Women In Law On the Record - Home

Listen to the stories of other women in the legal field while you are on your commute, doing chores around the house, or on your lunch break.

Today I’m talking with Amy Tu, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Tyson Foods in Springdale, Arkansas. As you will hear, Amy has great responsibility as she oversees the legal department, ethics and compliance, corporate communications, government investigations, and internal audit. Amy is also the President of Tyson Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in companies developing breakthrough technologies. Amy attended Wellesley College where she studied economics. After graduation, she spent a couple years on Wall Street where she cut her teeth in the corporate world. She moved back to her native Arkansas with the hope that she would work on President Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign. Amy then attended law school at the University of Arkansas.

Towards the end of her law school career, she applied for a torts job at Walmart. But instead of interviewing for that job, she got a call from Walmart’s General Counsel who was intrigued by her Wall Street experience and asked her what she really wanted to do, to which she answered “international law.” Amy spent a few years at Walmart but attributes many of her career and legal lessons to her time at Boeing where she spent 16 years making a name for herself, building up her own practice, and going through experiences that would prepare her for her current role at Tyson. My takeaway from Amy’s story is that you must ask for what you want and do everything you can to make your goals a reality. That’s exactly what Amy did when she moved abroad while working for Boeing but before they had any attorneys outside the United States. Amy was diligent to create a place for herself in their London office. This effort took many months, a lot of relationship development, and unwavering drive. It’s one of Amy’s proudest accomplishments but just one example of what it took to get to where she is.

Today I’m talking with Kate Dugan, Associate General Counsel at Energizer Holdings specializing in commercial law, marketing, and intellectual property. Kate started her legal career at Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Missouri where she learned what it meant to be a litigator and got meaningful pro bono experience. From there, she moved to Chicago where she would spend the next 7 years at Greenberg Traurig. During that time, Kate developed valuable mentor relationships and got the type of experiences that would prepare her for her current role in-house. She’s been with Energizer Holdings for over 6 years now. During our discussion, Kate emphasized the importance of planning in order to become the type of lawyer you really want to be. She shared what she learned about herself is some of the more challenging points in her career and how assured she was that she had been trained and prepared for those moments. Kate was so fun to talk to, I hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as I did.

Today I’m talking with two lady lawyers - U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas, Alia Moses, and Nicole Westbrook, her former law clerk and litigation shareholder at Jones & Keller in Denver, Colorado. During our conversation, Judge Moses and Nicole emphasized the importance of preparation, advocacy and hard work - all things both of them fully embrace. Judge Moses was raised in a small Texas town, has been on the bench since 2002, and feels like the law was her calling. She takes great pride in how her courtroom is run and the lawyers that her former clerks have become. Nicole, who spent several years with Judge Moses, attributes many of her skills to the judge’s mentorship and guidance. Warding off the pressure to go with the flashiest firm, Nicole moved to a law firm that was the right fit for her. She knew she wanted good, substantive experience and to hit the ground running with her practice. That’s precisely what she got. I was inspired by both of these women’s dedication to the law, standard for professionalism, and deep appreciation for women in our field. I think you will be too.

" Connection is why we're here; it's what gives purpose & meaning to our lives. "

Brené Brown