Around the water cooler: Q & A with Anne Hamblin Schiave

As part of our weekly online Q & A, we talk with Anne Hamblin Schiave, a partner in corporate and mergers/acquisitions at Holland & Knight. She has been practicing for over 30 years.

What do you find the most interesting about your practice?

The people–usually clients–and the business challenges they confront. The business world is changing so radically and so fast that our clients need to identify opportunities and problems on a weekly, if not daily basis. Crafting the responses to those opportunities and problems is an ever-evolving challenge requiring an open mind, new skills, and courage. I enjoy and admire how clients evolve in response to both their personal and professional lives.

What makes a good lawyer?

All lawyers need a minimal level of substantive knowledge and skills, but what makes a good lawyer is intellectual curiosity, an ability to achieve results, and dedication to the interests of her clients. An intellectual curiosity about the context in which the legal problems arise provides a lawyer with not only alternative avenues to assist her client, but also the insights to redefine what the client really needs or wants.

To be a good lawyer, one must achieve results, which can translate into (depending on your area of practice) filing the brief on time, meeting the client on Sunday morning, biting one’s tongue with arrogant opposing counsel, anticipating the bank’s position at the closing table, finding third parties to support the client’s position, and listening to the client’s personal woes before he commits to a substantial business decision.

Finally, a good lawyer is dedicated to the interests of the client because lawyers are in the “personal service” business: a good lawyer applies her personal intelligence, skills, experience and insights into making the client look better or perform better than the client would do without her.  To me, dedication to the client’s interests does not include breaking the law, or playing loose with the rules, or sacrificing the lawyer’s integrity, because doing so will, at most, only help the client’s short-term interests.  Long-term interests of the clients always depend on compliance with the law, the rules, and integrity, and, sometimes, it is the responsibility of a good lawyer to reminder her client of that fact.

What is the biggest legal news right now, and what is its impact? 

The remaking of the financial markets: given that our legal system is based on a capitalist society, everything in the legal system is driven by the state of the economy, the direction it is moving, and the speed at which it is moving.