Danielle Ahlrich, partner and tax litigator with Reed Smith in Austin, joins us on todays show! Danielle talks about going from a boutique to Big Law, understanding how your piece of the puzzle fits, and how the next generation of leaders thinks about work-life balance.

Her firm/practice

Partner at Reed Smith in Austin; international law firm that does everything on the civil side
2000 lawyers
She is in their state tax group for Texas
Helping businesses with Texas sales and franchise tax matters
If a business is under audit
To prevent an audit
Sales tax is over 50% of Texas' budget
Shoutout to Amanda Taylor (listen to her episode here!) who helped her get a position in a boutique state tax litigation law firm after spending some time in state government
The practice is heavy on statutory construction, not as much on actual taxation/math as one might assume (if you are on the controversy side as she is)
Allows her to practice at the trial court level all the way up to the Texas Supreme Court
She doesn't even do her own taxes!
Joined Reed Smith in January after being at a boutique, which is the opposite of what most people do
She wanted to grow and have some larger opportunities with companies who have tax issues all over the country as opposed to just in Texas
The reality is most large companies choose to use large law firms
The pandemic gave her the clarity, space, and courage to make the move.
No straight career line that is the same for each lawyer
Reed Smith operates much more through practice groups, so she reports up through the state tax group which is located in other offices as opposed to Austin.
Which means Austin colleagues are in a variety of practice areas

COVID update (As of 5/5/21)

Travis County has been doing a LOT of things remotely and keeping cases moving
Reed Smith is putting together a new policy regarding how we work post-COVID.
Expects there to be a mix of in-office time and remote time
Will be an office to office question

Advice for lawyers in practice

Is the associate trying to understand how/where this assignment fits into the larger case / how their piece fits into the larger puzzle
Much more likely to get back a work product that is plug and play (e.g. drop their work into the motion/brief)
The result will be a better refinement of the research and/or a more direct application
Example: if estoppel is raised, she doesn't need a primer on estoppel, she needs to know how it applies here.
Take ownership of cases and be mindful of what is coming next
THE due date is not YOUR due date! The partner may need to review/revise; clients may need to approve or provide feedback, etc. before the submission/due date.
(Jennie Knapp talked about this as well!)

Advice for lawyers in the job hunt

Start right now to build a network; curate people in your life who will help you achieve your goals and/or make you a better person
Mother Attorney Mentor Association (MAMAs) - active Facebook page that is helpful on so many issues.
Practical
Keep a master list of where you've been and what you've been doing. Good for a conflicts check too. Can be used to construct your resume as well as supplemental materials such as a list of representative cases or deals, presentations, papers, etc.
Keep a brag book with kudos or thank yous from colleagues, clients, etc.

On work-life balance

Have a big-picture focus. Don't look at it daily or weekly. Some days and weeks won't be balanced. Monthly or yearly is more realistic.
Need to get rid of the toxic work culture that doesn't have any boundaries; it needs to come from firm leadership. Optimistic a new generation of leaders will have success making these changes.
"A boundary is a place from which I can love both you and me simultaneously." - Prentis Hemphill
Choose a position and role that allows you to do the work you want while balancing the other parts of life according to your values.
Example about whether or not vacation time is real in a specific firm.

Rapid fire questions

Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: coachable
What habit has been key to your success? calendaring deadlines when they come in and always setting up a two week reminder
Favorite app/tool: N/A
Favorite pen: Pilot G2 1.0 / blue (no fine points where you are chiseling in stone; need some glide!)
Favorite social distancing activity: 5am walks in the dark with a podcast
Favorite legal movie: A Time To Kill (also loves My Cousin Vinny and Legally Blonde)

Thanks again to Danielle Ahlrich for joining us on today's show!