About Betsy
Elizabeth Munnell (“Betsy“, to her clients and colleagues) was a partner for almost 25 years at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (now Locke Lord, LLP). One of the pioneers in Edwards & Angell’s Boston office, Betsy joined her firm as a partner in 1985, six years out of law school, with a substantial book of business she had developed as a young associate at Choate Hall & Stewart. She was among the core group of “rainmakers” responsible for the growth of the Firm’s nationally recognized media and communications debt finance, private equity and M&A industry practice group and has decades of experience representing lending institutions, private equity funds and businesses in structuring sophisticated debt and equity financings.
In addition to building a national practice, Betsy was one of the chief architects of her firm’s diversity program, chairing the Boston office’s first diversity committee and playing a critical role on EAPD’s firm-wide committee. She also chaired EAPD’s highly regarded Women’s Initiative, through which she co-founded the Firm’s first peer mentoring program, organized annual retreats, and created a business development curriculum offering practical skills training to the Firm’s women attorneys.
In 2009, Betsy embarked on a new career as a lawyer coach and business development consultant, drawing on her 30 years of experience and law practice growth to provide career guidance to attorneys of all ages and experience.
Betsy remains an outspoken advocate for women and minorities in the legal profession. A vocal presence online (including her blog), Betsy is a frequent contributor to the ongoing debate on the future of legal education and practice. She favors renovating law school core requirements and associate training programs to include intensive instruction in finance, business strategies and other critical practical skills.
May 10, 2018 Orrick Finance Skills Program
In 2015, Betsy partnered with Matt Rubins, a successful venture capitalist, angel investor and education entrepreneur, to develop a one-of-a-kind business education program based on their belief that the best way to become a true “trusted advisor” is to understand the client’s business. The program is centered on a single complex case study that guides participating lawyers through the life of an acquisition and its debt financing (from term sheet to earnout dispute), requiring them to apply the finance business strategies and valuation concepts they learn from Matt to the interpretation, negotiation and amendment of legal documents. This approach assures that participating lawyers will fully comprehend the critical role of business fluency in delivering superior legal work and building profitable client relationships. (Betsy and Matt recently conducted the program in New York for Orrick‘s multi-office Senior Associates Academy, a program managed by Simon Colley at TrustLabs. Above, the TrustLabs team photograph, with Matt Rubins on the far right.)
Betsy is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. At HLS, she serves as a Visiting J.D. Adviser in the Office for Career Services. In collaboration with OCS and the HLS Women’s Law Association, Betsy offers a spring semester career coaching program for women law students transitioning to large firm practice, with the goal of maximizing their success in their summer jobs and in the first, crucial months of practice. She has also coached women students at Boston College Law School and Boston University Law School.
Betsy Chairs the Board of the American Bar Association’s Career Center. She is a former Trustee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and a member of the Boston Bar Foundation’s Society of Fellows. Betsy has served on the Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of the Profession. She has also consulted extensively to The Fullbridge Program, a coaching-intensive XBA business education program for law firm associates, advising on law program content, marketing strategies and brand awareness. Betsy is among the select group of coaches featured on Diversity Lab’s Top Lawyer Coaches site.
Like her husband, also a lawyer, Betsy grew up in New York City. They live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and have three daughters, aged 28, 23 and 20, an anxious but irresistible rescue dog and a beautiful, opinionated sun conure parrot.
Career Coaching for Lawyers: Testimonials from Clients and Colleagues
Walter Rodriguez, Associate, Locke Lord, LLP (formerly, Edwards Wildman & Palmer), Boston College Law School ’15
April Gallagher, Global Head Strategic Marketing at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Rina Mayman, AVP Legal Counsel, MFS Investment Management; Former Director of Professional Development, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP
Steve Meredith, Partner, Choate, Hall & Stewart
Ted Folkman, Partner, Murphy & King