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88 WENDY REISS McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, Managing Partner, National Bankruptcy One career highlight, according to Wendy Reiss, is being apart of her team's growth and continued achievements. "Being a mirror for these amazingly hardworking people and helping them to see that what they may think is impossible, and out of reach, is actually already within them," she said. "•ese are the best moments, the proudest moments." She added that she chose to study law because there's "never one right answer." Instead, she said, "•ere are only interpretations, applications, implementations, and explanations, and the law provides a framework upon which all of these can be argued, viewed, and perceived differently," she said. "•e law is actually a most creative space as everything is defined, and yet nothing is finally decided—it's all up for debate. •e law is a playground for the perpetually analytical and it inspires me every day." Reiss said while she has never encountered challenges during her career, she knows of many female colleagues that have and admires them for overcoming those challenges. "My natural female intuition has always served me well both as a leader and a negotiator. My talents honed as manager of the household have always complemented the skills required to excel as a leader of a large department," she said. "In fact, I have always attributed my success, and not my challenges, in part, to my being a female and all that naturally comes with that advantage." NUMBER OF YEARS PRACTICING LAW: 17 DONNA "CASEY" CASE- ROSSATO McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, Managing Partner, Connecticut Foreclosures Donna Case-Rossato said what she enjoys most about this profession is that everyday is different. "We are always encountering new opportunities and avenues to assist our clients with their legal, compliance, and business needs," she said. An industry veteran of 30 years, Case-Rossato said she has experienced several challenges during her career—many not experienced by her male colleagues. "-ey have ranged from being thought to be the 'secretary' while on the phone to being denied access to judge's chambers for a settlement conference while all the male attorneys attended the session," she said. "-at was many years ago and thankfully much has changed." Case-Rossato was a "returning student," entering law school after five years in retail, getting married, having children, and buying a home. She said she was looking for a career where she could use her business and interpersonal skills in a more challenging environment. "I had also seen a close family member suffer through some tremendous personal and legal setbacks and thought that there had to be more to all of this," she said. "It inspired me to investigate certain aspects of the law and gave me the final push to go back to school." She is most proud of being an integral part of the team responsible for combining two successful law firms—Hunt Leibert and McCalla Raymer Pierce. NUMBER OF YEARS PRACTICING LAW: 30 JANUARY N. TAYLOR McMichael Taylor Gray LLC, Managing Partner January Taylor said the formation of McMichael Taylor Gray LLC is "by far" her proudest career highlight. "Getting to partner with such an amazing group of people who share the same vision and values as I do is more than I could have ever imagined. I get to work with some of the most dedicated, hard-working people in this industry. People I admire and who inspire me every day to do better and be better," she said. Taylor added one of the best parts of her job is collaborating with colleagues. She said the industry has seen a great deal of change over the past 15 years, and the result has been increased collaboration among attorneys and other mortgage professionals. "Our industry does a great job of promoting and encouraging its members to work together and I am consistently impressed by the level of professionalism shown by my colleagues," Taylor said. "„at type of collaboration plays a big role in expansion as well. Legal professionals are being forced to get creative during this time of record-low default rates," Taylor said, "and we should all be looking at other services we can offer in an effort to diversify. Our clients get to reap the benefits of diversification as well so now, more than ever, is a great time for lenders and servicers to look at outsourcing processes in order to keep overhead and costs down." NUMBER OF YEARS PRACTICING LAW: 15 Top 25 Women of Law

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