Dear Chicago Chapter Members,
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As we make our way through this – ok, I’ve lost count – perhaps seventh (?) week of quarantine, I hope this edition of our Chicago Chapter Connects finds all of you, and your families, staying healthy and doing well.
My first, and main shout-out for this edition goes to our Executive Committee, which prepared and sent this important
Open Letter
to the leadership of our member firms and companies to advocate for female and diverse female attorneys at a time when tough decisions on reducing costs and operations are being made. As the preeminent organization in the Chicagoland area for female attorneys in numerous firms and companies that make up our membership, I am so grateful to our leadership for adding its voice to the warning bell going out to the decision-makers in our industry at this critical time.
On a lighter note, our many active committees are continuing to ramp up their amazing efforts to help support our members through timely, on-point remote programming and CLEs. Among the highlights, our Brown-Bag Committee Co-Chairs Tanvi Patel and Jessica Winski recently hosted a fantastic, well-attended
webinar on Eldercare
presented by Hillary Ebach of Carallel. In speaking about the multi-faceted challenges so many of our women face in caring for aging family members while juggling various pressures and responsibilities on the home and work fronts, Hillary’s point that
“you can do anything, but not everything”
particularly resonated with me. I will admit that I have confused the two at times, only to find myself going too fast and in too many directions at once! I appreciated Hillary’s note that as caregivers we can face truly insurmountable challenges without real resources and functioning support networks. Click here [hyperlink] to access Hillary’s slide deck, for additional information. Coming up, if you haven’t yet, please be sure to RSVP for the
Peace & Productivity webinar
on May 12 at noon
, planned by our In-House Committee Co-Chairs Maria Maras and Denise Beihoffer, and featuring Kim Taylor of
The Zen Within
. I don’t know about y’all, but I could use a healthy dose of peace & productivity both right about now! Also, please
save the date
for the Associates and Advisory Committees’ joint
panel event on Networking, Connecting and Giving coming up on May 28
th
, and this year’s (virtual) Associate Committee’s
Judges Panel on June 10th
. Additional details and invitations coming your way shortly!
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The credit for this week’s resources and ideas goes out to my partner in NGE’s litigation practice group, and also my firm’s Managing Partner Scott Fisher, who has been sending
daily
“Thoughts from an Elastic Waistband” e-mails to all our attorneys and staff since the quarantine hit. Sometimes ridiculously funny, and other times poignant and serious, these daily communications have always been sincere and infused with kindness – à propos here, they are also chock-full of great quarantine resources and ideas! My recent favorites include:
- Ugh, dishes – so many dishes. Thankfully, the NYT Cooking team consulted with expert chefs and created a collection of recipes devoted to the celebration of one-dish cooking.
1) Send someone a thank-you email/chat/card with a specific message of something they did that helped you and/or made your life better in some way.
2) Forgive yourself for a mistake that you made and commit to not making that same mistake again. Give someone you are talking to your full energy by not multitasking or being distracted in any way.
3) Ask someone how you can help them and do the thing that will help them.
Feel your emotions as fully as you can. Find ways to laugh. Don't hold in the giggles or the tears.
4) If you read a story that moves you, write a comment thanking the reporter or expressing your wishes to people mentioned in the story.
5) Ask yourself at least once a day how you can be kind to someone in your life, and do that thing to be kind.
6) Give someone a sincere compliment on something you admire about them.
7) Get some fresh air at least once a day even if it means just opening your window and breathing the outside air.
8) Pause at least twice a day to remind yourself to be fully present in the present moment. When you think about what you want to accomplish in your day, focus on progress, not perfection.
9) Ask someone how they are feeling, and really listen to the answer.
10) If someone makes you angry, remind yourself that if people could do it better, they would. Allow understanding to coexist with your anger.
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Quarantine Photo Challenge Highlights
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Thanks to many of our members who submitted awesome quarantine skills photos for the photo challenge organized by our Outreach & Inclusion Committee. We had such great entries, it was honestly hard to pick one winner! So, instead, we’re going to highlight some of the great photos we received in our Coalition Connects. For this edition, props go to Gray Mateo-Harris, labor and employment partner at Barnes & Thornburg, and her and her daughters Alessandra’s and Lyanna’s hoola hoop skills (I can’t hoola hoop for the life of me, so I am extra impressed!), and to Lisa Holubar, head of trademark and advertising litigation at Irwin IP, and her daughter Bailey, who’ve become quite the fancy pizza experts!
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If you’d like your impressive quarantine skills featured, you’re not too late! Please send photo or a selfie with a brief description to
chicago@thewomenscoalition.com
.
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Devon Curtis Beane, Partner
K&L Gates
Coalition Chicago Member
Why did you join the Coalition?
I attended a few Coalition events and was so inspired by all of the women in the organization. I love being a part of a group that is not only focused on the advancement of women, but relies on its members to truly support one another in the progression of our careers.
What committees are you active on?
I am currently a co-chair of the Programming Committee. Being active in one of the committees has allowed me to get to know more women in the organization and play a role in shaping the events that will help support and advance our membership. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to be more active to just walk up to someone in leadership and express an interest. There is something for everyone.
Give us your elevator speech… or “Call me if you have…”
Call me if you have questions about patent infringement damages!
Tell us something interesting about you that people may not know.
I
n another life, I spent 20 years as an ice skater, including as part of the University of Illinois Synchronized Skating Team. It was through that team that I had the good fortune to meet Kate Johnson—now one of my co-chairs on the Programming Committee. Now you can find me rollerblading around the neighborhood showing off my former skills.
Share your favorite book or podcast – or your favorite stay-at-home resource or tip.
My current stay-at-home (with a child) tips are to use temporary tattoos liberally; make a schedule, but stay flexible; and incorporate kids into workout time, even if it results in them climbing on your back during a push-up. :)
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This week’s quote comes courtesy of our government member and my good friend Mandi Wolfman:
Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
–Rainer Maria Rilke
Thanks for reading, everyone, and be well.
–Sonya Rosenberg, President of the Chicago Chapter
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