Bates White is a place where all employees, whether a Ph.D. Manager or a Summer Consultant, can meaningfully impact the firm. Moreover, the firm has cultivated an environment where employees are allowed and encouraged to find their own way(s) to contribute to our work product and their own professional development, as opposed to following a pre-determined path.

One of the areas in which this is most evident is Bates White Community Connection, the firm’s community outreach and volunteer program. While the firm dedicates the necessary resources, and senior management commits support, the real drive behind the program comes from the staff. I serve on the coordinating committee for the program. Over the course of the past year, we supported more than 16 initiatives and events. Almost all of these programs originated with a proposal from a Bates White staff member—many of whom were new to the firm this year. It was great to see people from different practices and levels of the firms develop proposals and implement creative programs that enabled employees to address issues for which they truly cared. Events ranged from sponsoring a team for the AIDS Walk, to a hosting chili cook-off to raise money for the National Children’s Medical Center, to serving as mentors to underserved middle school students in the Higher Achievement Program.

The impact individuals have on the firm and their own career development is equally evident when it comes to employees’ core work. I began my own five-year career at the firm, as a Consultant in our Environmental and Product Liability Practice where I helped develop a specific type of insurance valuation analysis that has since become a core offering. As I progressed in my career and my contributions shifted to more project management responsibilities, I worked in concert with the senior leadership of the firm to develop a new position and become the first manager to take on a business development role, a position that has since been replicated in other practice areas.

A.B. in Public and International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, 2000