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MWL Member Spotlight: Katie Weiss By
Jessica Shellum Katie Weiss has an incredible gift for recognizing people’s strengths and weaknesses while putting them at ease and making them comfortable with her professional demeanor. It is for these reasons I am not surprised that she chose to leave the traditional practice of law with a law firm to become a recruiter and has grown to be one of the top attorney recruiters in the metro area. The first occasion I had to meet Katie Weiss was in a recruitment setting. I was being recruited to join Robert Half Legal. When I came in for my second interview I was greeted by a woman who showed a sense of professionalism well beyond her years: Katie Weiss. As we sat down and began the interview Katie quickly put me at ease and made our discussion seem more like a conversation between old friends than a job interview. At the conclusion of the interview, Katie, the Division Director for Robert Half Legal Temporary Placement, took me to the floor and introduced me to the rest of the Robert Half Legal team. Later that afternoon, as I rode the elevator down from the Robert Half International Offices, I knew that I wanted to be a part of the team and work for a leader that inspired by example and sincerity. Katie Weiss received her Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota in 2003, completing the life long dream of a young woman from Albert Lea. During her junior high school years Katie became involved with the YMCA's Youth in Government and United Nations programs. It is through these experiences that Katie began to realize that many of the people making a difference in those programs were attorneys. Shortly after coming to this realization, Katie set her mind to becoming a lawyer herself. “Many in my family considered my dreams of practicing law to be that of a young girl with no sense of reality,” remarked Katie, “which only made me want it more.” It was this single minded determination that drove Katie from then on. She graduated near the top of her class from Albert Lea High School and quickly settled in at the University of St. Thomas. At St. Thomas, she majored in Political Science and minored in Spanish graduating cum laude in 2000. During her undergraduate years at St. Thomas, Katie kept her focus on her future legal career participating in mock trial and the pre-law society. The summer following her first year of law school, Katie was given the opportunity to clerk at Cronan, Pearson, Quinlivan PA, a small civil litigation firm in Minneapolis. She supported six attorneys specializing in insurance defense, mainly environmental, product and premise liability. Katie continued to clerk at Cronan, Pearson, Quinlivan PA in the successive summers as she powered through her final years of law school. In addition, she was involved with the Minnesota Justice Foundation’s Street Law program, the Child Advocacy Clinic and the Admissions Committee. Katie’s singular focus was about to pay off. In 2004, she was admitted to the Minnesota Bar and accepted a position at Cronan, Pearson, Quinlivan PA., as the only associate. She had excelled from day one at Cronan and was extremely excited to begin her career as a lawyer. Being a smaller firm Katie was afforded opportunities that friends from law school at larger firms had to wait years to handle. She was able to have direct contact with many clients and from day one as an associate she took and defended depositions and it wasn’t long before she had the opportunity to appear in court. Late one evening in her office Katie began to question her choice to practice. She had been working nearly thirteen hours, when it hit her that she had only billed six hours for the day. She began to wonder if there were other opportunities for her to build on her education or if this was just "the way of life for all attorneys." “I lacked passion for the practice of law and I panicked. I went to law school to be an attorney. What am I going to do? Will people respect me if I'm not an ‘attorney’?” noted Katie. Not long after this significant evening, Katie began to talk with some of her family and friends about other career opportunities. One evening she was speaking with her sister, Kelly, who had worked at Robert Half previously. Kelly reminded Katie that Robert Half International had a line of business that specialized in legal staffing in the metro. Knowing that Kelly had very much enjoyed her time at Robert Half, Katie began to give recruiting serious thought. Not long after joining Robert Half Legal, Katie became much more involved with Minnesota Women Lawyers beyond just paying her membership dues. She has been a co-chair of the Silent Auction committee as well as the Member Services Committee for the last two years. She is convinced that her involvement with MWL and her contact with its amazing members have been integral in her transition from the traditional practice of law toward a non-traditional legal career path. Katie's journey at Robert Half Legal has had many successes. She joined the team in 2005 and was quickly promoted to Division Director of the temporary placement team. In addition, Katie has played a key role in building the attorney placement team for full-time positions. “It hit me one day when I woke up one day that I was not dreading the next 12 hours of my life at work. Having the opportunity to help people find their ideal position is incredibly fulfilling," said Katie. I am thrilled that I have had the opportunity to be a part of Katie's journey from practicing to recruiting. Katie has fulfilled her dream as a little girl to make a difference in the world. And she has found a respected role as an attorney. Not only does Katie excel as an attorney, but also as a person who puts those around her at ease in any setting. ------------------------------
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