In large part, being a lawyer is about knowing the rules.  But being a good lawyer is about working creatively within those rules to the best advantage of your client.  For me, forming a woman-owned business is very similar.  We know the rules. We’ve studied them with the best, but now, how do we take those rules and make something different?

My own path to law school, and then to opening a law firm, was a meandering one.  I didn’t know from a young age what I wanted to “be.”  My parents were journalists and they always told me not to go into journalism because the pay was too low!  But what I learned from them, as they argued politics or current events around the dinner table with friends, was a genuine interest in people and in how the world worked.  I tried many things before going to law school, from playing drums in a rock band, to slinging drinks at a casino, to teaching English in Mexico.  But I’ve finally found the second-best career to journalism, which is practicing in my area of expertise with people I like and respect.

My partners, Mike Muskat and Michelle Mahony, and I practice labor and employment law.  We counsel employers in their relationships with employees and defend them in lawsuits or in front of government agencies on employment-related issues.  I say that we practice “people law.”  The workplace is filled with the same tensions that exist in the world around us.  Our cases reflect that. They involve allegations of: discrimination and unfair treatment, abuse of work rules, and of breaking the law sometimes.  I speak fluent Spanish, and one of my particular areas of expertise is in the employment of foreign-born workers.  I am seeing more and more litigation based on the very same issues and problems the country is debating regarding immigrant workers.

Michelle, Mike, and I formed Muskat, Martinez & Mahony, LLP in May 2006.  We had all worked together in the Employment Litigation and Labor Section at Vinson & Elkins, LLP for a number of years with a wonderful group of lawyers.  In the law, the path to success often involves sacrificing a lot of personal time.  I had my first child on the day that I graduated from law school (thankfully I went into labor just after the ceremony!), so I have had to approach my career with a different vision.  When forming our new firm, our primary goal incorporated this notion: we wanted to continue to provide excellent legal services, but to do so at a reasonable cost, and structured in a way that most benefited our clients and our own lives. 

One of our first steps after forming our new law firm was becoming certified as a women-owned business by the WBEA.  This certification has made us stand out from other firms competing for the same business.  Although I believe that in the end we win business based on the quality of our services, the WBEA certification has leveled the playing field, opening some doors on which we’d probably still be knocking.  Michelle was just elected to a two-year term on the WBEA Board of Directors, and she’ll be working hard to keep growing these opportunities for all members.