Jennifer Parrott (from left), Vivian Fisher, Whitney Lay Greene and Melody Kiella of Drew Eckl & Farnham. (Courtesy photos)

Drew Eckl & Farnham has promoted a new slate of partners, elevating all women for the first time—including a former race car driver who took a long detour from her practice—amid a greater focus on work-life balance for senior associates.

Jennifer Parrott, the former racer, was promoted from non-equity to equity partner and Vivian Fisher, Whitney Lay Greene and Melody Kiella were named partners, effective Jan. 1, 2020. Parrott, Greene and Kiella have general liability defense practices, while Fisher represents financial institutions in loan disputes and other matters.

Drew Eckl's partnership did not overtly aim to elect an all-female class, said the Atlanta firm's managing partner, Joe Chancey, but it does point to an increased focus, as at many firms, on supporting women lawyers.

"We do a good job hiring really talented lawyers, but, like most in the industry, we've seen more attrition than we'd like—and especially with our senior female associates," he said. "We definitely identified that we wanted to do a better job of providing support for our women lawyers," he said.

Promoting from within is important to the 120-lawyer litigation defense and general practice firm, which has about 40 associates, Chancey added.

To that end, Drew Eckl started a partnership training program last January, Path 2 Partnership, to help lawyers "get past the fifth-, sixth- or seventh-year mark and into the partnership ranks," he said. The one-year program is intended for sixth-year associates and up, but some junior partners have also participated. The 2020 program has 17 participants—nine women and eight men.

Path 2 Partnership, mandatory for partnership consideration, starts with a daylong boot camp featuring presentations on how the firm makes a profit and what it takes to be an effective leader. That is followed by monthly workshops on topics such as how to run a matter smoothly.

Fifteen years ago, the traditional "up and out" law firm model meant lawyers who did not take a linear path to partnership "did not have a lot of options," Chancey said.

Now Drew Eckl lawyers can work part-time—for instance, to raise young children—and then return to the partnership track. The firm also offers a full 12 weeks of maternity leave.

Chancey added that three of the new partners, Parrott, Greene and Kiella, all with young children, helped design the Path 2 Partnership program. "Part of the story of this class," he said, "is us doing our job so that our lawyers, especially women with children at home, can balance their personal and professional lives." 

Stay-at-Home Mom to Equity Partner

Parrott, the newly promoted equity partner, is an amateur race car driver turned trucking defense litigator, so she's comfortable in male-dominated environments. 

But early in her career at Drew Eckl she faced a choice familiar to many women lawyers, opting to take a seven-year hiatus to raise her daughter Hannah, now 13.

Parrott, 44, said that in 2006 she'd planned just to take maternity leave, but Hannah was born two months prematurely. "I panicked," said Parrott, a fourth-year associate at the time, explaining that she felt she could not properly care for her infant daughter while performing at a high level as a lawyer.

Flex-time and working remotely were still unheard of, in large part because the technology was not there. "We were just beginning to use email," Parrott said. "Back then, you were lucky if you had the BlackBerry with the thumb-turn wheel." 

Parrott's husband, Brad Parrott, now a principal in Hudson Parrott Walker, was also a young litigator with a demanding job, so she decided to care for Hannah full-time.

"I never went to the partners and asked if I could dial it back," she said. "Others did—but that was not my personality then." 

When Parrott was ready to return to law in 2013, she didn't think a partnership-track job was an option after her long hiatus. She called the Drew Eckl partner she'd worked under, Bruce Taylor, for a job reference. He encouraged her to come back instead.

"Drew Eckl let me on-ramp before on-ramping was a thing, to ease my way back into practicing," Parrott said.

Fast Cars

Parrott, who was elected to equity status after making partner last year, said her focus on high-stakes trucking accident cases in her defense litigation practice is a natural outgrowth of her racing experience.

When Parrott was learning how to drive, her father, a lifelong "car nut," took an interest in amateur racing. "He sent me to race-driving school instead of having me learn how to drive while riding with friends on a Saturday night with the radio turned up," she said.

"There is no doubt that I gravitated toward trucking work partly from my love of operating a car," she said. "I know how operating a vehicle works, so in reconstructing an accident scene, it helps me focus on what the drivers were doing and how they reacted." 

"Most people do not realize how close to the edge they are operating—especially in Atlanta, where people drive so fast," she added.

Parrott raced a Porsche 911 in amateur contests through college and did well.

While at Cumberland Law School in Birmingham, Alabama she was invited to compete for a spot in Road Atlanta's Petit Le Mans, a 1,000-mile race or 394 laps on the track over a maximum of 10 hours. Parrott made the cut and finished fifth in a field of 35.

There was no purse, but it was "wheel to wheel" racing against the other cars, she said. At Road Atlanta, she'd get her Porsche up to about 150 mph on the straightaway. "But it's the speed at the 90-degree corner that is where the fun is," she added.

Parrott decided not to make racing a career, but she didn't give up fast cars. Now she drives a "rather loud" BMW M3 sport sedan. "It's their fastest, loudest, gnarliest one," she said. "When I turn it on in the parking garage, sometimes it sets off the guy's car alarm next to me." 

Shifting Roles

Because of her racing experience, Parrott said she's never felt out of place in the male-dominated environment of trucking litigation. "I'm not afraid to walk in a room and be the only woman there," she said.

But women in law can face a bind when they assert themselves, Parrott acknowledged. "Women sabotage themselves when they don't ask for what they want—but when they do, they risk being perceived as overly aggressive."

Asked whether that's ever been a concern, Parrott replied that she's "always conscious of my demeanor and tone in my practice—not so much with my team but with opposing counsel or a new client, like the owner of a trucking company."

Parrott must demonstrate to clients that she will "zealously represent" them, but she wants to show opposing counsel that she's "reasonable and easy to deal with."

"All good litigators are chameleons," she said, but women are more conscious of what role they're playing. 

"I don't fit the mold of the bulldog lawyer," she said. "At least, not initially."