Mallory Briggs

Senior Associate, Blank Rome LLP

Mallory Briggs is a senior associate in Blank Rome’s Finance, Restructuring and Bankruptcy practice group. She has significant transaction experience in acquisition and leveraged buyout financing, asset-based financing and cash flow financing along with restructurings, reorganizations and workouts. Mallory actively volunteers with the Senior Law Center and sits on the board of The Bethesda Project, an organization assisting people experiencing homelessness. Mallory received her B.A. from Baylor University and her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she was a published member of the Sports and Entertainment Law Journal.

How do you define a good leader?

A good leader is someone who is committed to constantly evolving, learning and growing. These are tough traits to implement because they take time and introspection but are worth the effort. Reading, listening to other people and learning from situations and mistakes are some of the ways someone can actively hone these skills. Everyone should be focused on improving these skills because everyone is a leader in various capacities in their work and in life.  A good leader makes themselves better and makes the people around them better. The effort to be a good leader should never end!

What advice do you normally give to the junior talent you mentor? 

Focus on learning everything you can, not just the work itself. Being a junior associate is overwhelming and the focus can sometimes be too narrow of focusing solely on drafting documentation or understanding legal issues. While this is incredibly important, I am always reminding associates to keep a broader perspective on what they are trying to learn. The growth they should be focused on is as a professional as a whole and that includes both hard and soft skills. One of the best ways to do this is to learn from the people you work with and watch how they operate – how do they think through a difficult issue, how do they give feedback, how do they interact with a client in a tough situation – and then actively think about whether you should emulate how they handled it or try and do things differently. As the junior associate moves up to becoming a mid-level or senior, then they are already set up to start being intentional about their own growth. The focus should always be on becoming a strong and skilled professional from a holistic perspective. 

How would you encourage young professionals to become more involved in their community or volunteer? How have these activities outside of work helped shape your professional life?  

Make the decision when you start your career that your professional life is not solely the job you do and commit to seeing personal success measured as part of a larger goal than your own career advancement. Without making these commitments, it is too easy to have reasons that volunteering or being part of the community will be something you do later once your career is more established or you have more time in your life. As a weekly volunteer with The Senior Law Center, I answer calls from seniors who have questions and need advice on legal matters they are struggling with. I am reminded each week of how a little effort on my part makes a huge difference in the lives of others and how I need to use my skillset as a lawyer to continue to provide that assistance.