Rainmaker Case Studies

Mary Cranston | 2012

By   Rainmaker Case Studies   Add new comment
 MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

The zen of rainmaking

Mary Cranston is a former litigator who became the first woman ever to lead a global law firm as the Chair of Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP from 1999 to 2006. During her time there, she increased revenues of the firm’s top 100 clients by 50%, improved firm profits and profits per partner by over 125%, and acted as her firm's chief external spokesperson, increasing positive press mentions by 750%. She also closed two of the largest law firm mergers in history, on budget and on schedule, increasing annual gross revenues from $224M to $574M. (Note how her bio uses objective metrics to set out her accomplishments: copy that.) Today, Cranston sits on the boards of five public companies and works to increase the number of women on corporate boards.

Continue reading...

Mika Mayer | 2012

By   Rainmaker Case Studies   Add new comment
 MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

The youngest person ever to make partner: the sponsorship effect

Mika Mayer graduated from college with a degree in chemical engineering. She later got her law degree and started working at Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) in Silicon Valley. Very early in her career, she began working with a partner who quickly took her under his wing and became her sponsor: Thomas Ciotti.

Continue reading...

Susan Mac Cormac | 2013

By   Rainmaker Case Studies   Add new comment
 MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Quickly ascending to partner

Susan Mac Cormac began her career in New York and then moved as a third-year associate to Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) in San Francisco, where she “grew up doing deals, some M&A, some private equity, and some venture for a series of men.” Within a few years starting at MoFo, she made partner. She found, as many women do, that she needed to over-prepare: “To do what I do, I have to be more prepared than anybody else. I spend an incredible amount of time being prepared and then acting like I'm not prepared. I act like I'm winging it with the men when I'm presenting, and people think I'm speaking off-the-cuff, when in fact I over-prepare.” Mac Cormac’s statement shows her adeptness at navigating the unique challenges office politics pose for women. Many studies document that women have to provide more evidence of competence than men in order to be seen as equally capable, a pattern known as Prove It Again!, detailed at www.newgirlsnet.com. But Mac Cormac’s strategy of presenting herself as if she were speaking off-the-cuff also ensures that she is not seen as “bossy,” which is viewed often as a negative quality when displayed by women. Mac Cormac calls this “the price of perfection.” Her experience is emblematic of a pattern called the Tightrope: women sometimes have to walk a tightrope between being liked but not respected, or respected but not liked. This pattern is further described at www.newgirlsnet.com.

Continue reading...

Lizanne Thomas | 2014

By   Rainmaker Case Studies   Add new comment
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

How does a corporate lawyer become a rainmaker? Broad skills and a few specialties

From the start, Lizanne Thomas knew her focus would be on business. “I stress to all of our junior lawyers [that], if business as a topic does not engage you, . . . you really need to take a deep breath and think about whether or not you have chosen a career path that is fulfilling for you. You need to be someone who reads the Wall Street Journal because it is interesting. You need to be interested in the industries in which your clients are present. You can’t know one mattress company. You need to know how all of the mattress companies are doing.” Thomas is so personally involved with the companies she represents that “there are some brands of bread that [she] cannot bring into [her] house.”

Continue reading...

Back to top

Submit your Feedback

      Sending...
x