Monday Mentors with Houston Fiduciary Litigator Kathleen Tanner Beduze
Kathleen Tanner Beduze, a fiduciary litigator and shareholder at Crain Caton & James in Houston, joins us on today's show. Kathleen talks about showing confidence and curiosity, turning interviews into conversations, and of course, Free Britney!
Her firm/practice
- Her practice focuses on fiduciary litigation and guardianship work
- 2015 revamped guardianship code
- legislature is generally against full-blown guardianships, preferring things like power-of-attorneys instead (and less court supervision)
- Impacts the planning attorneys in trying to figure out what should be in the general estate planning documents
- Firm
- 45+ attorneys
- firm handles almost everything except for family and environmental
- Has grown over the years
- Pros/cons to being midsize firm
- work/life balance
- not the same rates as large firms (but this can lead to more business as well)
- quality of work can be the same as Big Law
- What's up with "Free Britney!"?
- Go read/listen to her letter to the court
- Recognize that California is much different than Texas when it comes to guardianships
- How is her father getting a % of her gig money in his capacity as conservator as opposed to business manager/agent?
- Covid Update (7/1/21)
- Courts - completely depends on where you are.
- She had an in-person jury trial in Galveston in May
- jurors were six feet apart and split between the jury box and the gallery
- Montgomery was holding in-person hearings as well
- Harris County not in-person yet (early fall setting for an in-person trial)
- Has done trials by Zoom so it can work
- Clients
- Their clients are all over the nation, and the rise in video calls have
- Advice for Zoom hearings/trials/depos/etc.
- You have to be prepared
- One of the biggest complaints from judges is lawyers taking things to casually/informally; treat it like you are in person
- Remember that your face is always on camera and someone may be looking at you when you don't realize it
- Courts - completely depends on where you are.
Advice to lawyers in practice
- Have confidence in yourself; not necessarily in specific areas of the law that you haven't learned yet, but in your abilities to write, research, speak, strategize, etc. This isn't ego or arrogance; there's a difference.
- Be willing to pitch a new idea or something that other may not have thought of yet
- It is okay if your personality and a client's personality don't exactly jive; don't worry about it.
- Ask questions of partners and more senior lawyers; admit if you don't know something; communicate
- Ex. if you are overloaded with work from other partners and you get a new assignment from a new partner
- If you don't understand, repeat the instructions
- Take notes! Don't show up without a pen/paper! You will forget!
- (Daniel refers to Jim Chester's DDB (Deadline/Deliverable/Budget))
Advice to lawyers on the lateral market
- On paper
- Academics do matter
- Beyond that, extracurriculars/interests matter to her. She wants to know what the person is like. Use your documents to show your unique path to where you are today.
- Show why you are different
- Show why you are looking to move and why you want to work here. A lot of bouncing around raises questions and doesn't look great.
- In an interview
- Exhibit calmness; don't show your nerves
- Practice the interview beforehand to try to help with this
- Come with good/specific questions that show you have prepared and are familiar with the firm and the interviewers
- A conversation is better than straight Q/A
- Exhibit calmness; don't show your nerves
Final Thoughts
- Be comfortable with who you are, what you are doing, and what you are wanting to do; find the right level of work/life balance that works for you.
- Everything comes in waves/stages in life, so just recognize that.
- (Daniel) Don't feel stuck in something if your life circumstances change and don't judge yourself to harshly if you make changes
- Never meet a stranger; build and maintain your network
Rapid Fire Questions
- Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: communication
- What habit has been key to your success: perseverance
- Favorite app/productivity tool: iTimekeep
- What would be listed first on the interest line of your resume: family
- Favorite legal movie: Legally Blonde (Podcast) / The Firm
Thanks again to Kathleen Tanner Beduze for joining us on today's show!