STAYING GROUNDED


The GCs we interviewed offer the following suggestions to women who are considering— or poised to join—a corporate law position in a hard hat industry:


• Be your authentic self. Don’t pretend to be a man.


• Keep your eyes open. The right path might not be what you originally expected.


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• Take responsibility for your career and for yourself. Find ways to accomplish your goals within the corporate confi nes. Demonstrate your value to the company and negotiate what you would like your supervisors to accommodate.


• Surround yourself with advisers—a personal board of directors. The broader their backgrounds, the richer their input will be. Women GCs say they value feedback from spouses, relatives, mentors, bosses and former classmates.


The GCs also meet whenever possible with the rank-and-fi le workers who literally wear hard hats. At Harsco, which has 12,000 employees in 35 countries, A. Verona Dorch recalls a 2011 visit to a steel mill in Europe during which she met people who vented about how corporate decisions nega- tively impacted their work.


“It’s important to stay grounded,” Dorch says of her role as top counsel. “I don’t want people to be treated badly.”


DIVERSITY & THE BAR®


JULY/AUGUST 2014


MCCA.COM


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