Breaking the Ice: Working for clients, change in legal profession

Name: Sybil Dunlop

Title: Attorney, Greene Espel

Education: B.A., government, Smith College; J.D., Vanderbilt University Law School

Sybil Dunlop’s practice as an attorney at Greene Espel combines complex business and intellectual property litigation.

This year Dunlop already has handled an arbitration in Washington, D.C., a patent dispute in the Twin Cities and a breach-of-contract case in Virginia.

Dunlop also devotes time to improving the legal profession, making presentations nationally on federal practice, discovery and legal writing (including “Sybil Procedure,” her monthly Minnesota Lawyer column). She developed a program on implicit bias and has presented it to more than 300 Minnesota Judicial Branch members.

“I care passionately about making our profession a more welcoming place for folks who have not been welcomed,” Dunlop said. “I see my role as carrying the baton forward and not letting it stagnate.”

She sees evidence of that in the number of women equity partners in law firms, which she said has been about the same for the past five years.

Dunlop believes the way she approaches her practice also can help bring change.

“One of the ways I can change it is just being the best darn trial lawyer I can be,” Dunlop said.

Q. What’s the best way to start a conversation with you?

A. I was at party and this man started telling me about how to catch catfish with your hands. It was something I knew nothing about and started asking questions about it. So the best way to start a conversation is to come up with something interesting that you know, unusual or interesting, and go for it.

Q. What books are on your bedside table or e-reader?

A. I am reading “The Warmth of Other Suns,” about the African-American migration.

Q. What is a pet peeve of yours?

A. When the opposing counsel articulates disputes that are fake. So they fight with you about nonproduction of documents that don’t exist or complain about a one-day extension. I find myself in those circumstances sometimes starting to laugh because it’s so ridiculous. And of course that doesn’t help.

Q. What are your favorite aspects of being an attorney?

A. My favorite aspect is working with really smart people who care about doing the work that we do nobly and well. I am honored to be a member of this profession.

Q. Least favorite?

A. Sophistry.

Q. What’s a favorite activity outside your job?

A. I love walking around our lakes. I have a 4-year-old, so I end up playing a lot of paper dolls after work. Swimming in Lake Calhoun on the weekend.

Q. If someone visits you in your hometown, what would you take them to see or do?

A. My hometown is Norwalk, Connecticut. I would take them to the Oyster Festival, our annual festival for oysters where they have an oyster-shucking contest.

Q. Is there an attorney or judge, past or present, whom you admire most?

A. I clerked for [retired U.S. District Court] Judge James Rosenbaum. His focus on what matters and his willingness to tell people to stop focusing on what doesn’t matter, I loved. And also his love of language. He said that he likes to speak in aphorisms. His use of metaphor enabled him to articulate tough concepts in a way that connects with people.

My female peers at Greene Espel. I have a group of women about my age and we all have kids and we’re all killing ourselves trying to make it in this profession. Having a group of women that you really respect that are doing this with you is a wonderful thing.

Q. What’s a misconception people have about working as an attorney?

A. I was at dinner recently with a bunch of in-house clients and one just said, “You lawyers, you always just want to make more money.” There is a perception that we always just want to make more money. One of the reasons I hate the billable hour. But I look at the way everyone I work with trying so hard to save clients money and be as efficient as possible.