Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Elise Buie back to our pages. Click here if you’d like to donate to MothersEsquire.
A colleague asked me not so long ago what I want my law firm’s legacy to be. I really hadn’t given it much thought before. When the pandemic began, my first thoughts were laser-focused on how I could continue generating enough revenue in a landscape no one had seen before while keeping every person on my team — lawyers, paralegals, marketing professionals, and support staff — employed.
At the time, I wasn’t thinking about core values or the legacy I would leave behind should I be one of the lucky ones to survive, and by survive, I don’t mean just workwise. It was a puzzle I didn’t know if could solve. But like I always do when faced with a challenge, I took to my whiteboard and laid out all the different paths I could take to keep my doors open and my team (and myself) gainfully employed.
The fact that those doors were virtual was a help. Since I became a law firm owner a little more than six years ago, we’ve worked remotely. So when COVID-19 took us all by surprise, and firms had to go remote, I was one step ahead. What I didn’t know was what would happen to the practice of divorce and family law and estate planning in the face of this disaster. No one did.
Would families grow closer, minimizing the need for divorces? Would troubled marriages heal given the proximity within which we found ourselves as we sheltered in place? Would healthy marriages become unhealthy due to the same? Would people consider their mortality sooner and more seriously and take to planning for what would happen to their loved ones, assets, and remains after they die? As it turned out, all of the above.
There became an immediate need for divorce and family lawyers and estate planning lawyers like never before. Which left a lot of choices and, as a consequence, power in the hands of those needing these types of attorneys and those who supported them. Potential new clients, too, looked for ways to discern which law firm to hire. So did the job applicants faced with deciding where to work as more job opportunities presented themselves.
Job seekers looked for evidence a firm would be the right fit for them — now, in a pandemic, and when it eventually ends. In other words, would the firm’s culture suit them and their lifestyle? Would there be work-life balance or something new: life-work balance?
Needing to know these answers myself, I turned to what I knew, having been both a divorce and family law and estate planning client myself at various stages of my life and an associate in a law firm back in the day. What would each of my audiences want — existing clients, my team, potential new clients, new hires, and anyone watching our journey as a firm — and what would I want for them?
Having now given thought to what I hope my legacy will be when, a little more than two years ago, I wasn’t sure I would even have a legacy to leave, my response is a bit more than I expected. Not only do I envision a legacy but this is who I want to leave that legacy to.
Our Clients
When someone comes in because they’re facing a major life change, such as with a divorce or custody (parenting time) case, this is usually a low point in their lives. Because of that, we focus not only on the legal side but also on helping clients look at their issues from a different perspective so they can start overcoming the challenges they face to move on to create the future they envision.
For those with families, that begins with creating a strong foundation at home, which includes gender equality at home. It’s why I provide so much support for this objective. I want our firm to be a beacon of education and resources on conflict resolution so that parents can raise their children in a healthy environment. I want our firm to embody hope for the future.
Our Team
When someone joins our team, I want them to feel appreciated for the hard work they do. I want them to always push themselves out of their comfort zone to continue their growth and development because you can only give the care to others that you’re able first to give yourself.
I want people to feel like they’re making a difference and their work (at home and professionally) is meaningful, regardless of whether they’re in a courtroom or taking out the trash. Every person and action has a purpose toward fulfilling the firm’s mission. I want our team to feel respected, trusted, and whole through the flexibility and agency we provide.
Our Potential Clients
I want every single person who contacts our firm to feel heard, know they’re important, and be inspired. We set out to do this by sending an uplifting message, a kind word to brighten someone’s day, or obtaining information to assist those needing direction.
We don’t reserve this treatment for clients. It’s for everyone, even if they don’t hire us.
Anyone Watching Our Journey
I want our firm to become the most trusted firm in Washington for family law issues. I want people to automatically think of us because of our reputation when they hear a friend or coworker is going through a divorce or custody matter.
I want to grow into other geographic areas and move out of the “small firm” classification. I want our firm to be on the cutting edge of leadership and technology so that we’re continually bringing innovative solutions to both our team and the legal market. I want our firm to inspire and educate everyone to be their best selves and live their best lives.
What Can Come From Feeling Broken
I want everyone who hears our story to see that the entire legal empire I’m creating grew from a girl who felt broken. She had recently divorced. She returned cans of food to Walmart to buy other cans of food that her four kids liked better. She had her bank account levied by the IRS, dealt with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and experienced all the typical money-issue traumas divorce can bring.
Her story isn’t about staying where you are or being a victim. That girl wasn’t having any of that. She had a dream to support herself and her family, including educating her four children. She worked her butt off to make it happen, and it did.
I want every single person who hears this story to know that they can do “it,” too, whatever their “it” is. You’re never stuck where you are at a given moment in time. Your life can be anything you create out of it. Which is, by far, the best legacy of all.
Elise Buie is a passionate, creative, problem-solving family law attorney who creates solutions, not obstacles. After evacuating her hometown of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and surviving a divorce, Elise landed in Seattle and founded Elise Buie Family Law Group, a law firm devoted to divorce and family law and estate planning. Elise’s practice involves all aspects of family law, guided by a collaborative philosophy and her deep understanding of complex parenting issues. Elise opened her doors during a period of personal adversity. Now in a period of global adversity, Elise’s firm has experienced its most significant growth yet, which she attributes primarily to her driving force and mantra: “I can do it.”
