Jamie Gorelick Strikes A Balance

Fannie Mae Vice Chair Blends Law, Business, and Public Service

Jamie Gorelick, vice chair of Fannie Mae, visited UDC-DCSL on October 30, 2001, as the featured guest in a noon-time program sponsored by the Women's Law Society and the Office of Career Services. Students, faculty, and staff experienced a golden opportunity to talk with, and gain insight from, a highly accomplished lawyer and businesswoman whose career path has led her to do important work in government and banking, while honoring her commitment to public service. Judging by the enthusiastic response to Ms. Gorelick's words of wisdom for budding lawyers, she may, by advice and example, have set some of our DCSL students upon a career path that encompasses any or all of these career fields.

Ms. Gorelick, a graduate of Harvard College, and Harvard Law School, has an extensive professional resume that incorporates work in federal agencies as diverse as the Justice Department, the Defense Department, and the Department of Energy. When asked how a newly minted lawyer might start along a successful career path at these or other agencies, Ms. Gorelick was quick to point out that no one does it alone. Even while still in law school, she advised, students should seek out mentors, establish relationships with people working in a student's field of interest, and actively and persistently lay the groundwork for that first full-time job. This effort, she also indicated, does not stop with the first job; career building, in and of itself, is a full-time job of establishing and nurturing fruitful relationships, and seeking career advice and guidance. Ms. Gorelick was also quick to acknowledge the invaluable counsel and support of those who helped her along her own career path beginning with her first job and continuing through her present position with Fannie Mae.

During the program, the eternal question arose: How does a young attorney, or a third year student who is about to embark on a legal career, strike a balance between the heart - which may call for a full-time commitment to public interest and public service work - and the wallet, which demands the economic benefits often associated with the fruitful practice of law? Ms. Gorelick advised that the key word in that situation is balance.

In her well reasoned response to the question, Ms. Gorelick advised that a young attorney, while ever mindful of economic concerns, can exercise options such as becoming an associate at a law firm, entering government service, or working in the corporate arena. Even with these kinds of early career choices, the young attorney can still find ways to satisfy the need to do public interest work through volunteer efforts on behalf of worthy causes, as well as through involvement with committees or boards of nonprofit organizations doing the kind of work that interests the young attorney. As time passes, Ms. Gorelick advised, the young attorney can increase her public interest efforts and consider moving to full-time participation in that side of the legal profession if that is the more satisfying career path. Ms. Gorelick has certainly illustrated this approach to public interest work in her own career, with her longstanding involvement in such public interest and nonprofit organizations as the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation, America's Promise, the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

Ms. Gorelick's appearance as guest speaker represented a timely and powerful illustration for DCSL students on how one person can recognize, establish, and nurture opportunities in both law and business, and then use those opportunities to build a successful career, while at the same time answering the call to public service. By example and advice, Ms. Gorelick showed members of the audience that it is possible to do important work in many diverse career fields, just as it is possible to follow the call to public service inherent in the DCSL mission. It's often just a matter of balance.