Abha Khanna, 40, Perkins Coie

Office: Seattle.

Practice area: Business litigation and voting rights litigation.

Law school: Yale Law School 2007.

How long have you been at the firm? I joined Perkins Coie in January 2010.

How long were you an associate at the firm?  Seven years.

Were you an associate at another firm before joining your present firm? No.

What year did you make partner at your current firm? I became a partner in 2017.

Abha Khanna of Perkins Coie in Seattle.

What's the biggest surprise you experienced in becoming partner? I was most surprised by how quickly I was welcomed into the partnership fold as an equal. I truly felt that my long-time mentors and sponsors saw me as one of them.

 What do you think was the deciding point for the firm in making you partner? I built strong relationships with influential partners at the firm who know what it takes to succeed. With their guidance and support, I developed a reputation for excellence and demonstrated that I am capable of doing the difficult work they do—winning cases and gaining the trust of clients.

 Describe how you feel now about your career now that you've made partner? I feel like I have control over my career—not just what cases I take on, but the overall direction of my career path. This is both the exhilaration and the challenge of being a partner: No one is going to tell you what to do to be successful, so you have to define success for yourself and map out a strategy to achieve it.

What's the key to successful business development? To be sure, it is important to continue to do the excellent work that helped you make partner in the first place; developing and honing your legal skills bolsters your professional value within a firm and with existing clients. But being an excellent lawyer is not enough. You also need to package your experience and expertise in ways that help current and future clients understand your value, including, for instance, by developing CLE presentations, attending client events, and refining your elevator pitch about your practice.

 What's been the biggest change, day-to-day, in your routine since becoming partner? As an associate I often had large swaths of uninterrupted time to devote to discrete projects, such as researching case law, drafting briefs, and preparing for depositions. Now I spend a lot more time in meetings, whether developing and shaping legal strategy for my clients or helping to develop and shape the careers of the associates on my teams. I enjoy the increased personal interaction and big-picture thinking—and I still value those pockets of time when I can continue to hone my technical legal skills.

Who had the greatest influence in your career that helped propel you to partner? There have been many exceptional people at Perkins Coie who helped me make partner and took the time to ensure my success, from senior firm management to colleagues just down the hall. In terms of greatest influencers, I would also have to credit my strong support system of family and friends, including my especially supportive husband, a true partner who encourages me to achieve my ambitions. Achieving professional success often involves a lot of sacrifice – both from yourself and others.

What's the best piece of advice you could give an associate who wants to make partner? Make demands of your career to ensure that it is working for you rather than you just working for the job. The whole reason we work so hard for every credential and each new step on the ladder is so that we can increase our opportunities to have the career we find most fulfilling. While you're advancing, ask yourself what it is you ultimately want and what, if anything, you need to change to get there. Call upon your mentors, sponsors, and colleagues for advice—you may be surprised to learn you have more options than you thought.

In particular, as a working mother who is juggling career and family, I'd advise the many talented young women entering the legal field to feel empowered to create avenues within law firms for pursuing the careers and personal goals they want.