July 28, 2024
If you like legal drama like I do, you've probably watched The Good Wife or The Good Fight. While the main characters Alicia Florrick, Cary Agos, Diane Lockhart, Lucca Quinn, and Maia Rindell are astonishing lawyers, the one who really catches my attention is the supporting character Elsbeth Tascioni.
Like many great lawyers, Elsbeth is astute, intelligent, and possesses razor-sharp observations. But what sets Elsbeth apart from the conventional buttoned up lawyers is that she is quirky, offbeat, always cheerful, and takes her work seriously but never herself. I believe our legal community will be stronger, better, and more adaptable to the everchanging world when we truly welcome, embrace, and include legal professionals who are not made from the same cookie cutter.
Welcome to this month's Fireside Chat featuring the most spectacular Tanya Walker!! My first encounter with Tanya was via a webinar in which she was one of the amazing panelists discussing an important topic about Understanding and Overcoming the Maternal Wall (hosted by LawyersInHouse.com). I was enamored by the whole conversation and found Tanya projecting an aura of authenticity, friendliness, and respectability. I really loved and enjoyed Tanya's messages then and you will experience them firsthand in this Fireside Chat as some of her wise words conveyed the importance of being yourself, checking in with yourself, listening to your heart, and charting your own course.
Life is way too short to be not living it to the fullest on your own terms. So, let's celebrate our uniqueness:
"You be you. And I'll be me." - Duck & Goose (picture books turned into an animation series)
Now, if you would join me, I'm going to blast some music and dive into this inspiring Fireside Chat.
"There's much more to life when you're free
That's the key and in time you will find all the answers
Don't have to lose your pride
Hold onto what's inside" - Beautiful U R by Deborah Cox
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Part 1 - Introduction
Hi, my name is... Tanya Walker.
Year of call to the Bar: 2006.
Type of practice, your role, and where: I am the founder of Walker Law, a Toronto-based Litigation Law Firm.
How many children do you have? Two children under the age of 5.
What do you do for self-care or stress relief? Exercise, traveling, spend time with family.
What would you do for work if you weren’t in the legal profession? CEO of a startup company.
Part 2 - The first “Dual 10” Challenge: within the first 10 years post-license
Equilawbrium: Did you have a master plan for your career path? What was the driving force behind your career decisions? What are the important things to consider as you are figuring out your career path?
Tanya: I have always had an aspirational career path, but early on I recognized the importance of being flexible along that path. I knew I always wanted to be a lawyer in private practice, and I thought with a business background I would pursue a career in corporate law and be on the track to become a partner. During my second year of law school, when I applied to firms for summer positions, it included applying to law firms in the Durham region, since I spent my formative years in Ajax. I was ultimately hired by a commercial litigator in Oshawa who then offered me a position to article, then a junior associate. So being flexible was what allowed me to find a career path I really enjoyed and practice an area of law that suits my interests.
In terms of a driving force behind my career decisions, I always wanted my practice to include a mixture of law and business. I wanted there to be a business component to whatever I did. And so, ultimately my desire to be a partner/owner of Walker Law allows me to use my business acumen and look at everything I do through a business lens.
For those figuring out their career path, my advice would be to look inwards and reflect on what it is you want for yourself, as well as what type of career suits who you are as a person. For myself, that meant being in the position of a partner and working to build relationships that bring in business, even if it meant working and networking which made my workday quite long for a number of years. One should really seek a career path they are interested in and one that works with their personality.
Equilawbrium: Please list one soft skill that contributed to where are you now and suggestions on how to cultivate it.
Tanya: One important soft skill is empathy. As a litigator, I have seen how being empathetic makes a significant difference to the interactions I have with both clients and the judiciary. Empathy sets the foundation for client relationships, as well as delivering impactful submissions in court. One can build empathy through active listening and continually placing themselves in the shoes of those they connect with.
Equilawbrium: Please list one hard skill that contributed to where are you now and suggestions on how to cultivate it.
Tanya: A critical hard skill that has contributed to my career is a strong ability for accounting. In private practice, especially a small firm, it is important to know how to read a balance sheet. In my role, I must monitor the payment of fees, refreshing of retainers, as well as manage and oversee workflow and the business side of the firm. I look not only at generating revenue, but also at increasing firm productivity and reduce costs.
In addition to my business degree, I developed the skills I rely on today by asking for responsibility for my own files early on in my career. By doing so, I became responsible for billing and collection of fees on files I managed, and I always paid attention to the numbers and provided suggestions on how to reduce costs.
Part 3 - The second “Dual 10” Challenge: have kids in their first 10 formative years
Equilawbrium: How did you juggle work/life responsibilities? Is it possible to have a family life and a work life simultaneously and harmoniously?
