Page 30 - Delaware Lawyer - Winter 2019

FEATURE
Jennifer Penberthy Buckley
OF COUNSEL: Kathleen Furey
Each day, when Kathleen Furey McDonough enters her office, she encounters a small placard that
reads,“What good shall I do this day?” This moment of self-reflection, originally the practice of Benjamin Franklin, serves as a daily reminder to begin each day with a plan to serve. Many have benefited from McDonough’s approach — clients, the community, the bar, and Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, the firm she leads as Chair of the executive
committee.
Born and raised in Philadelphia by
a single mother, McDonough always
knew that she wanted to be a lawyer.
As the middle of three sisters, she nec-
essarily became a shrewd negotiator.
While working her way through college at St. Joseph’s Uni- versity, she developed an ease of connection with new people by volunteering for political campaigns. Through this work, she ultimately found a position as a paralegal in Conrail’s legal department, where she worked for an associate general counsel and attended Temple University School of Law at night.
After law school, McDonough chose to begin her career as an associate at Potter Anderson because she recognized it as a well-established firm with a diverse and solid client base. McDonough had the opportunity to learn from great lawyers across a vast range of practices, including David Brown, Charlie Crompton, Charlie McDowell, Robert Payson and Dan Wol- cott. These mentors taught her to be careful and precise and to analyze issues not just for the legal question but also from the client’s perspective. McDonough absorbed their collegial, gracious and helpful approach to the practice of law. They also encouraged community service, both to lay the groundwork for future business and to achieve the personal satisfaction that comes with improving the lives of our neighbors. As a result, over the years McDonough has served in leadership roles in several business, civic and charitable organizations.
With deep roots in Philadelphia, McDonough never in- tended to stay in Delaware forever. But given the opportunities available to her at Potter, along with the people she worked with and the collegiality of the Delaware bench and bar, Mc- Donough soon recognized that Delaware was a special place to practice law. When she arrived at her first Rodney Inn of Court meeting early in her career and took a seat at a table, Chancellor Allen sat down and welcomed her to the group. The
McDonough
idea that the leader of a preeminent business Court would take the time to get to know a young lawyer and make her feel welcome made quite the impression on McDonough. She ultimately decided to stay and build her practice in Delaware, where many years later she would marry her husband, then Assistant U.S. Attor- ney Tom McDonough, a fellow law- yer to whom she was introduced by now Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kent Jordan.
After years of juggling a range of matters from bankruptcy to munici- pal bond work, McDonough decid- ed to focus on litigation, a decision that the firm supported. In the early 1990s, Congress passed the Civil
Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Fam- ily and Medical Leave Act. McDonough recognized an oppor- tunity to develop expertise in how employers should navigate these new laws and, as a result, began to build Potter Ander- son’s employment litigation and counseling group. She soon made partner and, a few years later, was asked to join the firm’s executive committee.
McDonough’s early experience in firm leadership was chal- lenging. Her first year on the executive committee saw the Delaware Trust Building fire that left the firm homeless over- night, as well as the loss of the firm’s well-loved and indis- pensable office administrator, Rosemary LaSorsa Hreachmack, to cancer. Under the exemplary leadership of Richard Poole, McDonough helped shepherd the firm through these troubled times, all while trying cases and raising her two young daugh- ters. After a few years, McDonough stepped back from the ex- ecutive committee to focus on her growing employment law practice. As a result of her efforts and in collaboration with her partners, particularly Jennifer Gimler Brady and Wendy Voss, the labor and employment group is now a well-established practice within the firm.
In 2015, McDonough re-joined the executive committee and, in 2018, became its Chair. She is the first woman Chair in the firm’s history, as well as the first woman to lead a major Delaware firm. In this regard, she demonstrates that there is more than one path to success in this profession. All of us at Potter Anderson and in the Delaware bar are fortunate to have her doing good for our firm and the community, this day and every day.
28 DELAWARE LAWYER WINTER 2019