Tell us about your professional journey since graduating and a little about your current position.
Upon graduation, I began working as an Associate at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP here in Minneapolis in the Corporate Finance Practice Group. I was a Summer Associate with the same firm while in Law School. As a Corporate Finance Associate, I help both Lenders and Borrowers achieve their goals through various middle-market financing transactions. At the current stage of my career, I primarily assist with the various diligence items that need to be reviewed and assessed as a part of the foregoing transactions and from time-to-time assist with the drafting of complex financial documents in connection with the aforementioned transactions. When I am not engaging in firm/client work, I am an Adjunct Professor here at Mitchell Hamline teaching Transactions and Settlements and am also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Paralegal Program at North Hennepin Community College.
When did you realize you wanted a career in law?
I always knew that I wanted a career in law, but I knew I wanted to be a lawyer after working as a paralegal for a year. That prior paralegal experience left me hungry for more, and law school seemed the next logical step.
How did the Health Law Institute help prepare you for the work you do now?
The Health Law Institute enhanced my ability to analyze various regulatory schemes and helped me develop a keen attention to detail beyond traditional case law analysis, both forementioned being extremely necessary skills in the realm of transactional law. Further, it goes without saying that the Health Law Institute helped me develop a much deeper knowledge of Health Law and related regulatory law which comes in handy when working with clients that operate in that space. The intersection of finance and the healthcare system is not a rare intersection, and when given the opportunity to mesh these two areas, I find myself a step ahead of the competition in that I am able to more fully understand the unique concerns of healthcare entities thanks to the knowledge and skills I developed through participating in the HLI curriculum.
What inspires you?
Watching those around me who have had less support than myself succeed still. I think it is fundamental to our own achievement that we never lose our ability to find inspiration from those around us. Our peers make far better teachers and idols than they do competitors. I am truly inspired each day by the ways my peers solve problems, both in our profession and in their everyday lives, and I am greatly inspired by the tremendous gains that women have made in our profession.