[Just a note that like so many, I have spent the last week absolutely devastated by the tragic flooding and deaths in central Texas. So many of the lives lost are 1-degree of separation from friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and the news, the hope, and the utterly heartbreaking updates have filled my feeds and text groups for days. I am just so deeply sad, it's been hard to know what to do with the heaviness beyond donating to support rescue efforts, put green ribbons around my trees (our Dallas streets are full of them; honoring the Camp Mystic and all flooding victims), and remembering how very precious life is.
I've wanted to update on the exciting and happy updates in my life for a few days, but every time I get a moment to try, I'm overwhelmed by the blank page and the seeming falsity of not acknowleding this huge and horrible thing that is happening in the lives of people all around me. So this is that, I guess. I wish I could say something that would make it feel better, but it feels better than not saying anything at all.
A Texas Monthly writer was caught in the terrible flooding and write a heartbreakingly brutal and beautiful article about it that came from an email he sent his colleagues. Words don't fix it, but I'm glad he could write them so we could read.]- - - - - - -
[Abrupt tonal shift I can't make better.]- - - - - - -
As I mentioned in the
last post, I started
a new job!
I am now a
proud partner at Reed Smith in the Global Regulatory Enforcement practice.
And I got a new headshot! Complete with hot pink and both my grandma's pearls.
This was my first day of school outfit.
My last day at VE was Friday, June 30th and my first day at Reed Smith was Tuesday, July 1st, so I got one whole Monday off between jobs. I made the most of it, with a workout and poolside reading and lunch with a dear friend.
It was kind of great to start on a Tuesday of a holiday week. A lot of people were out of the office, so I actually remembered the names of (most of) the people I met. And I only had to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before the holiday weekend, so I set attainable goals like "find the printer" and "learn the quickest routes to the kitchen and bathroom."
I unpacked my boxes, which I had just packed up days before and my new firm had couriered to my new spot.
It felt like home very quickly.
My 3 babies and 3 career stages: Chicago law school baby, Austin law firm associate baby, Fort Worth government attorney baby! (and no Dallas law firm partner baby!)
My first week in outfits. I was doing a lot of walking and moving things so flats were key.
This week, with more people in the office, I've discovered that jeans and sneakers are common, so I will be embracing that for the rest of summer.
It's been a really great transition. The associate who worked on most of my matters also came to the new firm! She started this Monday:
Everyone has been so welcoming and inclusive, it's really been lovely. Reed Smith is a much larger firm, about 1,800 attorneys to V&E's 700, and 31 offices (20 in the US), so it has a more global and fully national reach. But the Dallas office, which is only about six years old, has 40 attorneys, which is about 1/3 the size of V&E's, so it's a bigger platform with a smaller local feel. The firm was founded in Pittsburgh almost 150 years ago, so there's a very gounded industrial midwest vibe I enjoy, but again, juxtaposed against a fairly new and very busy and vibrant Dallas office. Every partner here lateraled from somewhere else and all seem determined to make this spot the best that BigLaw can be.
The Global Regulatory Group is large and contains a diverse array of government practitioners. I'll still be doing my SEC defense work, but also expanding my internal investigations practice, and doing far more corporate governance and compliance work. I'm staffed on two IPOs right now and it is so great to get to give SEC-related advice before someone is in trouble with the SEC!
I did a couple of interviews in my first week:
Law 360,
Texas Lawbook, and
Bloomberg. I also transferred over my clients and matters and dove right into a few new ones here, so it's been a busy 10 days so far.
In the middle of that was the 4th of July weekend, which was devastating for the reasons above, but happily busy in our little corner of Lakewood.
First, James and I went to buy Landon a new car. We had bought him a 6-year-old car two years ago, and have since replaced nearly every part of it, spending double what the car was worth by the time his car completely died, in the middle of the highway, when coming back from swim practice Thursday afternoon. It was towed to a shop, which declared the ENGINE needed to be replaced and we said no. We are done. We had it towed to Carmax where we received $700 for a car we had now spent a total $20,000 on (which makes me want to throw up, but you hardly have a strong negotiating position when you have to have the car towed in), and James and Landon spent Friday going to four different car dealerships to find something practical, well-priced, under the longest possible warranty, and could last through all 3 kids.
They settled on this Kia Sorrento and it is beautiful and Landon loves it and literally nothing that goes wrong for the next 10 years can cost me any money. He drives over 100 miles a day to his swim practices, so honestly, out of all of us, he needs the most reliable car, something I wish we'd just done from the start. But it's here now!
Cora had gone to the 4th of July parade with a friend, Claire had some friends over who were impatiently waiting for us to return so they could swim, and then I got to enjoy my dream grown-up day off with 4 wonderful girlfriends, all of whom are badass professional woman in their own right, several bottles of champagne, all the snacks, and my pool.
By 9 pm the sun was down, the pool lights were on, and we were doing "walk offs" down my diving board to our chosen theme songs. It really was so fun. James and Landon were watching a movie inside and said they could hear us giggling so loudly they thought a window was open. James did come out at one point to bring us all waters and make sure everyone was taking an Uber home or needed a ride from him.
On Sunday Landon drove me to Costco in his new car, and let me tell you, if you've never done Costco with a nearly-18-year-old swimmer manchild who meal preps his own breakfasts and lunches and loves to chat, you've never done Costco. The enthusiastic running commentary for the hour we were there was maybe my favorite thing of the last week. As was the "hot dog to go" upon departure.
And that's the last few days. Sad in the macro, exciting and happy in the micro, with lots of little things in between, like Cora loving horseback riding camp, Claire doing her volunteer hours for high school, and Milo's vet visit where he got diagnosed with a UTI, yelled loudly at everyone, and slept in my arms for hours when he got home, to name a few.
I had to buy a new work-from-home set up and Moose has been helping me get settled.
And Maggie is just very tired, but tries to keep an eye on the neighborhood anyway.
I'm really really excited about this next chapter of my career. A little anxious, a lot busy, and still trying to connect faces and names and learn all new IT-everything, but excited and hopeful, and looking forward to the days ahead.