Tanya:
Ensure that you have a strong support system:
My husband is primary caregiver for our two children and is our firm’s IT Manager.
Asking my parents to help out on Fridays or when I’m at a work conference to support my husband while I’m away or when he needs to work on IT issues at the firm. My mother volunteers to cook extra meals to help lessen the burden on my husband.
Getting hired help - we hire nannies on a rotating basis when my parents are not able to help and we have a cleaner that comes to our home every other week. I see the money spent on caregivers and cleaning ladies as an investment in our mental health.
2. Having a strong emotional intelligence/awareness:
If I’m feeling off, I take time to reflect and understand why I’m feeling off and offer compassion to myself or find a solution to the underlying issue.
Example: I was leaving for a conference for 4 days and I was hesitant about going. When I reflected on why I was feeling that way, I realized that I was going to miss my daughter’s first birthday and that made me sad that I was missing it. I told myself was okay to feel sad about missing an event such as this and I Facetimed her frequently throughout the day.
3. Reminding myself that this is the best I can do.
4. Using meditation applications to relax my mind and fall asleep.
5. Exercising 3-4 days per week for one hour - no interruptions and distractions.
6. Be kind to yourself - we’re in a profession where you’re never perfect enough so I try to focus on positive things.
7. Recognizing that sometimes people make comments and are critical of choices you’ve made - letting that go and not taking it personally because not everyone understands your decisions in life.
8. Giving myself downtime to decompress and recharge.
9. Having and maintaining a healthy marriage - a marriage with mutual respect, appreciation, and gratitude for your spouse - putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.
10. Spending time with girlfriends and maintaining those friendships. 11. Recognizing when you’re burning out - if you see the red flags and don’t make changes, then you will burn out and fall. If you fall, then you won’t be there for your spouse, children, parents, and work - everything collapses.
Equilawbrium: Having walked the walk, what is the one parenting tip or trick that you wish you’d known?
Tanya: One tip I wish I had known at the time I was pregnant or nursing, was to seek adjournments to trials or big hearings to a date when I would not be pregnant or nursing so that I am able to consistently focus on parenthood.
Equilawbrium: What is your fondest memory of your kids at that age?
Tanya: The fondest memory of our son is his first school recital. Our daughter is realizing that she likes music and dancing at the age of one.
Part 4 - Achieving Equilawbrium: how to survive & rise from the “Dual 10” Challenges
"Try not to multitask. Focus on your practice when you are practicing. Focus on your family when you have family time. Don’t feel guilty for choosing to focus more so on your practice or your family." – Tanya Walker
Equilawbrium: What was your biggest challenge going through the Dual 10 phase? Any advice for our readers who are living and breathing this phase and trying to survive and excel?
Tanya: I had our first child in my 13th years of practice, but I will say that the biggest challenge is that I felt torn at times with focusing on my practice and focusing on him.
Advice is to try not to multitask. Focus on your practice when you are practicing. Focus on your family (if you can) when you have family time.
Equilawbrium: What is your take-home message for our readers who are trying to find their “equilawbrium”?
Tanya: Don’t feel guilty for choosing to focus more so on your practice or your family. I don’t ever think my focus on my family and practice has been 50-50.
Equilawbrium: What is the one-word encouragement/support that you would want us to remember?
Tanya: Hope.
<<End of Fireside Chat with Tanya Walker>>
**A MILLION THANKS TO TANYA!!**
<<Tanya's Biography>>
Tanya graduated from McMaster University in 2002, followed by Osgoode Hall Law School in 2005 and was called to the bar in 2006. In 2016, Tanya was elected by her peers as the first female black bencher from Toronto in the 227-year history of the Law Society of Ontario. Benchers create rules and set policy which regulate the nearly 64,000 lawyers and paralegals in the province. Tanya is now serving her third term, and is also the Chair (President) of the Law Society’s Human Rights Monitoring Group.
Tanya practiced law at two Bay Street firms before opening her firm, Walker Law Professional Corporation (“Walker Law”) in 2010. This year Walker Law celebrates its fourteenth anniversary, employing twelve full-time employees including lawyers and paralegals in the area of commercial litigation. Walker Law is certified as a majority-women owned business by WBE Canada and We Connect, and the firm received the We Connect International Women’s Business Enterprise of the Year Award in 2018. Tanya has also previously been part of the We Connect Advisory Group, and is a member of the Canadian Associate of Women’s Executives and Entrepreneurs.
In her career, Tanya has argued before various Tribunals, the Superior Court, Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and she appears regularly on national television stations such as CityTV, CityNews, CBC and CTV as a legal analyst. Most importantly, Tanya is a wife and mother to two children under the age of 5, Alexandar and Amelia.
Disclaimer: Any views, information, and personal opinions expressed by the authors or guests are entirely their own and do not reflect or represent those of their employers or clients.
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