New Bassford Remele CEO is a woman of many firsts

Born: Aug. 8, 1947; Minneapolis

Education: University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 1977; University of Minnesota, B.S. (French), 1969

Employment: Attorney/Shareholder, Bassford Remele

Professional Activities (highlights): Treasurer, Minnesota Chapter, American Board of Trial Attorneys; fellow, Minnesota Committee, American College of Trial Lawyers; member, American Bar Association; member, Minnesota State Bar Association; member, Hennepin County Bar Association; member, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association; member, Defense Research Institute

Bar Admissions: Minnesota, 1977; U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, 1978

Personal: Husband, Karl Egge; four daughters

Hobbies: Cooking, biking, visiting her cabin

Recently elected chief executive officer (CEO) of the law firm of Bassford Remele, Minneapolis attorney Rebecca Egge Moos is a woman of many firsts. She is the first woman in her firm’s 120-year history to hold the top spot. Having joined the firm in 1977, she was the first woman it ever hired. And, four years ago, she became the first woman from Minnesota to be inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers.

With 38 attorneys, Bassford Remele is one of the 25 largest law firms in the state of Minnesota. Only one other top 25 firm has a female managing partner — Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand. (With 77 attorneys, the Maslon firm is reportedly the state’s 13th largest firm. It is headed by Terri Krivosha, who took over the position in May 2003.)

Moos is confident that the number of women in leadership positions in large Minnesota law firms, as well as throughout the legal community, will continue to increase in the coming years.

“There certainly is a large number of women graduating from law school every year,” she says. “It’s not unusual for me in some case I’m handling to have a female lawyer on the defense side — me — a female lawyer on the plaintiff’s side and a female judge. So there certainly are a lot of women in this area of practice and I think it’s growing.”

Forward thinking

Moos was fresh out of law school when she was hired by the law firm now known as Bassford Remele. She admits the fact that the hiring attorney’s daughter also wanted to be a lawyer may have worked to her advantage.

“It really helped me, I think, that Greer Lockhart had a daughter in law school — and he was in charge of hiring. So I think he was forward-looking,” Moos observes.

Like many newly hired female associates at the time, much of Moos’ initial work with the firm was family law, which the firm no longer handles. But at the time, Moos admits that she was just happy to have a job and willingly carried out the tasks that were asked of her. As a young associate, “whatever you are asked to do, you do enthusiastically,” she says with a smile.

With just 10 attorneys working for the firm at the time she was hired, Moos says that most of them would eat lunch together every day. “Seven or eight of us would sit around this table at the cafeteria and talk about what we were working on and what else was going on,” she recalls.

But times have changed, and so has Moos’ law practice. Today, Moos works primarily in the areas of professional liability, representing doctors and hospitals in medical-malpractice litigation. Her work also involves professional licensing, legal malpractice defense and some construction litigation.

And while the firm has now grown to nearly 40 attorneys — a size Moos says is about right — what hasn’t changed is the way in which the firm’s members support each other.

“One of the things about this firm that I think makes us unique is the collegiality,” Moos observes. “When you are engaged in a litigation practice and you are out doing combat with the other side, this firm is a place you can come home to at the end of the day and you are going to find unconditional support and encouragement. It’s not that way everywhere, but it is here.”

Carrying on tradition

Having now spent nearly three decades with Bassford Remele, Moos jokes that “being here a long time” undoubtedly helped her attain the firm’s top leadership role. Over the years she’s been involved in several of the firm’s committees, including the compensation committee and the associate development committee.

But Moos’ real interest in being a leader of the firm stems in large part from her desire to maintain the firm’s supportive environment.

“I’ve always been very happy and satisfied to be a member of a firm like this, and to be a leader of the firm and carry on that tradition of collegial relationships within the firm and its open-door policies … that’s important to me to carry on that tradition.”

Moos doesn’t anticipate that the top managerial spot will completely take over her professional life, however, and fully intends to continue practicing law. She explains that the setup of the firm allows many different people to participate in management roles, which allows her to continue representing clients.

“I don’t expect it’s going to be terribly time-consuming because there are so many people involved in taking part of the work,” she says. “We have, in addition to three officers, a management committee that’s made up of the officers plus some other lawyers who are involved in management as well. And then we have different firm activities led up by other people. … So a lot of people here spend a lot of time running the firm and I depend on them.”

The outgoing CEO of the law firm, Lewis A. Remele Jr., had high praise for his successor. He recently told Minnesota Lawyer that Moos is a wonderful person and he has no doubt she will be an effective leader.

