For this lawyer, a blip at law school didn't translate to a failed career
Katie McConnell had always been an excellent student. But when she started law school, her days of straight A’s immediately appeared to be out of reach.
At the University of North Carolina School of Law, McConnell did what she had been trained to do as an undergrad at the same college: study hard, read all the books and put in the work. She thought that she did well on her exams—only to discover that she was at the bottom of her class.
“That’s not a great position to be in after your first semester because you’re starting to interview, and it really sets you up for what the rest of your career will look like,” McConnell says. “I was at a loss—what do I do?”
So she did what she had been trained to do her entire life—she worked harder. Yet she struggled. She couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. McConnell enrolled in a property law class in her second semester of that awful first year, and that’s when she found a mentor.
“My professor took the time to explain to our class what law school exams are looking for; how thinking critically looks; how to identify the issue, go through a fact pattern, provide a clear response and explain how you go there,” McConnell says of Dana Remus, who is now a partner with Covington & Burling and was a White House counsel for former President Joe Biden.
During undergrad, McConnell’s major was economics, which required a totally different way of thinking and responding, she says. Law, she was quickly discovering, wasn’t as black and white. She had never thought to think critically and to interpret ideas and provide analysis. She was answering questions to exams the same way that she tackled her economics problems, but that wasn’t how the law worked.
“There’s something about the way that she explained that way of thinking that made something in my brain click,” McConnell says of Remus.
Her straight A’s returned, McConnell graduated in the top 15% of her class, and she learned the greatest lesson of law school: “The influence of the right person can be the smallest interaction but have the biggest impact on you,” she says.
A second lesson
McConnell’s surprising second lesson came in the form of a book called Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, written by Will Guidara, who was the co-owner of the Make It Nice hospitality group, which owned and operated Eleven Madison Park, a fine dining restaurant, and the NoMad restaurant collection.
While the book was designed to support the restaurant industry, McConnell, who is a foodie but by no means a restaurateur, realized that this book applies to what she does as a lawyer daily. It was a helpful reminder to those in the client services industry that hospitality is a key part of doing this job and differentiating yourself from your peers.
“What I love about being a lawyer is that at the core, we’re helping people every single day,” she says. “You have to understand the substance of the law practice, but beyond that, what makes a good lawyer is putting on the extra touches in terms of client services.”
For example, McConnell will often spend an extra 30 minutes or even an hour of nonbillable hours to really research and understand her clients’ organizations, so that she’s in a better position to help them.
In case she forgets, she rereads Unreasonable Hospitality annually—something that McConnell says helps her in her career as a member at Moore & Van Allen, a large law firm with offices in North Carolina and in South Carolina focusing on financial issues.
At the firm, there is a standard partnership track—Moore & Van Allen refers to its equity partners as “members” of the firm. In their fourth year, associates at the practice have a meeting in which the members clearly lay out expectations and metrics for partnership, which they’re eligible for in their eighth year. Billable hours, along with the ability to run a solo deal with little oversight, are key.
Also important was McConnell’s mentor at the firm: Ryan Smith, the co-head of Moore & Van Allen’s investment team and a member. From the moment that she joined the firm, McConnell says, Smith took the time to teach her essential macro and micro concepts of the practice.
McConnell also made sure that her billable hours were high and that her client interactions were positive. By the time that she was in her seventh year, she demonstrated to the firm that she could run a deal by herself with little oversight, which McConnell credits toward proving her worth as a potential member.
For others looking to ace law school and beyond, McConnell recommends seeking relationships with mentors, whether that’s a professor, another law student or an attorney.
“Ask them how they got to where they are,” she says. “For me, the simple human interaction spurred a change in the way I was thinking.”
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