As a content coordinating volunteer for ILTA, I was interested to learn more about our female leaders of today. In May of 2018, my ILTA colleague Chandra Foreman was able to put me in touch with the Chicago Chapter Board of Women in eDiscovery. As a non-profit organization, WiE holds monthly meetings for legal professional women with a primary focus on education and networking. They also collaborate, fundraise, and mentor. I enjoyed taking the interviews and am sincerely excited to share them with the ILTA community. “Women can empower other women” as Jennifer Roe so eloquently put. I hope you find these interviews as fun and insightful as I did.Interview with Ann Halkett
(Litigation Support Manager at Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP)
Q. What is your favorite “elevator pitch” you use to describe what you do to someone who is not familiar with the legal field?A. I’m a translator between legal and information technology with respect to the preservation, collection, and review of electronic evidence in a civil dispute. It’s my job to come in, when a client has electronic evidence, and figure out how we should deal with it in a litigation matter. Q. What advice would you offer someone who has potential as a leader, but needs that extra push to stand up and take the role?A. You need to show people what you can do. Don’t tell them. Show them by taking on difficult assignments. However, ask for help if you need it, because no one expects you to do it all. Being a leader, I believe, doesn’t mean that you need to have all the answers, but it does mean that you should ask people for input. I also think you need to tell people what your long-term goals are because everyone is so busy, and they shouldn’t have to guess where you want to be in five or ten years. What is your ultimate goal? You can’t just sit there and expect things to come to you. You need to take courses, to gain the skills needed for the job that you want to do. What is that job? What are you going to work towards? How will you get the skills? Let people know what you are interested in doing. Q. As a woman in leadership – how have you navigated in your role? How do you determine best practices? How do you select technology solutions?A. To select new technology, I seek input. I like to get other people involved. I just finished my project management certificate. I found that training immensely valuable. My approach from what I have done in the past has changed a lot as I now follow project management principles. For example, conducting a needs analysis, and asking probing questions to figure out what the issues are with existing technologies and processes? Q. You mentioned a project management certificate program, which one did you go through if you don’t mind telling us? (This is something I have been considering).A. Since I am in Vancouver, Canada, it was the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business. Q. Was that a long course?A. It took me over a year to complete it. It was a long program, but it went into the weeds. It was worthwhile.
Q. How did you make the move from individual contributor to leadership role? What was the biggest challenge in making that switch and how did you overcome it?A. This is an interesting question, because I have been at my firm for 18 years now. I started as a traditional paralegal. I have always had an interest in technology - people would always come to me for help. Years ago, I got involved in using Summation iBlaze, and became a Summation Certified Trainer. Then the firm determined that it wanted to do more in this area, so we started a department, and I was very involved in setting up the department. That is how I became the manager of the department. I have also taken numerous software, and IT related courses over the years.Q. Are there other people in your group or how many people do you oversee?A. Myself and three others. Q. Do you have any tips for identifying personal career development needs? How do you find opportunities to build those skills / knowledge?A. I always come back to, “Where do you want to be in five years?”, and “What is your long-term plan?” Thinking about how you can differentiate yourself. Do you want to be the person that people come to for advice? The other thing I have found immensely helpful is volunteering - volunteering for ILTA or other organizations. You get to meet people and learn from them and their experiences - what’s worked, and what hasn’t. Some of it can be applicable to what you have happening in your own job. You can’t always get that from taking courses and reading books. I also get a lot from teaching - just hearing different experiences. Q. From your LinkedIn profile, you list that you are an Instructor in Vancouver for Paralegal Studies. How did you become involved teaching in the field?A. I think I was a teacher in a former life. I didn’t start off on that route, but I keep being drawn toward it. I started teaching at a local college years ago, and then I left it for a while. Now I am back again. A colleague and I developed a course, Electronic Discovery and Litigation Technology. It’s the first of its kind in British Columbia. We are running it now and have received very positive feedback. I like the banter and the discussions.Q. What was the hard/easiest lesson you’ve learned in your career?A. The hardest lesson for me to learn was patience. When you start out doing something you are so eager to get things done right away. You must learn to wait. If you don’t succeed, try again, but take a different path each time until all paths are exhausted. That’s how you accomplish your goals. Giving up is easy. Staying the course is hard work and takes patience. Remember that “No” doesn’t mean no indefinitely. It could mean yes tomorrow. Circumstances and situations change overnight which can result in your recommendations being accepted. It has been a very difficult lesson, but patience. Q. What do you love most about your job?A. I like the challenges. New software is like a big jigsaw puzzle for me. I like trying to find out the benefits and the risks of using it. I like getting creative. I love developing best practices. I also love working as a team to accomplish a task. Q. How do you manage your time? Do you have any tips or tricks?A. With great difficulty. I write everything down and keep lists. They keep me organized. I am rarely late for anything. There is the work calendar, family calendar, etc. If it’s not on the calendar it doesn’t exist. Q. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Do you have a favorite morning or evening routine?A. I like to get up early at 5:00 am, and then go to the gym. However, I tend to do my best thinking late at night. Can you be both? I like both.Q. Who were your mentors and how did you select them?A. When I was starting out, they were local people. I would go out to lunch with them periodically. I didn’t go to them, and say “Would you be my mentor?” It was more of, “Would you like to get lunch?” Q. Do you have a book that you gift most often to other people?A. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. Q. How do you handle challenging personalities or projects?A. I handle challenging personalities with patience. I try to understand where the person is coming from. What are their motivators? If I understand the person’s motivators, then I can bring the best out of them. Q. Oprah famously remarked, “As a woman leader in the corporate world, I feel like I have to be brave a lot” – Do you have any advice or tips on bravery?a. Citation: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/14/remarks-first-lady-and-oprah-winfrey-conversation-united-state-women
A. Yes, you do need to be brave. In legal, you need a thick skin. You can’t take things personally. You have to look beyond that. You also cannot be afraid of No. You need to speak up. No one is paying you to be a little mouse in the corner. They are paying you for your skills, and advice. Whether they take your advice is another issue. At the same time, they want respect. How can you get your message across in the most respectful manner? Q. What would you be curious to know about other women leaders?A. What were their enlightening moments, and what did they learn? Did they change course in their careers, and if so, why?Please check out:
#LitigationSupportoreDiscovery#LeadershipWomen in eDiscovery Interviews: Part 8