Whittney Beard
Coaching for Partners, Practice Group Leaders, and Office Managing Partners
I am a former BigLaw lawyer who believes that law can be a career that sustains, not drains. Lawyers need more than great substantive legal skills. They need the structure, habits of thought, communication skills, and accountability to be truly exceptional leaders. That is my role: to bring out the exceptional leader in every lawyer.
I ask tough questions and help my clients find the answers for themselves. I have coached hundreds of lawyers at every stage of their careers. I know where my clients are coming from and I can help them relate to their colleagues' mindsets and needs.
In 2018, I helped design and launch an industry-standard, ICF-accredited coach training program specifically for coaching lawyers. When it comes to coaching in law firms, I helped write the manual.
25 years in BigLaw. Hundreds of lawyers coached. Deep understanding of where the breakdowns occur, and what’s possible, at every level.
What I do not do:
I do not work with uncoachable people. I do not avoid the hard truths. I do not pretend there is no elephant in the room. That said, I do not make anyone wrong. There are no bad parts or bad people. There are only undesired outcomes. If the results you’re getting are not the ones you desire, change your behaviors, beliefs and dynamics. That’s precisely what coaching is for.
Credentials:
International Coach Federation, Master Certified Coach (20 years of credentialed practice in the legal industry)
UCLA School of Law, JD (Order of the Coif) - 2000
UCSD, BA - Sociology - 1995
Rich Smith
Coaching for General Counsels and C-Level Executives
I spent twenty years inside a system that rewards execution and ignores everything else. West Point. Wharton. Combat veteran. Twelve years at Amazon. CFO through a Chapter 11 restructuring. I was one of the best operators in every room I walked into.
I could have kept going. Instead I turned around. Not because I was broken. Because I saw clearly that the system produces leaders who optimize everything except themselves, and I was not willing to be one of them anymore.
I turned the same discipline inward and built something the playbook does not cover. And I learned there is something on the other side of the machine for the leaders who are ready to look up.
I work with senior leaders who are ready to create instead of enforce. Build the culture you actually want, not the one you inherited. I coach one-on-one and with leadership teams.
What I do not do:
I do not fix it for you or tell you what to do. I do not hand you a binder and say fix it yourself. I do not do Ten Tricks to Be A Great Leader.
Credentials:
The Wharton School, MBA - 2007
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, B.S. - 1996
Kelly Feldman
Coaching for Associates and Business Professionals
I help people reconnect with the parts of themselves that have been there all along, waiting to be trusted.
I'm an executive coach, and I work with accomplished people who have spent years building careers, meeting expectations, and becoming the person others depend on. My clients often find themselves at a point where the ways of thinking, working, or relating that got them this far may not be what takes them where they want to go next.
My clients don't need someone to tell them what to do. I create a space for them to think more deeply, challenge long-held assumptions, see themselves more clearly, and discover new possibilities for how they lead, work, relate, and live.
I believe transformation doesn't come from becoming someone new. It comes from reconnecting with who you already are beneath the expectations, responsibilities, and protective strategies you've accumulated over time. My coaching helps clients deepen their trust in themselves, gain new perspective, and take meaningful action from a place of greater clarity and intention.
My combination of legal education and extensive experience inside law firms gives me a deep understanding of the pressures, complexity, and humanity of high-performing professional environments.
What I do not do:
I don’t coach people by telling them what decision to make. I don't rescue you from discomfort, consequences, uncertainty, or breakdowns. I don't make my perspective the truth.
Credentials:
The University College London, LL.B. (Hons) in Law - 2003