Partners and Retreats

After a whirlwind few weeks, I'm back at home, in my nearly complete home office, finishing up my prep for a CLE I'm speaking on tomorrow regarding the SEC's proposed climate disclosures. We're hosting the event in conjunction with PwC and have nearly 2,000 people signed up, so obviously I had my outfit picked out before my presentation slides were complete.

(And apparently that was all I had time to write Sunday night, so now it's Tuesday and the presentation is over and it went great and here I am being beamed to audience members near and far.)

But let's go back to where we left off. We'd just gotten back from Colorado Friday evening and on Sunday I flew to Orlando for the big SiFMA securities conference. It was great to continue connecting with former SEC colleagues and defense counsel I've worked with over the years on my investigations. I conducted over 60 witness interviews and testimonies from my bedroom corner over the last two years so it was kind of surreal to see people walk by whose face had been on my computer screen for hours but I'd never seen in 3-D.

We had some crazy storms in Texas while I was gone. I was at an outdoor cocktail reception at the Ritz on a gorgeous blue day while getting texts on Fort Worth weather updates and the canceling of all the kids' activities.

I flew back on Tuesday, unpacked and repacked, greeted my parents who also drove in that night, and then flew out (with James this time!) the next morning for the firm partner retreat in Miami! It was at The Biltmore, a very historic hotel in Coral Gables, and James made us stop and read every old picture plaque on every hallway we walked down.

We were greeted with a gifting suite, where James got to pick out a shirt and I picked out a hat and bag. Having just come from the government where I had to provide my own water, I kept waiting to be presented with the bill for my selections.

My hat got embroidered and I really do love it.

I've never been a hat person, despite my skin really needing me to get on board, but I am determined to wear this one to the occasional backyard pool party this summer.

After hearing from our guest speaker Professor Arthur Brooks of Harvard on Happiness (his podcast for The Atlantic: How to Build a Happy Life), which was very interesting, we got ready for the first night's dinner honoring the firm's retiring partners.

I dug deep into my closet for the packing- the resort chic dress code was not my usual attire for the last 2-7 years. James had an even tougher time - the last suit he bought was for our wedding in 2005, so the girls took him shopping for ALL the things he needed, from shoes to belt to socks to tie to shirt and beautiful navy suit. They were very proud of their choices and he looked smashing.

The dinner was held at the Frost Science Museum and it was beautiful.

The tributes to the retiring partners were so touching, it really made me think about the long arc of a career and all the people you work with along the way.

Thursday morning began with breakfast and meetings while James swam laps in the 70 meter pool. The afternoon was for activities- boat ride, cooking class, golf, tennis, museum tour, etc. After the nonstop craziness of our March, we went with the poolside lunch and it was lovely. I had a couple client calls in the afternoon and got about an hour of work in poolside, but it was still a very relaxing day.

Night 2 was the New Partner dinner! James wore the shirt he was gifted (as the men were encouraged to do) and I got to wear my "butterfly dress" my mom picked out for me while shopping for my birthday in February 2020. I love it so much.

My friend, mentor and rockstar statesman of Texas litigation, Harry Reasoner was there with his lovely wife and it was so nice to catch up, as it was to catch up with all the partners I knew from my first tour with the firm (many of whom were associates then too) and meet all the new ones.

The firm hasn't had a retreat in 3 years due to Covid, so the number of new partners meant that only the internally promoted partners gave speeches. They were lovely, though by the end I wished I could give one to thank my mentors and husband who have helped me so much along the way.

So I wrote up a speech online and will now toast with my tea to whatever you're drinking:

My path to partnership was different than many. I started my time with the firm as a VERY pregnant summer associate in 2007 (my son was born exactly 10 days after my internship ended), which made me both very memorable and totally unrecognizable when I actually joined a year later. I began as an associate in corporate/transactional group in September 2008. By October 2008 I was convinced I’d made a terrible mistake and was calling medical schools to see if I could still apply with my undergraduate science credits. Then the market crashed. All deals stopped and all corporate associates got staffed on litigation matters and I learned that I didn’t hate being a lawyer- I was just a litigator fish out of water in the transactional world. Once in my proper environment, I flourished, blessed with amazing mentors (Jessica Mederson, Chris Popov, Hilary Preston, David Woodcock, Tracey Davies, and Jennifer Poppe to name a few) and great work.

I went to the SEC during my 4th year at the firm and spent ten years running investigations and bringing enforcement actions, and now I am lucky enough to be back at the firm as a partner with many of my favorite people not only still here, but also now in positions of leadership.

I want to thank everyone who mentored me along the way, every litigation partner who took a chance on a confused corporate associate, and this firm that welcomed me back so warmly. But most importantly I want to thank my greatest partner, my husband James. He’s the guy who has handled every bit of our three kids, three pets, and crazy life every time I travel. When I had a tight briefing deadline many years ago and basically didn’t come home for three days, rather than complain like I *absolutely* would have while he also worked full time with a much longer commute and took care of our then-3-year-old and baby, he sent me flowers with a card that said, “Keep up the good work, we love you.” And that says pretty much everything about him as a husband and partner.

I am so blessed, with my partner at home and my partners at work, and I can’t wait for the rest of this journey. Cheers!

[I plan to be home for the entire month of April, so we'll get back to our regularly scheduled bulldog, cat, and child-based programming as soon a I catch up on about 600 emails, but everyone is doing GREAT and Maggie misses you.]