Business Professionals

“I loved being able to peer behind the curtain of the firm’s operations,” she said. “I kept looking for ways to get more and more involved, and I just never stopped.”

Although Gutierrez had never formally studied finance or economics, she had a natural talent for financial analysis. Over the next six years, she built a reputation for crafting smart, creative pricing solutions. In 2012, she was appointed Firmwide Director of Practice Management. Since then, she has played an instrumental role in O’Melveny’s revenue planning, utilization management, strategic planning, work coordination, staffing, lateral hiring, and case management.

Gutierrez and her team ease the burden on O’Melveny’s partners through their expertise in practice and project management. Their work on one particular massive, history-making legal battle is illustrative of the value they bring to O’Melveny’s attorneys and clients alike. “The firm had more than a hundred lawyers working on this case, so it was almost like we were running a small firm within a firm,” she said. “Rather than having our attorneys focused on invoices, staffing, and budgeting, our team took the lead in such managerial matters, freeing up space for our lawyers do what they do best: advocating for our clients.”

Gutierrez and her team introduced a number of principles and processes, such as efficiency trackers to monitor the distribution of assignments, that mitigated costs while maximizing operational efficiency. They also had the vital effect of boosting morale. “When we had budget and staffing calls, we’d look at workloads and hours to make sure we weren’t calling on the same people over and over again,” she said. “In a case that went on for years and required everything we had to give, this process took so much pressure off the lawyers.”

The impact that Gutierrez and her team has had may be best captured by a complement she received from a member of the client’s legal operations team—one she says she’ll never forget: “O’Melveny is the gold standard of case management. You treat our money like it’s yours.’” That’s when Gutierrez knew her team’s efforts had really paid off.

While law school remains the road not taken, Gutierrez has no regrets. In fact, she vividly recalls the moment, more than a decade ago, when everything fell into place. “I was commuting from LA to Century City for a meeting, and as I was driving, I thought, ‘I really love my career.’” It was the first time I’d thought of it as a career rather than a job.” Now, as a member of O'Melveny's senior management team, Gutierrez can’t see herself ever leaving. “I have a seat at the table, and I’ve always been supported in my growth. This is the best place I could ever imagine working.”

Poindexter Page first came to O’Melveny as a Staff Attorney in the e-discovery department, where she helped establish some of the firm’s core case management protocols. Animated by her “natural affinity for diversity issues,” she became active in several firm groups, including the African American Professionals Affinity Group (AAP) and the LA Women's Attorney Network. “Eventually, I realized I wanted to cover this ground in my day-to-day role,” Poindexter Page explained. She took advantage of O’Melveny’s personalized career development coaching and mentoring scheme to plot out a new course, eventually transitioning to a Work Coordinator position in the Talent Development group.

Poindexter Page’s involvement in various social justice programs continued apace over the years, resulting in recognition from firm leadership as well as the profession at large. In 2014, her work with the AIDS Legal Services Project earned her the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Honorable Benjamin Aranda III Outstanding Public Service Award. In 2016,

O’Melveny awarded her its highest honor, the Warren Christopher Values Award. Finally, in 2019, when the current AAP co-chair stepped down, she was asked to take their place.

“As co-chair, my guiding principle has been, and always will be, connectivity,” Poindexter Page said. “The many people of color who work at O’Melveny need to be able to see each other. That’s why we’ve made internal networking a priority.” When a self-identified Black employee joins the firm, for example, the AAP reaches out with a welcome message and offers to connect them with other members of the group. “Our vision for the future is all about building long-lasting relationships and improving retention, and these strategies play an instrumental role. We want to make people really feel at home here.”

Poindexter Page and co-chair Tracy Scott have enlisted additional perspectives to help employees make sense of their post-pandemic “new normal”—and strengthen their connections to each other. The AAP has partnered with two other employee networks, the Asian South-Asian Islander Society and Latino/a Employee Network, to examine how discrimination, race, language, and criminal justice policies impact their communities. They also invited Jody David Armour, Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law, to discuss racism in the legal industry, particularly the importance of challenging conventional recruiting methods.

More than anything, Poindexter Page is struck by the potential for meaningful solidarity between different affinity groups at the firm. “As my team and I work to train and mentor young lawyers of color at O’Melveny, it’s an approach I want us all to keep top of mind. Those connections are what will power the next generation of diverse legal leaders.”

Within six years, Weber became the Office Administrator for the Newport Beach office—a move that would have been impossible without Demos’ initial encouragement. “This firm is amazing at helping people identify and pursue a career path,” she said. “It’s no wonder our retention rates are so high.”

Since taking on the role, she’s thrown herself into to harnessing the fellowship her office has long been known for. “In Newport, we have a very close-knit, family-oriented office,” she said. She and her team host regular social outings for employees, some of whom work on different floors, to get to know each other better. Their plans are specifically designed to encourage camaraderie between lawyers and business professionals. “Over the course of my time—well over a decade now—working in law, there’s been an increased awareness in the industry about developing our business professionals, and I am so proud to say that O’Melveny has consistently done that in an inclusive and valuable way.”

According to Weber, O’Melveny is also leading the way when it comes to quality of life benefits. “We understand that our people need flexibility to accommodate things going on in their lives,” she said. “The firm has done a lot to support our wellbeing, like our corporate wellness benefit with Peloton.” That commitment to work-life synergy shapes informal social interactions at the firm, Weber has found. “At a recent happy hour, a conversation I was in started turning toward work, but one partner stopped us and said, ‘Let’s take this time to talk about our lives and learn more about each other.’”

Weber is raring to go when it comes to planning the next great event or activity to bring the Newport Beach office together. One of her all-time favorite accomplishments in that sense unfolded during the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when she and her team threw their own Olympic Games for the office. Over the course of several weeks, colleagues participated in a wide range of events, from “minute to win it” games in the kitchen to a massive obstacle course out on the lawn. “Out of all the events we’ve ever put together, that one garnered the highest levels of participation by far,” she said. “The way people came together so joyfully—and still talk about it so fondly—represents everything this firm stands for.”