Lisa Feldstein's Secret Sauce for Success

1. Who are you? What's your story?

I am a health and fertility lawyer in the Greater Toronto Area. I am also a mom, dog owner, tree hugger, vegan, twin, former competitive dancer, fitness enthusiast, ukulele player, and entrepreneur.

As a kid I kept a list of different careers I might want to pursue – author, Broadway choreographer, child psychologist, and many others. It never included lawyer. It was only in grade 12, in a law class taught by a former lawyer (shoutout to Brian Levy!), that I felt the spark that made me decide to pursue law. Thanks to my mother’s astute observation that all my high school projects focused on bioethics (a term I had never previously heard), by age 17 health law was my destination. And I never looked back. The only thing that changed was my clients. I switched from serving health care organizations in the beginning of my career to serving family caregivers and people building families through third party reproduction. I call what I do Family Health Law™.

2. What's your definition of success?

I think success is when you experience joy, purpose and/or flow multiple times a day and can make a living while you’re at it.

When I was about 20 years old my dad was getting rid of some books and asked if I wanted to keep any. I chose to read one called “Small Giants: Companies that choose to be great instead of big.” Although at the time I never thought I would run a business, the book had a profound impact on my future. The book was all about companies that could have grown large but decided to stay small, often to stay true to the vision of the founders. The book showed me that growth for growth’s sake is not always aspirational. It made me realize that as a small business owner I could have control over my schedule so that I can experience joy, purpose and/or flow much of the time.

3. How did you achieve success?

I don’t know that I will ever be able to declare myself successful in the traditional sense when there is always so much more I want to do and learn, and so many problems in the world. I also have to acknowledge a good amount of luck and privilege has played a role in any success I have achieved.

But to use my definition above, the fact that I get to help family caregivers and people building families does make me feel successful. I know my work matters deeply to the clients I serve. I can check the “purpose” box every day.

4. What's your secret sauce for success?

My undergraduate degree was in psychology and despite graduating, I’ve never stopped learning. I love to learn about how humans work and what makes each of us unique. When I started my firm in 2013 I did some personality assessments to try and gain some objective insights into my strengths and weaknesses. In my pursuit of success, I have learned to lean into my strengths. For example, my love of learning and teaching means that creating content (blogs, YouTube videos, online courses, etc.) comes naturally and is fun for me. It means teaching university courses on the side, while making life more hectic, brings me joy. I have also learned to counterbalance some of my weaknesses. For example, I am empathetic to a fault which makes hourly billing a challenge, so I instead mainly offer flat fees. I can also be indecisive, so I try to bounce ideas off others or announce them publicly to help me move forward and create accountability.

5. How do you prioritize peace?

I need to be creative to be at peace.

Within my business, I have an almost insatiable need to create. “Just” doing the work for clients and running a firm is not enough to fill my soul. I have prioritized this by finding ways to exercise creativity within my law firm. It’s part of why I launched Kinkeeper™ (our online course platform for family caregivers) and C’est Law Vie (CPD for lawyers and paralegals who run their own firms). It’s why I like to tinker with technology in my firm and play around with apps, chatbots and other shiny new objects. I need creative projects to avoid feeling restless.

6. Anything else you would like to share?

I have met many young lawyers who think about quitting law early in their careers. A few times I’ve seen them want to give up after less than a year. I graduated in 2010 and have been part of the profession long enough to declare that I think many of those lawyers did not need to leave law – they just needed to find a better fit.

Private practice is not for everyone. Serving clients is not for everyone. Going to court is not for everyone. Wearing a suit is not for everyone. Working from home is not for everyone. Serving corporations is not for everyone. Orange walls are not for everyone (yes, my office is orange and it’s awesome but I get it is not for everyone). There is so much room in the law to design your career. This can be hard at the beginning, particularly if you don’t know what you like or dislike, or you feel trapped by student debt. But if you are unhappy in your current role, take stock of your practice area, the clients, the culture, the physical environment, the town/city, and the type of tasks that form your work. Do some personality assessments to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Speak with career coaches. Speak with people in industries you find fascinating. Talk to colleagues who have unique careers or have created new roles for themselves. Just don’t count yourself out too soon and conclude that the law is not right for you. You may just have to create a new path that works for you.