Aysha’s Career Story

Kirkland’s Dallas office is the definition of collegial. I always feel like my opinion and insights are valued by even the most senior members of my teams. We really are one team here. I genuinely feel like I am invested in at Kirkland. It means everything to me to have champions for me as an attorney and as a person.

Kirkland combines elite professional challenges and high-stakes matters with a spirit of collegiality and investment in its lawyers, both professionally and personally. Kirkland is making me a better lawyer and I learn something new every single day.

In my first year of practice, I appeared at an out-of-town hearing by myself, second-chaired five depositions and led client calls alone. When I talk to friends and peers at other firms, they are amazed by the experiences I have already had. Kirkland invests in its junior associates, and my career thus far is a testament to that.

On the biggest case of my career thus far, I became a critical part of the team. My supervising partners and the client gave me opportunity after opportunity to take ownership of the case and develop my skills as a litigator. Eventually, nearly every single workstream — from drafting written discovery and pleadings, to document review and production, to depositions — was run through me. This work was significant to me because not only did I gain invaluable experience in my first year of practice, but I also developed a strong relationship with the client.

I am very involved in the Associates Committee, the Summer Committee, pro bono work and recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and life experiences to the Firm, especially to the Texas offices. I care a lot about Kirkland and want to help it continue to be the best in the industry.

Partners have poured their time into me from the very beginning. For example, a partner recently asked me to join him at a trial academy hosted by the Firm and one of its clients at an HBCU law school. He knew that it would combine my passion for litigation with my passion for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of law. This experience was by far the most rewarding of my career thus far, as I taught eager law students how to prepare a case for trial and saw their vast improvement over just three days. At the same time, I was put in a position to build relationships with a client I hadn’t worked with before. I never would have received such an opportunity without this partner believing and investing in me as an attorney and Black woman.