Legal Grounds | Cyndie Chang On How Having a Group Helps You Find Your Voice, When “No” Can Be A Complete Sentence, & Why Relationships are an Investment, Not a Commodity

With some very rare exceptions, all of us have to have a ‘first job’. 

This also means we all remember the nervousness that comes with that first day. First month. Even the first year. 

While it hopefully wanes over time, those feelings of general uncertainty combined with a vague sense of having to prove one’s self can easily lead to imposter-syndrome and burnout. 

But you throw a bad leader into the mix, and – as my guest today had to experience – you have a recipe for disaster. 

Early in her legal career, a then-boss told her she’d never be a trial attorney. No qualifications. No ‘constructive’ criticism. Just a blunt, “you’re too meek.”

Now as Managing Partner at Duane Morris’s L.A. offices, Cyndie Chang often handles litigation involving mergers & acquisitions, asset or stock sales, frauds, and securities, all while ensuring her team has the resources to thrive. 

Cyndie and I talk about her journey into big-law, and how the resources and the community they provide helped her to feel not just empowered, but included. 

We also discuss the dangers of looking at your people as commodities and not investments, and why new lawyers need to consider WHERE they want to practice just as much as WHAT they want to focus their practice on. 

Enjoy the show!