Kirkland Associate Is Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade Queen
In this Law360 article, associate Grace O'Connor was profiled as the 2024 St. Patrick's Day Queen in Chicago's annual parade.
Kirkland & Ellis corporate associate Grace O'Connor will be reigning over the 69th annual Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday as parade queen, in an event she described as "honoring the rich heritage of my ancestors and embracing the dynamic spirit of [the] Irish American community that you can see everywhere in the city."
O'Connor, whose roots in Chicago span generations, has marched in the parade for each of her 25 years, dating back to her first parade, when she was pushed along the route in a stroller as an infant.
"We've been involved in the parade since its inception," O'Connor said. For the last half century or so, that involvement has included a float featuring the O'Connor name, with family members walking the parade route together in matching O'Connor sashes.
"We all march beside the big O'Connor float," the lawyer described. "It is a visual to be seen."
This year, that visual will include several Kirkland attorneys, O'Connor said.
"I'm going to have a lot of my friends from Kirkland marching in the parade with my family float that weekend," O'Connor said. "Kirkland itself has been so kind to promote it and they're going to have their own river dyeing watching party the day of the parade. So, it's been a fantastic way to network with my colleagues and really just have some fun outside of the workplace."
A product of Chicago public schools, O'Connor attended nearby Northwestern University to earn her undergraduate degree in economics, before pursuing a dual MBA and law degree at Loyola University Chicago. While attending Loyola University Chicago School of Law, she worked as an extern for Judge Sara L. Ellis of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Though a career in the business world was always O'Connor's goal, it was after enrolling in an undergraduate law course that "a light bulb went off in my head," she said, and she realized she wished to pursue corporate law.
Describing her role with Kirkland as her "dream job," O'Connor said she was proud to represent the firm and women in the legal profession as this year's parade queen.
"Similar to the way that I was looking up to the women in the queen role before I became queen, I hope that other future attorneys can see me in this role, and in my role at Kirkland, and can be proud and can aspire to do the same," the attorney said.
The royal duties stretch beyond just St. Patrick's Day weekend, and include attending cultural events throughout the year, O'Connor said. She was selected from what she estimated to be a pool of around 100 young Irish American women from the Chicago area, who gathered months ago at Plumbers Hall, the headquarters of Plumbers Local 130 UA, for rounds of interviews.
Local 130, which co-sponsors the St. Patrick's Day parade alongside the Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee, is also responsible for dyeing the Chicago River green on the morning of the parade. This year, O'Connor will join the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers on their boat to kick off the day of celebration.
Now that the transactional attorney has achieved her lifelong dream of wearing the crown and serving as parade queen, she said she is most excited to share the day with her parents.
"I think what I'm most looking forward to is spending time with my family," O'Connor said, later adding: "I'm going to have my mom and dad in the carriage with me leading the parade. And I just can't wait to see the look on their faces and how excited we're all going to be to spend the day together."
