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ASSOCIATES Presented by in terms of seeing each other or compe- tition or anything like that," she says. One brother is a patent agent trainee — "So he's little bit more nerdy," she jokes, in true big-sister fashion — the other is an IP associate, and her father, T. Gary O'Neill, is an IP partner. While some might find working at the same firm trying, O'Neill says she enjoys it. "[My brothers] are two of my closest friends, so it's nice to have them here and it's nice to have peo- ple that you can bounce ideas about work off of," she says. However, O'Neill didn't always work know what? I'm going to do that too.'" with her family. She started her law ca- reer at Ottawa's Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP, where she summered in 2003, ar- ticled in 2004, and was an associate until about a year ago. At Nelligan O'Brien, she was mostly involved in the plaintiffs' side of em- ployment and labour litigation. Now, at Gowlings, she's on the other side. So how do the two compare? "The thing that I liked about working on the plain- tiffs' practice is that you really worked with people," she says. "There was a re- ally clear human element to the work and there was a real sense of making a difference in an individual's life, if you were successful in helping them resolve whatever their situation was." But conversely, she says, "you're deal- ing with a lot of files and a lot of people's problems, and you're dealing with them at a pretty critical crisis point in their life, when they've just lost their job. It can become difficult to leave work and leave other people's problems at work. They can carry over and become very easily your own problems." O'Neill says she noticed, especially as a junior lawyer when learning so many new legal skills, that there's a whole gamut of soft skills that have to be devel- oped. "It's more of a challenge because you have so many hats that you have to wear," she says. Public speaking was another skill O'Neill had to work on over the years, Mike was doing, I thought, 'You "Seeing what especially as a litigator. "I have no prob- lem speaking to people outside of the structure of a public-speaking event, but in law school I tried out every year for a moot and one year lost my voice and couldn't speak," she says. "Then another year I wasn't successful. I real- ized this is something I had to work on because I still want to do it." She says she coped by just forcing her- self to speak in public. Through her work with the County of Carleton Law Association on a committee for new law- yers and articling stu- dents, O'Neill says she'll take any oppor- tunity to get up and make a speech. That practice would inevitably make it easier to get up and speak in court. "When it came to actually getting into court, I just decided, 'You're never going to get better unless you do it,' and now I'm starting to really, after a few years of doing it, there is confidence there and I don't lose my voice anymore," she says. O'Neill has been with Gowlings for just over a year and says she enjoys the resources that a large, national firm can provide. "It really makes it more enjoy- able to do your work because it's easier to find answers and it's easier to serve our clients when we have all of these resources and you don't have to spend time reinventing the wheel all of the time," she says. O'Neill mentions that one of the best resources the Ottawa office has is a mock courtroom in the basement of the building. "There's a little jury box and places for both counsel, and it's all wired so you can videotape yourself doing training exercises," she says. "There's a great advocacy training program for our associates where we're able to go and practise these skills with partners and watch ourselves on video, which is kind of weird but at the same time, re- ally helps to improve." Are you an associate with an interesting story to tell, or do you know someone who does? E-mail the editor, gcohen@clbmedia.ca, and tell us about it. www. Law ye rmag.com A UGUST 2008 19 sight_CL_Aug_08.indd 1 6/24/08 10:05:22 AM Upcoming Conferences IP SUMMIT September 8 – 9, 2008 | Vancouver DUTY TO ACCOMMODATE September 15 – 16, 2008 | Halifax Huitième édition LES SÛRETÉS Le 16 septembre 2008 | Montréal REGULATORY COMPLIANCE September 18 – 19, 2008 | Toronto E-DISCOVERY September 22 – 23, 2008 | Halifax ENERGY CONTRACTS September 23 -24, 2008 | Calgary PRODUCT RECALL September 25 – 26, 2008 | Toronto E-DISCOVERY October 1 – 2, 2008 | Montréal COMMERCIAL INSOLVENCY & RESTRUCTURING October 17, 2008 | Toronto MAJOR BUSINESS AGREEMENTS October 27 – 28, 2008 | Chicago ABORIGINAL LAW October 28 – 29, 2008 | Toronto ENROLL TODAY! 1 888 777-1707 www.insightinfo.com Media Partner