Page 98 - NYLJ Professional Excellence 2021

INNOVATION AWARDS

hope it will, and you have to be a strong make an even more user-friendly and what you want to achieve and stay the
communicator to be able to rely on oth- polished product. course. It’s a balancing act, but if you
ers to bring your visions to life. I wasn’t believe in an idea you owe it to yourself
going to learn to write code in my spare What is the best advice for younger to see it through, and you don’t need
time, so there was a leap of faith involved attorneys looking to advance their to go it alone. I had a huge team of
in working with a third-party app own innovative ideas or visions? Keep marketing experts, associates, clients
creator. refining, don’t be afraid to fail and do not and partners who served as sounding
It can be difficult to cede that kind of give up. Solicit and implement feedback boards, beta testers and collaborators.
control over your brainchild, but in the from others, even when it’s brutal, but There would be no Hub if I hadn’t asked
end their insight and opinions helped to then also develop conviction around for a ton of help at every step.

during the first summer of the COVID-19
pandemic, as well as the summer of racial
reckoning.

What, if any, obstacles stood in the way
of your innovation, and how did you
overcome them? One of the greatest
obstacles in the way of my innovation
has been related to stakeholder buy-in,
and in particular, helping to educate
senior leaders, including attorneys and
administrative staff, as to the vision for
the Weil Legal Innovators Program, and
how the program can help to benefit the
Hedieh Fakhriyazdi firm and the future of the legal profes- Siobhan Handley
sion. I have overcome those challenges
DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL by engaging senior leaders in the develop- CHIEF TALENT OFFICER AT ORRICK
ment of the program—ensuring that they
RESPONSIBILITY AND HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE
have a window into the process, and are
WEIL FOUNDATION AT
included in important decisions relevant
WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES to the program and its overall success. Q&A What are some of your
proudest achievements
Q&A What are some of your What is the best advice for younger from the past year? I’m extremely
proud of how we’ve supported our
attorneys looking to advance their
proudest achievements
from the past year? In addition to the own innovative ideas or visions? By team during this incredibly challeng-
near completion of the first year of Weil definition, “innovation” requires new ing time. We did so by emphasizing the
Legal Innovators Program, and the sub- ideas, new approaches, and creativity, importance of connectivity and well-
sequent launch of the second year of and often requires one to challenge ness, strengthening our commitment
the program, my team and I also helped the status quo. Therefore my advice to to DEI, supporting flexible schedules
launch the Summer of Service Program, younger attorneys would be to ask ques- and recognizing the demands of remote
placing 130 Weil summer associates tions and challenge why and how things work. Some of our innovative programs
across 50+ nonprofit organizations as have been done in the past and why that highlight this is our “Unplug Time”
seconded volunteers for a four-week and how they should be amended or policy, which allows attorneys to
period. This program helped nonprofits altered in the future. Innovation requires take a week of unplugged time with
organizations across the U.S. gain critical a certain degree of risk taking, and often, 40 hours as billable-equivalent credit,
resources and human capital they needed the rewards outweigh the risks. and establishing our Racial Justice

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96 October 2021 | Photos: Weil Gotshal; Orrick