GAWL of it All

In Episode 1 of The GAWL of it All podcast, hosts Laura Webster and Adriana de la Torriente interview Christina Baugh, President of GAWL. She provides an overview of many of GAWL’s projects and initiatives that serve the legal community. Later in this episode, you’ll hear Teresa Wynn Roseborough, General Counsel for The Home Depot, address the audience at GAWL’s Judicial Luncheon in October 2019.    Episode Highlights:    Christina Baugh is a partner at Barnes & Thornburg and she practices business litigation and intellectual property litigation. She represents individuals or companies in larger business disputes and anything surrounding rights for intellectual property. She became a member of GAWL right out of law school. She participated in various events such as the neighborhood networking breakfasts. She volunteered with The GAWL Foundation. She has held multiple positions on the GAWL board. What is The GAWL Foundation? GAWL and The GAWL Foundation are sister organizations. They are technically separate legal entities. The GAWL Foundation focuses on community service work, pro bono activities, grants to different legal organizations, scholarships, fundraising efforts. The foundation is what they consider the more charitable arm of GAWL. Christina shares her takeaways from Teresa Wynn Roseborough’s keynote speech at the October 2019 GAWL Judicial Luncheon. She enjoyed hearing about how Home Depot handles its legal position. When it comes to large social issues, legal issues, or life issues, often the problem can seem too large to handle. If we take small steps we can start making changes. GAWL Edu helps a handful of new attorneys every year get established with a strong base. GAWL mentoring circles meet once a month for an hour with the same group of people and this can create lasting relationships. Leadership Academy helps people further in their careers decide which direction they should go. GAWL Foundation provides scholarships to students to make sure they can cover their bar review classes. They provide grants to organizations that are helping women and children in the legal system get the services that they need. They provide dinner once a month to Nicholas House, a family shelter in the Atlanta area. Teresa Wynn Roseborough begins her speech by talking about chaos theory. She uses Hurricane Dorian as an example of chaos. She tells the story of Steve Pemberton, head of HR for GlobalForce, whose life was changed simply because a teacher smiled and nodded at him. We all have the opportunity to create change with lasting effects. She shares how many managers at Home Depot attribute the trajectory of their careers to small moments of encouragement and mentoring. We all need affirmation. We all need words of appreciation. When you show people that you see who they are, you give them something that will affirm that they have value and power across the rest of their lives. Teresa emphasizes that we are all responsible for making sure we live in a better country and a better world. It's too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it's too hard to effect real change. In her next example, Teresa uses kudzu bugs as an analogy. Eight or ten years ago the state of Georgia was covered in kudzu.  It is estimated that seven million acres of land in the southeast were overgrown with kudzu. Two years after the kudzu bug came to Georgia, it had consumed over fifty percent of the seven million acres of kudzu. It was eradicated because each tiny kudzu bug bit off what it could chew. We must each bite off what we can chew. Teresa shares about her experience on the governor's criminal justice task force. One of the successes of that task force was an executive order to ban the box. For state government employers in Georgia, you can no longer ask on the application whether someone has a criminal history and applicants don't have to check a box saying whether they have a criminal history. Georgia was the first southern state to enact this change but the move is on the way now. Now more than twenty states have ban the box laws. We can each work on small changes that have broad impacts.   3 Key Points: GAWL and The GAWL Foundation are sister organizations serving the legal community. The GAWL Foundation is GAWL’s charitable arm.  We all have the capacity to participate in creating big changes through small actions. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it’s too hard or  too depressing to effect real change.    Tweetable Quotes:   “We all have the opportunity to create chaos. To engage in small acts that will have dynamic and rippling and enduring effects." -Teresa Wynn Roseborough “We all have to take a hand in making sure that we are creating a better country and a better world.” -Teresa Wynn Roseborough "We must each bite off what we can chew."-Teresa Wynn Roseborough "We can each work on small changes that have broad impacts."-Teresa Wynn Roseborough "I'm proud, and I know you are too, to be a part of a profession that helps us build roads to social justice, give voice to the voiceless, defend against incursions on liberty and civil rights."-Teresa Wynn Roseborough   Resources Mentioned: GAWL The GAWL Foundation Leadership Academy Nicholas House Christina Baugh LinkedIn Steve Pemberton LinkedIn Teresa Wynn Roseborough Bio Have an idea for a topic on our podcast? Leave us a voicemail at (404) 793-4098 How do you prepare physically and emotionally for a trial? Leave us a voicemail at (404) 793-4098 and you might hear your tips on our podcast. Contact us by email at gawl.communications@gmail.com and info@gawl.org Upcoming Events: February 19 - Personal Finance Panel, free to GAWL members,  $15 for non-members February 27 -The Leader Within