I am the owner of a law firm that I started a year ago with my two daughters, who are also lawyers. My job involves advising small to medium size businesses and startup companies on all aspects of their business. My area of specialty is general counsel consulting for tech companies. I have a 'virtual' practice, meaning I work from home, which allows me to keep my costs down in order to better serve my clients.

EDUCATION | I have a B.A. in dance and a Juris Doctorate degree. Oddly enough, there is a connection between dance and the law! To me, dance is a very disciplined art form: if you want to be the best dancer you can be, you must practice every day. The same is true for the practice of law. Note, it is called the "practice of law", because in order to be the best lawyer possible you must practice every day as the law is constantly changing. The other correlation between the two art forms is the taking of a whole and breaking it down into smaller pieces. As a lawyer, you are given an series of facts (in dance - a series of steps) which you must sort through in order to best understand the issue (in dance - the complete movement or ballet). Until you fully understand the pieces you can't solve the problem. And nothing is more satisfying when you master the steps to create a beautiful movement and equally so nothing is more satisfying when you solve a legal issue because then you have a happy client!

HOW TO GET STARTED | In law school, take all the business law and intellectual property classes you can. Find a firm or company that specializes in representing tech companies. Ask a lot of questions - software engineers love explaining what makes their product tick and they are great teachers. You can learn a lot from them. As for starting your own practice, it just takes a lot of faith and hard work. It doesn't matter if you are an experienced attorney (though of course that helps) or just starting out - just pick your area of specialty and seek out those clients who need that kind of help.

MUST HAVE TRAITS | In representing business clients you must be good at solving problems. As a business lawyer it is all about finding solutions - weighing legal risks against business needs. Also, be yourself. Young lawyers tend to want to impress clients with their knowledge of the law which can be confusing to a layman. I believe by being yourself, explaining terms in basic, simple terms, your clients will appreciate you and want to include you in their business decisions.

how I got started | After many years as a paralegal, I decided to go to law school. With my arts background, I decided to focus my studies on intellectual property. After working for a short time as an attorney at an IP firm, I found an in-house legal position with a high tech enterprise security software company. I discovered I loved working with software engineers and found myself becoming more and more of a 'techie,' which was great fun. Also, this job provided me with a lot of leadership experience. I started as corporate counsel, was quickly promoted to V.P. and general counsel and ultimately was promoted to senior vice president. I was the only female on the senior leadership team. After many years working for one client (the company) I decided to take my leadership experience and start my own law firm, a bold decision, but one I never looked back on!

why this job?| First, I get to work with my two beautiful daughters - who wouldn't want to do that? And secondly, having your own law practice affords you the flexibility to schedule your own day. If I want to get up and work out, no one is watching the clock wondering where I am. Since I have a virtual law practice, if I want to spend the day in my p.j.s, no one knows or cares! What inspires me about my job is working with so many talented people. I am inspired by new business owners who have an idea/product/service that they want to turn into a business - I find myself in awe of them.

why I love this job!| I love solving problems for business owners and having a direct hand in helping their companies grow, there is nothing more satisfying. Also, I love working with my daughters. I have always been proud of them, but now even more so as I watch them grow in their profession.

my typical day| One of the joys of having your own law practice is that there is no such thing as a typical day! Today I had an early breakfast meeting with a client to discuss her plans for social networking to grow her business. From there I participated in a sales call with a client of mine who is the CEO of a startup software company, and had another client meeting later in the afternoon. Tomorrow I plan on updating my new blog where I am writing about starting a business and attending a lunch meeting with a new potential client - another startup software company.

what they are | The biggest challenge is growing my legal practice. As an attorney the best way to find new clients is through networking and developing relationships. It can be hard juggling work and making time to network. I have the added challenge of being an introvert so it is easy for me to find excuses why I don't have time to network. A way around this challenge is by using social networking tools which I find to be incredibly helpful in not only promoting my firm, but also a great way to find clients.

all about growth | The best way for my career to grow is to simply grow my practice. This can be accomplished by expanding my client base which will allow me to hire additional staff. My ambition is to grow my practice and spend more time running the practice and mentoring young lawyers.

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