Wide Open Spaces Getting Out From Under The Shadow Of Giants In Your Law Firm

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Wide Open Spaces: Getting Out from Under the Shadow of Giants in Your Law Firm At the end April and early May, I will be hosting the 4th annual Outstanding Women Lawyers Roundtable. US and Canadian Lawyers will come to Fort Worth (Cow Town) to meet and share ideas on topics ranging from law firm leadership to targeted marketing. You might recall this post:  Highlights from Our 3rd Annual Outstanding Women Lawyers’ Roundtable. Last year two Canadian lawyers praised Fort Worth for being the cleanest city they had ever visited. Last year we held the event the first weekend in June and the local children had just finished school on that Friday so many were in Sundance Square running through the fountains. Joyce took a hearty group to Billy Bob’s Texas last year and I am confident a group will join her this year. When I think of this event and Fort Worth, I start singing my favorite Dixie Chicks song: Wide Open Spaces.  As you may know the band got its start in Dallas. I wish I could say that I listened to them singing on a corner in the West End, but I don’t honestly remember that. Here are some lyrics that tell a great story. It is about venturing out and taking some risks. Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about Who’s never left home, who’s never struck out To find a dream and a life of their own A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone Many precede and many will follow A young girl’s dreams no longer hollow It takes the shape of a place out west But what it holds for her, she hasn’t yet guessed She needs wide open spaces Room to make her big mistakes She needs new faces She knows the high stakes How did the song written by Susan Gibson become the hit sung by the Dixie Chicks? You might enjoy reading about it:  Story Behind the Song: Wide Open Spaces. Recalling the struggle to record her song, Gibson admits, “The song reflected where both of us â€" the Dixie Chicks and myself were at that moment. We both needed space to grow, to try our wings. Many young lawyers I know need the space to get out from other the shadow of a giant in their own law firm. I hope if you are one of those lawyers you will be inspired by Wide Open Spaces. One final thought: Sisters  Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines: We miss you. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.