Barbara Casey

Barbara Casey, a real estate partner in the Cherry Hill office of Ballard Spahr, has earned a reputation as an influential practitioner over the course of her 33-year career, including a recent engagement in which she led a team of lawyers from multiple offices on a $90 million brownfields redevelopment project. The matter recently closed. She also has done pro bono work for nonprofits including Habitat for Humanity of Burlington County, and has shown commitment, as a Rutgers Law School alum and through other organizations, to advancing the cause of women in the profession.

What's your single best piece of advice for handling a crisis?

Remain calm and keep the situation and the goals in perspective. Even the most difficult situation has a solution. Don't let the crisis control how you reach that solution.

Name a mentor or someone you admire, and why.

My mother. She was a single mother in the 1960's in the Midwest, where society did not look kindly on single mothers. She gave me the tools and support to be anything I wanted to be and to succeed in a world where women were pushed to traditional roles (teacher, nurse, stay-at-home wife and mother). She often worked three jobs at a time to support us but always made the time to participate in anything I asked her to do. Thanks to Mom, I always believed I could do anything I put my mind to.

Best advice you ever got…

Always own up to your mistakes and in the process offer a solution. People expect you to deny that you made a mistake or to admit fault and are genuinely surprised when you admit that you made a mistake and offer a solution to make it right.

What has the #MeToo movement meant to the legal profession?

This legal conflict here is huge. While every person and certainly every woman must be encouraged to fight for their right to not be harassed or assaulted, we must preserve the basic foundation of our legal system—you are innocent until proven guilty. The use of social media and the press' thirst for headlines result in the trial, conviction and punishment of the accused without any due process. There are countless individuals who were sent to prison on nothing more than an eye-witness account and who have subsequently been proven to be innocent, so there is clear evidence that this injustice is not the answer. And the political motive behind some of this is very troubling. The account of the accusations against the Duke Lacrosse team is a chilling example of just how far those political motives can go and how much damage they can do. We, as the guardians of the law, need to balance these fundamental rights for all involved.

In 50 words or less, what does the legal profession need to do to improve opportunities for women lawyers?

Women lawyers still struggle to balance their professional and personal lives—many leave the practice because they cannot achieve an acceptable balance. We need to be more creative in offering tools to help female lawyers find that balance. Fortunately, Ballard Spahr recognizes this challenge and has implemented programs to help.