Gawthrop’s Managing Partner Honored for Work To Support Next-Gen Lawyers

Gawthrop Greenwood managing partner Stacey Fuller has been named a Distinguished Leader 2024 by The Legal Intelligencer & Law.com as part of the Pennsylvania Legal Awards. When asked by this esteemed publication “What does the legal profession need to do to prepare the next generation of lawyers?” Fuller said:

“Mentorship, mentorship, mentorship. In the current work environment in particular, that means ensuring that colleagues can tackle the challenge of keeping up with work and family. At Gawthrop Greenwood, we emphasize a work-life balance, and it is my hope that the next generations have the opportunity to set effective boundaries to ensure long, healthy careers.”

Fuller’s complete remarks can be found at Law.com, as well as the interview transcript below. For more information on Gawthrop Careers, click here.

• LEGAL INTELLIGENCER: What’s the first piece of advice you would give someone when dealing with a crisis?

STACEY FULLER: Delegating tasks as you lead your team through a crisis can grow more difficult as your career advances and your leadership responsibilities increase. However, it is a skill set I continue to espouse. We all have 24 hours a day to accomplish all that we want to do, and managing a crisis means organizing the time – and team – to ensure success.

• LI: What is the most valued piece of advice you ever received?

FULLER: Having integrity and choosing to live one’s life consistent with the values and priorities that you preach to others is critical. For me, that means demonstrating leadership not only in the workplace but also in the community. Community service and giving back to the community is a focus not only for me but one that we emphasize as one of our core values at Gawthrop Greenwood. From sending our attorneys to the Leadership Chester County program, to encouraging nonprofit board involvement, and making every effort to recognize our responsibility to give back to a community that has given so much to us for over 100 years. It is our lasting legacy at Gawthrop Greenwood, and we endeavor to live it every day.

• LI: If you did not become a lawyer, what career path would you have pursued?

FULLER: I would have pursued an executive women’s mentorship role for an impactful corporation. It was discouraging early in my career journey that there were not a lot of female mentors in the field of law. While I have worked with many amazing women and men over the years, early in my career I wish I’d had a female mentor or two and benefited from their knowledge. That deficit has driven me and many other women (I became Gawthrop Greenwood’s second female partner in 2007), but I wish someone could have told me that someday, female mentorship would become the “norm” in many fields of work. I have been fortunate to be involved in the hiring of many lawyers – and our future generation – at Gawthrop since I joined the firm.

• LI: Who is a mentor you admire and why?

FULLER: One of my first law partners, Tim Finan, a family law attorney in Goldsboro, North Carolina where I practiced after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Tim was a calming force in a stressful practice area who was a wonderful mentor and friend to me. He taught me the skills I needed to be a good attorney but, more importantly, he taught me that it was important to stay focused at all times on my family and keeping perspective in this profession. He was a wonderful family man who was very active with his children but who still worked hard and made the time to mentor the young associates at the firm. Tim also taught me that adopting a temperament of calm leadership is important even in the sea of chaos that can surround us at times.

• LI: The legal field is constantly facing new challenges every year. What does the legal profession need to do to prepare the next generation of lawyers?

FULLER: Mentorship, mentorship, mentorship (as described above). In the current work environment, in particular, that means ensuring that colleagues can tackle the challenge of keeping up with work and family. At Gawthrop Greenwood, we emphasize a work-life balance, and it is my hope that the next generations have the opportunity to set effective boundaries to ensure long, healthy careers.