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Senior Associate
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Kristine Gordon was recruited by Taft during her second year of law school and joined the firm as a summer associate in 2017. “I came back as a new graduate in September of 2018 and never looked back,” Gordon said. Her primary focus areas are municipal law and employment litigation. “This focus developed organically, as I was drawn to certain team members at Taft and found my professional home within those groups,” she said. And she’s using those connections to expand her horizons to health care: She’s currently assigned to a project with Riverview Health to help establish an in-house legal department. “In the meantime, I continue to provide litigation support to my Taft colleagues and day-to-day counseling for our various municipal clients,” Gordon said. Her favorite part of the job is “delivering good news, whether it’s a dismissal or a strong settlement,” she said. “As strange as it sounds, I love telling litigation clients goodbye, because it means they can finally put the dispute behind them.”
Givebacks: volunteer, Taft immigration clinic and Eskenazi Health partnership
First job: As a freshman in high school, she began serving as a piano accompanist for her church’s children’s choir. “I loved every minute of it.”
Motivation: “I grew up in a medical family and thought I was destined for med school, but watching my older sibling go through it convinced me that law might be the ‘easier’ option,” Gordon said. “I was wrong about that, but luckily it worked out for the best.”
Personal growth: Since joining the workforce, she’s learned that she can figure things out on her own. “Early on, new challenges really intimidated me,” Gordon said. “But over time I’ve gained the confidence to trust that, no matter the task, I have the skills and the support of a great team to work through it and get where I need to go.”
Wish she’d known: Gordon wishes she’d grasped the emotional side of the work. “I knew it would be demanding, but I didn’t fully appreciate how invested I would become in my clients’ problems,” she said. “Over time, I’ve learned that caring deeply is a strength. But it’s also something that requires balance, boundaries and self-awareness.”
Favorite de-stressors: Running while listening to music. “It gives me space to breathe, clear my head and settle back into myself,” Gordon said.•
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