Opening Statements

Boston lawyer rows to world championship

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Jones

Barbara Jones. Photograph by David Hills.

A few years ago, Greenberg Traurig partner Barbara Jones decided she needed a new form of exercise. Inspired by her son, who then rowed for his high school team, she picked up the oars for the first time.


Since then, Jones has used the same determination and stamina necessary to survive long days at the office to become a nationally recognized rower. Last year, she won championship titles in the women’s double sculls and the women’s coxed eights at the U.S. Rowing Masters National Championships. She also captured gold medals in the single and quadruple sculls at the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Belgium.

“I’m obviously a very competitive person in all aspects of my life,” says Jones, who coordinates the firm’s global securities practice group from its Boston office. “To have achieved such success so early on in my rowing career against former Olympians, national team members and others who have been rowing almost their whole lives is incredibly gratifying.”

Jones heads to the Charles River just about every morning—unless, of course, the water is frozen. “It’s a beautiful and peaceful time to be out on the river, watching the moon and the planets set,” she says. “It helps me to reconnect with the world outside of the office.”

This article originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of the ABA Journal with this headline: “Rowing on the River: Boston lawyer rows to world championship.”

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