“Not only is she a talented attorney, but she’ll be a terrific administrator and new CEO for the firm,” he said. “Everyone highly respects her internally and we’re looking forward to her taking the mantel in leadership.”

Go for it

Despite her own success in reaching her firm’s top spot, Moos believes that many women in the legal community still face some unique obstacles, like the so-called “glass ceiling.”

“I’m sure it&
#8217;s still there, although because I’ve been around as long as I’ve been around I think that I’m not as able to see it as I would if I was a younger woman,” Moos observes. “I think younger women might have a better perspective on opportunities that they haven’t been given or limitations put on what responsibilities they have because of their gender.”

But that reflection does not dishearten Moos. Instead, she sees the legal profession as a leader in equality and believes that it can serve as a model to other professions. She also hopes that women who are thinking about getting into management within law firms don’t become discouraged by obstacles they may encounter along the way.

“I think that when a person is interested in something and wants to try something and it is of interest to them, I think they have to pursue it,” Moos says. “I think that’s what keeps us vibrant in whatever profession that we’re in. Go for it; try something new; make a change.”

Moos also encourages those seeking leadership positions to develop strong bonds with co-workers.

“It’s important to have relationships with the people that are in the firm that are supportive and encouraging to you,” she says. “I wouldn’t want this job if I had to do it alone; it would be too hard. But [it’s possible] when you have people working together and have a team — in effect, our whole firm is like a team.”

Moos explains that her law firm has evolved to a point where the employees are confident that they can depend on each other. “We trust that whoever is the leader is going to put the firm first and do what they think is best for the firm. That kind of trust in the system, I think, is real important,” she says.

Life balance

A lot of women seeking high-level management roles within law firms may be concerned about maintaining “life balance” when achieving that level of success.

Moos recalls that as a new lawyer with young children, she felt that the norm, or the expectation, was that she should keep her family life invisible. “The men kept theirs invisible. I didn’t really have anybody else to look at,” she says, adding that things have changed now, however.

Moos also admits that as a busy mother maintaining a full-time law practice, she was fortunate to have family around who were willing to help out.

“My sisters were always helpful. If I would call at 4:30 and say I am stuck in a deposition, there would be people to solve it for me. And my husband — we live two blocks from the school where he works — was around a lot during the day and could help out and cover things for me. And if I’m in trial, Mr. Mom would be there fixing dinner. It’s great for kids to have both parents be responsible for them.”

So despite an often hectic schedule, Moos feels that she has been able to maintain what she defines as “life balance” — a term that means different things to different people, she says.

“When I am working 16 hours a day in trial, somebody might tell me, somebody from the outside, ‘you are not very balanced.’ But the way I measure balance is this: Am I happy to be at work? Am I enthusiastic? Am I happy to get home and see my family and have energy to spend time with them? If I am saying ‘yes’ to all of those things then I think something is right.”

On the flip side, if a job is not energizing, or is a drag, it’s difficult to find balance, even if you don’t work often, Moos adds. “I think if your work is something that gives you whatever it is — a sense of accomplishment or … makes you enthusiastic — then you have more to go home with than you left with in the morning.”

Drifting into the law

As the first member of her family to attend law school, Moos recollects that her family was “sort of skeptical at first” about the idea. With her father being a dentist, her parents thought that if she was going to go to graduate school, medical school might make more sense — an option Moos never seriously considered.

“But when I graduated [from law school], of course, they were very proud and my dad even came to hear me argue a couple of cases,” she says. “By then he was convinced that it was a good idea.”

Moos’ decision to attend law school, however, wasn’t one she made early in life. After obtaining a college degree in French, she “drift[ed] around at various jobs,” which included a “career” as a cocktail waitress at the Radisson Hotel.

Moos’ first move toward a legal career involved a year at a paralegal school. There she discovered that she thoroughly enjoyed the process of legal analysis and made the decision to apply to law school.

“And then I got in, so ‘I guess I’ve got to go,’” Moos recalls thinking at the time. “It turned out to be just a wonderful investment of time. I really love the practice of law and I really felt thrilled as a woman graduating in 1977 to be hired by a firm that does litigation.”

Moos explains that she gravitated toward litigation after taking a trial practice class during her final year of law school.

“I just loved the class. … And I did well in my class,” she says. “I liked the whole process. I was open to other things too, but I thought if I could have my first choice, it would be litigation.”

Moos applied to Bassford Remele primarily because one of her law school classmates had been hired as an attorney by the firm and informed her that it was looking for another lawyer.

“I [was] just was real happy when they offered me a job because I really wanted to get in and do litigation,” she says. “They took a flier on me and it worked out. It was a match made in heaven and I am still here.”