Q&A with Partner Brenda Szydlo
Editor Katarina Marcial sat down with Brenda Szydlo, a Partner in Pomerantz’s New York office, to discuss her career journey, passion for mentorship, and advice for lawyers looking to make their mark in the field.
Monitor: Can you share a little about your background and interests?
Brenda Szydlo: I grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Long Island, where I now live. I attended Binghamton University as an undergraduate and earned a law degree at St. John’s School of Law. I have known I wanted to be a lawyer since the age of ten, and I have consistently followed that path, making choices to achieve that goal. I gained experience early on at mid-sized to giant firms representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil litigation in federal and state courts. After spending much of my career in New York Big Law defense firms, I truly enjoy representing plaintiffs at Pomerantz.
Monitor: What brought you to Pomerantz, and what do you enjoy most about being a Partner here?
Brenda Szydlo: I came to Pomerantz when an opportunity arose to work on a securities class action against Brazil’s largest oil company, Petrobras, in which Pomerantz was Lead Counsel and which was heading to trial. The allegations stemmed from a multi-billion-dollar, decades-long kickback and bribery scheme. I was hired, as Senior Counsel, to play a leading role in the case. After several years of hard-fought litigation, we secured a historic $3 billion settlement for the class. I enjoyed taking fact and expert depositions and the writing opportunities. Our use of jury focus groups, which enabled our trial team to gain insight into jury reasoning and analysis, was fascinating. The entire experience was very rewarding. I chose to stay at Pomerantz and became a Partner, running my own cases and mentoring other attorneys.
I have never been as happy at a law firm as I am at Pomerantz. I have deep respect for the attorneys at the firm. I appreciate the work culture at Pomerantz: a high level of intelligence, expertise and professionalism within a supportive, collaborative atmosphere. I can bounce ideas off my colleagues for a fresh perspective on my cases, and there is camaraderie here that I appreciate. That’s important, considering how much time attorneys spend working together in the office.
Monitor: Why is mentorship important to you?
Brenda Szydlo: My first job out of law school was at a mid-sized firm that handled various areas of litigation, including securities litigation. A senior partner asked me to work with him to defend a major accounting firm in two high-profile cases involving securities fraud and other wrongdoing with respect to companies controlled by automobile magnate John DeLorean. Depositions were obtained from secretaries and ministers of state, including former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, along with unprecedented discovery of documents from the British government, including secret cabinet
minutes. That senior partner became my mentor. His guidance helped me greatly, and throughout my career, I have wanted to pay it forward to the next group of young attorneys, as he did for me. Mentoring is a great and rewarding bonding experience, helping someone hone their skills and gain new experiences to grow as an attorney.
Monitor: Can you identify any ways that mentorship helped you?
Brenda Szydlo: Yes. Because I had a mentor, I was able to take depositions early in my career. In fact, I wish my mentor had been with me the first time I took a deposition. I recall being in the room with well-seasoned attorneys from two large firms and having to learn on the fly. Back then, there was no time limit for depositions, and this one dragged on well into the evening. Now, had my mentor been with me, I would have had the wisdom to say, “Oh no, we’re cutting this off at six o’clock and we’ll regroup on another day.” Though he was not physically by my side during that first deposition, I was given the opportunity to take a deposition as a junior associate because of him. I am thankful for the opportunities and valuable lessons he gave me.
Monitor: Can you share your mentoring experience at Pomerantz?
Brenda Szydlo: One of my first mentees here was associate Villi Shteyn. He joined the firm directly out of law school. I exposed him to depositions -- how to take them and how to handle witnesses. After he shadowed me on depositions, I had him draft an outline to depose three doctors for a case. How you phrase questions in a deposition is very important. If not properly phrased, a question can evoke an objection by the other side. We refined his questions together and then he took the three depositions. I sat in and observed, passing him notes to help him through the proceedings, but he conducted them. My goal is to prepare attorneys to lead cases on their own and to give them as many opportunities as possible.
Monitor: What qualities make a good mentor?
Brenda Szydlo: It’s important to be mindful of the skills the mentee wants to learn and work together with them to find a way of getting there. Why not expose the person if you can? Also, building trust with mentees so that they feel comfortable enough to speak to you about issues they are facing is key. My door is always open to any mentee who wants to confer about cases. Sharing stories is a helpful way to pass down wisdom. Hearing stories of your experiences, and the lessons that you learned from them, can be valuable.
Monitor: Do you have advice for associates looking to grow their careers?
Brenda Szydlo: Ask for opportunities. Make it known that you want certain experience and are eager to learn. For example, because I know that Dean Ferrogari, another associate, wants to participate in more discovery, I am looking for those opportunities for him. Associates just need to speak up.