On September 19, 2012, the Boston Women’s Initiative hosted an alumnae panel moderated by Goodwin partner Elaine Blais. The panel showcased Deirdre Cunnane, General Counsel at Advanced Technology Ventures, Lori Henderson, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary at Albany Molecular Research, Inc. and Hélène Kazanjian, Chief of the Trial Division at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
Those in attendance learned about the daily lives of these three alumnae in their careers post-Goodwin, the paths they each followed and the professional choices they made to get to where they are today.
While all three of these attorneys have very distinct roles, they highlighted several common themes throughout their discussion:
- While law firms are geared towards specification, those practicing outside of law firms are required to be comfortable in a variety of different areas of the law and will turn towards law firms for that specialized advice.
- If you know where you want to end up professionally (e.g., as a courtroom lawyer or in-house at a life sciences company), the ideal job may not be immediately available to you, so you should take on opportunities that will help get you to your end result, whatever that may be. Be flexible as each path you take leads you to a new and interesting path you may not have considered. Your career is a marathon not a sprint and you will have different priorities at different stages in your life.
- The training and expertise they each earned at Goodwin taught all of these alumnae to have high standards for themselves as well as those that they work with.
It is clear that each of these alumnae think back fondly on their experiences and mentors at the firm. Thank you Deirdre, Lori and Hélène for your time, stories and advice! We hope you’ll come back to share more with us again soon!