#130: Emily Stedman – Big Law Litigator and Lawyer Well-Being Advocate

How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin

Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where it is my job to interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.

Today’s guest is Emily Stedman, a Partner at Husch Blackwell, where she helps clients resolve complex commercial litigations. Emily represents a wide range of corporate clients at all phases of litigation, from investigation to appeal, in state and federal courts. After graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, Emily clerked for Judge Pamela Pepper in the United States District Court and Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Following her clerkships, Emily worked as a commercial litigation associate at another law firm in Milwaukee before joining Husch Blackwell’s office there, where she was promoted to Partner in 2024. Online, Emily maintains an active LinkedIn presence and shares her perspective on lawyer well-being.

In this episode, Emily shares valuable insights about the legal profession including:

👩‍🏫 How taking two years off before law school to teach a room full of children, as part of Teach for America, helped Emily hone her time-management and public speaking skills and gave her greater real-world experience prior to starting law school [3:17]

🌊 How making the most of her second choices and “riding the waves” of her career gave Emily opportunities leading to where she is today [8:54]

🏛️ How the judge she interned for during her 2L year landed her a last-minute federal clerkship in Wisconsin that became the foundation of her legal career [10:31]

🔀 How her day-to-day as a Big Law litigator is dynamic and ever-changing [18:02]

👩‍⚖️ How clerking gave her the ability to know what annoys judges and their clerks, and conversely, how to effectively advocate before the court [19:44]

🗂️ How she prepares for depositions by creating a document-driven outline [24:53]

🎯 How she takes control of her annual billable hour requirement by tracking her daily, weekly, and monthly billing targets [30:47]

📑 How reviewing a client bill gave her insight into billing best practices [36:46]

🏦 How Emily made her case to become Partner at Husch Blackwell [40:54]

🌱 How lawyers must invest in their well-being and bring humanity to their jobs [49:05]

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