Attorney at Law Magazine sat down with Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight attorney Kate Mueting to discuss her career. She serves as the firm’s administrative partner, co-chair of the firm’s discrimination and harassment practice group, and co-chair of the firm’s executive representation practice group.
AALM: Tell us about your practice and what first drew you to work on discrimination and harassment cases.
Mueting: I was raised to have a strong sense of fairness, social justice, and public service. My parents were both public school educators and active in our religious community, and they taught me to be inclusive of everyone in my community and to fight for what is right.
After college, I served with AmeriCorps, a national service program. My team and I built houses with Habitat for Humanity, removed invasive trees, planned community programs, served food at shelters, and tutored elementary and middle school students.
I had planned on two years of service before moving on with my career and going to law school. But in AmeriCorps I realized that I did not want public service to be something I checked off a to do list, I wanted serving others to be the guidepost of my career. I could not—and did not want to—separate my career from my values of justice and fairness.
Now, as a leader in our firm’s discrimination and harassment practice group, I help clients who also strive for gender justice and fairness. I represent them in public lawsuits that call out unlawful discrimination, and we send a clear message to employers who discrimination that they will be held accountable.
I also represent my clients outside of court. I work with them to call out the discrimination directly to their employer and explain what will need to be done to address the situation. Frequently my clients are able to raise their claims and get a resolution well in advance of investing the substantial time, resources, and emotion that litigation requires. I like litigating, but I also really like solving problems and working with clients toward a more expedited resolution.
I find it immensely rewarding to work with my brave clients and help them shine a light on unlawful discrimination and work to improve workplaces for themselves and for those future generations.
AALM: You’ve worked on many prominent cases. Are there any that stood out, whether especially challenging or ones that changed how you practice?
Mueting: I have represented dozens of lawyers challenging discrimination and harassment in their law firms and legal departments. The legal profession has historically kept women, people of color, and many others out of the profession because of bias, and I love having the chance to make a difference, even a small difference in my own field.
We have challenged gender pay gaps, pregnancy discrimination, racial bias, denied promotions, and glass ceilings. Too often the professionals I represent have spent too long blaming themselves for their lack of career advancement—not realizing the unlawful institutional barriers and biases they’re facing. I think the claims like those my brave clients have raised have helped people recognize and understand when they’re facing unlawful discrimination.
In the course of my career, I have seen our profession make great strides toward greater gender and racial justice. The gender and racial pay gaps have decreased, and we are seeing more women and people of color become leaders in the profession and in their organizations. I know we can continue to do so much better, but I appreciate all the chances I’ve had to improve opportunities in our own profession.
AALM: Tell us about your work as an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa College of Law. What do you enjoy most about teaching?
Mueting: I get so much energy from teaching and mentoring law students I’m a practitioner and not an academic, and I focus on teaching practical skills, and imparting knowledge about our profession and how to succeed in it. Law schools have always been great at teaching critical thinking and analytical skills, but they have not always focused on teaching practical skills. Students are craving these lessons, and we are getting much better at teaching them.
I have enjoyed helping students learn about opportunities available for lawyers and helping them figure out what they might be interested in and passionate about. I talk with students about practical skills in advising clients, advocating for them, presenting work product to senior lawyers, getting helpful feedback, and navigating the workplace.
I love my career as a lawyer, and I believe strongly in this profession and the rule of law. I find it very rewarding to help develop and support the next generation of those who will work for justice.
AALM: Tell us about your leadership style.
Mueting: My firm has consistently fostered an inclusive leadership style. The leadership of my firm encourages case teams to involve everyone—senior attorneys, junior attorneys, and legal assistants—in case communications and strategy discussions. We do not have associates draft memos so that senior lawyers can review them and make decisions in a vacuum; the entire team is heavily involved in the decision-making process.
My leadership style has developed within this environment, and I find it very natural to engage all team members in case investigations, client communications, advocacy, and strategy discussions. We make decisions by talking them through as a partnership and as a team. I elicit the thoughts and opinions of others. I don’t want just to review someone’s research memo—I want to talk with them about their research and how it fits into the case and what they think we should do about it as a result. I value everyone’s input, and I emphasize that I want to hear their thoughts and perspectives.
AALM: Can you tell us about a mentor and a lesson they’ve imparted, and how you’ve mentored others?
Mueting: I am dedicated to my work, and at several points in my career, I have been at risk of focusing in it to the exclusion of other important things in my life. Fortunately, I have had great professional mentors who have consistently encouraged me—explicitly and by their example—to not let that happen. They remind me to take time for other priorities in my life: my family, my friends, my community and my neighborhood.
As an intern in law school, one of my first mentors talked with me about how he chose a career not based on how much money he would make. He chose a career where he could do meaningful work while still having time for his family, friends, and community.
I was pleased last year to learn that this is a lesson I am imparting on others. One of my mentees recently complimented my transparency in the workplace about my involvement in the lives of my young children. I coach T-ball, lead Girl Scouts and show up for them.
It is important that we work hard and show up for our clients, but it is also important that we take care of ourselves and the people around us. I am grateful I learned this lesson from my mentors and grateful I’ve been able to pass it along to others.
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