott was very supportive. I had a plan and I said I am willing to implement it myself, but I need you to stand behind me, and they did.

Cho: So, you have two kids. What was the hardest part of entering into motherhood and also working in a big law firm?

Mikulina: I enjoy what I do and I obviously enjoy being at home with my family and doing things with them too. I’ve never looked at them as competing. I look at them as more complementary.

My kids don’t know anything different. It takes a village. So we have a nanny and my husband is amazingly supportive. Our family is nearby so we’re very fortunate in that respect.

Also, from a young age, I got in the habit of bringing my kids to the office every so often. If I know it’s going to be a slow Friday, or if we’re coming into the city on the weekend. It’s not a mystery to them where I go every day. What I do is a little bit more difficult to explain, especially when they were younger. I think they thought I just talk on the phone and type a lot.

Cho: What are some tools that you’ve employed to try to keep your sanity? Tools you’ve used to keep yourself in a relatively calm space.

Mikulina: One thing that I started doing recently is meditation and it’s made a huge difference — especially in this immediate response environment. Being able to slow down and think about things, craft appropriate responses.

Meditation gives me the tools I need to be able to focus more. The way that I handle conflicts and the way that I handle what in the past might have been a stressful situation is a lot different now because of that. So that’s been a great tool.

Cho: You mentioned that you handle conflict differently because of your meditation practice, can you talk a little bit more about that?

Mikulina: One of the techniques that I use a lot is the concept of stepping back and taking a deep breath. A lot of my work deals with negotiation so that’s been very helpful — instead of responding quickly to a particular ask from the other side or a difficult personality, I add a moment of pause. It’s been easier for me to just step back and say, “Okay, this is their perspective. Let me think of the best way to address that and what’s going to be the best thing for my client in this situation.”

Cho: Every lawyer, at some point or another, suffers from “inner-critic” or, the Impostor Syndrome. Any tools or tips or advice you’ve found to be helpful?

Mikulina: I think everyone feels that way. Maybe women let it impact them more. Getting perspective is the best way to handle it. You may sit at a table with a bunch of really smart people and not know the answers to every question and that’s okay.

If you’re in a meeting, you can usually tell when someone wants to say something and help them know that you’re supporting them if they’re willing to share. Also, remember to say, “Well, that was a great idea. Thank you.”

Getting the confidence to be able to say, “I don’t know but I’ll look into it,” or “I don’t know but let me help you,” I think that’s something that can help overcome that insecurity because no one expects everyone to know everything.

Not being afraid to be wrong — this is also part of growing in any career. If people don’t like your ideas say, “Okay, fine.” Move on.

Cho: Exactly. It doesn’t define you as a person if you say something and everyone hates your idea.

Mikulina: Right. They may hate your idea — they don’t hate you.

Cho: How do you define success now?

Mikulina: I think the idea of enjoying what I do is much more important than it was when I started. It goes back to that work-life balance concept. You don’t mind that you’re working on a project because it’s enjoyable and it’s something that you like doing.

Cho: What are some of the trends you’re seeing in terms of how big law delivers services to its clients?

Mikulina: Understanding my client’s challenge has become more important. I don’t just mean their legal challenges but how purchasing legal services impacts their job.

Understanding of the pressures that our clients have from their business people and their finance team is crucial. We can’t just send out the hourly fee bills anymore and not expect to have more dialogue about it. There’s much more of a focus beyond the billable hour, which I think is good.

I do a lot of project-based billings. We’ll work out a budget with the client and say, “Overall, I think this sounds like a $10,000 project but let’s talk about how that fits into your budget? What do you need? How often do you need to update your budget internally?”

Cho: Anything that you’re excited about in terms of thinking about future of law. When you look down beyond the five-year plan let’s say the next decade, any changes or things that you’re seeing coming down the pipeline?

Mikulina: More integration of technology into our practices. Not just to make things more efficient but to increase the types of contact that we can have with our clients, for example, using videoconferencing. I’m hoping to see more of a shift away from a zillion emails to using technology to have more in-person contacts.

We’re also creating different tracks for our attorneys. There are a lot of talented attorneys who don’t want to be partners. Putting them in a position where they can still use their legal skills and provide excellent service and be part of a team to support a client is really great.

I think as more Generation X and Snake People get into leadership positions, we’re going to see an increase in the different tracks. In addition, I believe there will be big shifts in understanding how to measure the productivity of the attorneys aside from the billable hours. I’m sure it’s something that will happen over time, but very slowly.

Cho: My final question for you is this. The name of this podcast is called The Resilient Lawyer. What does it mean to be a Resilient Lawyer to you?

Mikulina: I think it means you have perspective, confidence, and be able to realize that this too shall pass.