A Team of Two Hundred

Okay, what’s the catch?  I asked myself that question a dozen times over the three days of the PDC’s annual conference this year.  I joined the PDC only a few months ago, so this was all new to me.  You’re telling me we gather 200 people from competing law firms across the country (around the world!  Shout out to our Canadian and Japanese members), and somehow they’re all willing to share info and collaborate? 

The initially puzzling impression I had of PDCers was that everyone was so. . . helpful.  Kelli from St. Louis led a workshop on creating a mid-level academy, which will be useful if I ever have to build a mid-level academy.  Oh, wait.  I’m doing that right now.  Presenters and participants alike shared ideas, best practices, and traps for the unwary, so my team and I have a head start now in our next big undertaking.

The affability of the group made more sense when I realized that PD people build their careers around helping their colleagues.  No surprise, I guess, that those same people help their peers in a professional organization.  As a lawyer I thought I knew all about working on teams to get something done, but man, the PDCers really nail it.  

Erin Walczewski
Cooley LLP