Celebrating Women’s History Month: Employee Spotlight - Suzanne Halbardier

Written by Suzanne Halbardier

As March is Women’s History Month, I started to think about why I became a lawyer which was not always considered a career for women.  We all have heard about limited opportunities and the careers of Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Those of us who came from a later generation still dealt with misperceptions about our abilities and commitment and struggled in the very old fashioned world of insurance defense litigation. 

Originally, I thought I’d become a lawyer because my parents told me I was good at arguing with them.  Perry Mason was an early hero.  When I went to law school, everyone was asked to identify the lawyer who made them decide to become a lawyer.  Classmates yelled out “Learned Hand” or similar names, but mine was always Perry Mason.  I never thought of myself as a woman lawyer.  I just wanted to be a good lawyer and represent clients to the best of my ability.  Like another childhood hero, Nancy Drew, I wanted to solve problems and be creative.  As I became more skilled as a lawyer, I took on cases in developing areas of the law – even those my boss at the time said would not be worth our time to handle.  It was tough not always getting support from my boss and fighting with adversaries.  But like Nancy, I thought I could do anything and would never be defeated in my goals.  So, I took on cases others thought were problematic and developed creative solutions to obtain great results for clients.  As the proud owner of our firm, I seek to instill that eagerness and optimism in our younger lawyers, both male and female. 

And as a woman lawyer, I use all my skills, knowledge and optimism to succeed as a lawyer.  In the end, being confident of my abilities has made me successful.  Developing confidence about my skills was something I developed from my childhood heroes.