It’s all about the little things in life. I’ve learned to celebrate small victories, because that’s what pushes us to continue on. We hear about the “micro-aggressions” of men as they face more formidable women in the world. I don’t think we should ignore these instances, but what about making some room for the micro-wins? Afterall, a win is a win isn’t it?
The other day, the client that the partner and I represented during the infamous trial that gave me my name, called seeking to have us take over as counsel on a case that was being handled by a lawyer she was not comfortable with. The lawyer turned out to be the first lawyer I ever worked for during my 1L summer. She gave me work to do, and was generally kind toward me, until I decided I didn’t want to work there again during my 2L summer. In fact, she made it quite clear how she felt when I saw her at a professional mixer the following year where she loudly proclaimed that my grades weren’t good enough to work for her firm. Shocked and embarrassed by her comment I moved on from the conversation, bewildered that she felt the need to make such a pronouncement. My grades were just fine, thank you very much, I just didn’t want to work at your law firm, I thought. I was still in law school back then. My psyche and sense of self-worth were still too broken for me to stand up for myself.
Fast-forward to September 26, 2017. And as I sign the Substitution of Counsel form to forward to her, I couldn’t help but wonder: which one is worse? Losing out on a candidate, or being fired as counsel?
I’ll file this one under: Win.