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Since she last spoke with Hispanic Executive in May 2020, G. Michelle Ferreira guided Greenberg Traurig (GT) through the COVID-19 pandemic while helping the firm find a new location for the firm’s San Francisco offices.
Ferreira, senior vice president, cochair of the Global Tax Practice and comanaging shareholder, caught up with us to speak on the new office space, her continued focus on building culture at Greenberg Traurig, and the value she brings as a mentor and leader.
It’s been three years since we last spoke, so let’s get right into what the last few years have looked like for you.
The challenge in the past couple of years was the physical growth of our San Francisco office while we were working from home for almost two full years in the pandemic. Since the office was originally established in 2010 with only six lawyers, our burgeoning growth necessitated finding a new space to accommodate the attorneys and staff, while we were out of the office during San Francisco’s COVID-19 work from home mandates.
Throughout 2021 and into 2023, I was tasked with leading a team to guide the office through a monumental but successful relocation to its current location, all the while maintaining my busy legal practice, a full speaking schedule, and my firm leadership roles (including spearheading shareholder compensation in the West). The pandemic work from home orders were a challenge as SF was only connected remotely for almost two years. Despite this challenge, we were able to coordinate with firm professionals and outside experts to deliver an amazing new office. Of course, this involved a full group of dedicated people who were not only located in San Francisco, but also throughout the firm.
Our move included weekly meetings with architects, internal and external design teams, contractors, engineers, and facilities managers. I am proud that the look and feel of our unique office space meets our employees’ current working style and the new office has drawn people back to the office, which always was the goal.
“Being a hands-on leader for our attorneys is critical. If new attorneys can tap into our global platform, develop new business, and grow their practices, they are more likely to be successful and happy at GT.”
Michelle Ferreira
Could you talk about your dedication to helping integrate new hires into the firm culture?
I am dedicated to incorporating new hires into the offices while introducing them to GT’s culture of collaboration. With more than 2,650 attorneys and 47 locations, it is a bit daunting to connect laterals with our vast network of attorneys. My comanaging shareholder of the San Francisco office, Brad Marsh, and I pride ourselves on introducing our new associates and lateral shareholders to the people who will help them grow their practice throughout the firm. Brad and I personally set up meetings with attorneys who have a similar or diverse practice focuses, in order to fulfill our attorneys’ client needs.
Being a hands-on leader for our attorneys is critical. If new attorneys can tap into our global platform, develop new business, and grow their practices, they are more likely to be successful and happy at GT. San Francisco had one of our best years yet in 2023.
What else is important to you when it comes to mentoring? What kind of a resource do you try and be for those more junior in their careers?
I am always looking for new ways to create opportunities for success and leadership for our attorneys, professional staff, clients, and even vendors—particularly those who may have come into the legal profession through nontraditional routes or who have unique personal life experiences based on their economic, geographic, or educational backgrounds.
I have been involved in the firm’s Women’s Initiative as another avenue for empowering female attorneys. Externally, I mentor and promote women and diverse attorneys as a former board member of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Justice & Diversity Center, as well as via local, state, and federal tax bars to which I belong. I am often involved in speaking and writing opportunities that further my dedication to mentoring the next generation of attorneys.
What kind of guidance can you provide for those also looking to find the right space for their organization?
Throughout my career, I have enjoyed a reputation as a mentor and leader, especially to younger female attorneys. Mentorship is an essential responsibility of a good leader; it needs to be proactive and visible. It is about facilitating a path here so they can eventually evolve into our new leaders. I believe it is important to give people the tools and resources to further their professional development.
“Mentorship is an essential responsibility of a good leader; it needs to be proactive and visible.”
Michelle Ferreira
The best advice I’ve received, taken, and given is to find a mentor. I’ve had strong mentorships, with both women and men, that helped shape my career. I’ve tried to emulate their support by serving as a mentor to the next generation of attorneys, through both the firm’s Women’s Initiative, which focuses on fostering the success of women attorneys, and SOMOS GT, which supports the success of Latinx lawyers throughout the firm. Mentorship is a fundamental aspect of leadership; we can recruit diverse classes of associates and hire lateral shareholders, but we also must provide a path where they can succeed in their careers. Diversity is demonstrated best by action in all facets of our firm.
Are there any lessons you learned that you’d like to go back and tell yourself?
I wish someone had told me to speak up more when I was a younger attorney. I thought that speaking up and asking for help was a sign of weakness. Rather, the advice I would now give newer lawyers is to ask for help. Collaboration is often the way to come up with a unique take or an innovative way to tackle a client’s problem. Also, I would go back and tell my younger self to thank those above me who mentored me and those below me who assisted in all my client matters. No individual is successful in the legal field without an entire team of mentors and support staff who provided some form of help along in their career.
G. Michelle Ferreira is a Greenberg Traurig senior vice president and comanaging shareholder of the global law firm’s San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. As an attorney, she counsels individuals, partnerships, estates, and corporations in tax disputes with the IRS and state and local tax agencies, including the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the Employment Development Department, and county assessment appeals boards. Early on, Ferreira was given the opportunity to lead the expansion of the firm’s San Francisco office to address client needs in areas such as IP, litigation, insurance, data privacy, real estate, tax, and labor and employment, growing the office from eight lawyers to nearly seventy, currently. She is also a voting member of the executive committee that decides on the strategic direction for the firm’s 2,650 lawyers and more than 2,000 professional staff in 47 locations and serves as a key advisor to the chairs of Greenberg Traurig’s global Tax Practice, a team of more than 100 tax attorneys dispersed across over three continents. For years she has conducted shareholder reviews and compensation for the firm’s Northern California offices and recently took on the task of shareholder reviews for the entire State of California and Utah, as well as shareholder compensation for the seven offices in California and Utah. Recently, Ferreira was honored with Corporate Counsel’s 2023 Women, Influence & Power in Law Collaborative Leadership Award.
