September 2024: Mecaila Chapman serves as the Senior Manager for the Junior Associate Experience, based in our New York office. She explains how she switched from a career as a lawyer to working in Business Services and how she's continuing to build her career.

I started working at White & Case as a private equity lawyer
I came to the US from Australia and practiced for a number of years in the M&A team. When I reached the point where I thought that the partnership route was not the path for me, I was at a crossroads. There were a lot of aspects of my job that I really liked; the question was how I could retain some of that without pursuing the partnership path.

I worked with a coach to help me decide on my next step
We now have an award-winning Coaching office that's open to everyone at the Firm, and I think it's a great way to help you as you navigate your career. At that time, I consulted an external coach to help me. At the same time, an opportunity came up within our People Advisory team, and I decided to go for it.

Being able to stay at the Firm in a new role was really appealing to me
The coaching process helped me understand that I really did love the Firm and the people. I've made many friends here; I really enjoy coming to work and seeing my co-workers. That's a big reason to stay, so I was open to the opportunity to do something new. The new role involved being the staffing lead for our corporate associates. It was an excellent opportunity to apply my M&A knowledge in a completely new context.

I was still able to grow and develop my skills
In my new business services role, I had the opportunity to mentor and advise junior associates extensively. The allocation and development work was something that I was very familiar with, but the people advisory side was a change and I enjoyed it a lot.

I identified the need for a new role
Along with a number of colleagues, I identified that there was a need for a dedicated person to work with our most junior lawyers from their time as summer associates to finishing their first full year with the Firm.

I work very closely with our Recruiting team and others to make sure that this group gets a consistent and distinctive employee experience from day one. For example, I'm the first point of contact for future associates when they are back at law school completing their studies. I'll liaise with them on every aspect of their onboarding and make sure they're already included in Firm life, with invitations to some of our affinity network or social events.

I work with partners as one team
Partners look to me to advise them on how to achieve our goals; they listen to my proposals and value my input. They want to know what I'm seeing and hearing, and what's important to associates. It's not a "them and us" culture. We're all pulling in the same direction, and I feel I have a seat at the table.

My development and growth are supported here
We have a dedicated US Learning and Development team member who focuses on addressing the development needs of our Business Services members. Personally, I feel like I have a relationship with my boss where, at the beginning of the year, we'll sit down and work through what I want to achieve for the upcoming year. What professional development or informal coaching or learning do I need to ensure I'm progressing and achieving my goals?

There are a lot of pathways open to you as a business services professional
As a lawyer, there's a defined path from associate to partner within big law. Similar paths exist on this side of the house. There are opportunities to progress from junior roles to senior positions as well as flexibility to move and gain experience across different roles and functions, responding to where the business is growing or changing. What innovations are changing the way we work, and what jobs will be created because of that?

The culture at White & Case is what sets us apart
I genuinely believe that what matters above any job title is that you enjoy your time at work. It's so important that you like the people that you work with, feel supported and know that if you want to move in a new direction, you've got people around you that will champion you.