I was an unhappy part-time lawyer with two young sons, trying to advance to partner and also figure out that balance thing. I had a strong sense that I was not alone and that there had to be a better way. I sent out an email to a handful of women struggling with the same issues. Within days, 150 lawyers responded. That led to a brown bag lunch group that grew in ten years to a network of over 10,000 lawyers — first women, and eventually anyone who understood that the legal model was broken.

Today, I still lead that network, which has evolved into a quarterly event series featuring prominent public speakers and an exchange of ideas about what's working, what's not, and how to make things better. I also speak widely for consulting clients and in public venues in the US and abroad. My focus and expertise has broadened across industries to cover careers, workplaces, and women as well as law.

I am a change agent. Back in 2007, I conceived of the Best Law Firms for Women initiative and fueled a competition and benchmarking among law firms on women’s issues which I led in a partnership with Working Mother for a decade. In 2011, two colleagues and I co-founded a second company, Bliss Lawyers. We hire high-caliber lawyers to work as W2 employees of Bliss on temporary engagements providing expertise to clients around the country. It’s truly rewarding to go beyond talking about change to facilitate new ways to deliver legal services and for lawyers to work.