From Big Law to Owner of an All-female Law Firm

Amber Russell was a mom of 2, working in big law. 

When she first got hired at Baker Botts, she thought she would be there the rest of her life. She loved the people, and she found the work interesting and challenging. 

When she became a mom, the only advice she got was, “Work is work, life is life. You can have a balance, but the two aren't supposed to intersect.”

So for a long time, she did things that way. She put her head down at work, then came home to put her babies to bed, then went back to work until 2:00 in the morning. 

Her all-in personality tried to find every way she could to maximize her billable hours – as in, “Let me change this flight to my family vacation around so I can get two more billing segments in” type of maximizing. 

Today, Amber’s life looks totally different. 

She’s the founder of LOAR PLLC, an all-female personal injury firm where she gives the attorneys at her firm their time back by allowing them to work virtually as much as possible. 

Her goal was for people to successfully continue to do all the things that were important in their life while also meeting the firm’s needs. 

As a result, she’s been able to bring on the best and brightest talent because she works with employees who need more flexible schedules, but are still 100% committed to serving their clients. 

So how did Amber make this change? 

By making small pivots. 

Many times as lawyers, we get stuck on the hamster wheel of life. Even though our conscious mind knows we have a choice, our subconscious mind is telling us it’s not possible. 

We feel like if we change everything, the whole house of cards is going to fall. 

But it’s not about changing everything at once. It’s about making small pivots over time. 

Small steps over time lead to massive change. 

If Amber had woken up one day and said, “I'm leaving Baker Botts and opening up my own female law firm and we're going to kick ass and take names,” she never would’ve made it. 

It would’ve been way too overwhelming to try to take on all of that at once. 

Instead, she opened the door and took the first step. 

And you can too. 

If you’re tired of having to stay up until 2:00 in the morning just so you can put your kids to bed…

Or you’re sick of living your life in 6-minute increments so you can get the most billable hours…

You don’t have to make a huge sweeping change right now. 

You can just take the next step. 

To listen to the full interview, check out my latest podcast. 

 See you next time, my powerhouse friend. 

Erin