Helen Davis is the managing partner and chair of the board at The Cavanagh Law Firm, one of the most prestigious firms in the Southwest. She credits her career and success to mentorship, both as a mentee and a mentor, passing on the valuable lessons she learned along the way.
Davis began her professional career at age 19 working as a secretary for a nuclear engineering firm in Chicago. She came to Arizona to visit her parents and decided to make it her home. She quickly found a temp job at an engineering firm in Phoenix, but her time there soon came to an end and an acquaintance referred her to a job at the bankruptcy court as a notice clerk. The mundane job was not enough for her. She’d watch the lawyers file notices and thought, “I can do that!” So, she started college in the evenings and took a job as a secretary at O’Connor Cavanagh Anderson Westover Killingsworth & Beshears law firm, then became a paralegal, and her law career was born.
While hard work of course played a large part, Davis credits her career to divine intervention and the ability to work with and develop strong teams. “The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell had a significant impact on me,” she shares. “It basically says you have to be just smart enough but the combination of intellect, hard work and a little bit of luck is what it takes to be successful.”
Davis attended law school at ASU in the early mornings and reported to the law firm before noon each day. She felt lucky to work for an attorney who saw value in her and made accommodations for her to go to school and work. “Thanks to him, I was able to get an education,” she says. “That’s one of the qualities that makes The Cavanagh Law Firm so great. They were, and still are, very supportive of every employee.” Davis learned the importance of nascent attorneys having a mentor, which became the foundation of her leadership philosophy.
Davis’ law career started much later than is typical, as she was 37 years old when she started practicing law at O’Connor Cavanagh. “In some ways it was a good thing,” she relates. “I was more experienced and mature. I had worked, I was married and had experienced life.” But mentorship wasn’t something she was initially good at, even with the added maturity. “I had to learn not to be judgmental and how to be forgiving. In time, I learned to pass on the value of experience patiently and reflectively.” Davis makes sure her own mentees know they can come to her no matter what, especially if they think they have made an error. She shares her experience when, believing she had made a mistake and afraid to tell her own mentor, she determined she needed to do so and went into his office late in the day to inform him. Much to her surprise, his response was, “Why do you think that is a mistake?” She responded with her reasoning and he encouraged her to think of it differently — helping her to understand that a different perspective demonstrated a different outcome.
Davis learned from this instance that we all question our decision-making and have trouble seeing past our own fear of failure. “A mentor can help open your eyes to other thoughts and processes and give you the confidence to stand up for yourself and truly see your own excellence. Mentoring is invaluable because it’s passing on the lessons you’ve learned, and they validate your own self-worth.”
She took this philosophy and started a mentorship program at The Cavanagh Law Firm, where she currently serves as managing partner and chair of the board. She personally teaches young attorneys not only how to practice law, but the importance of recognizing the business aspects of a law firm. Her mentoring program focuses on economics, management and finance, and she works closely with her team to nurture and support all attorneys, paralegals and assistants.
“I’ve also been fortunate to serve on the board of directors of several Valley hospitals where I was able to get a direct view of the healthcare system and how it works. While it’s a completely different profession, it is also very similar to law in that there are rules and systems in place. And we are both advocating for people’s rights and helping them navigate a tough moment in their lives. It’s also taught me how to run a large corporation, enhancing my leadership skills as a managing partner of a law firm.”
Davis is passionate about teaching the younger generation to see their value, look past their own fear of failure and look at things from a different perspective. These qualities helped her get to where she is today, so she continues to share her insight and experience and encourages others to do the same.
Adapting to the Times
- The Cavanagh Law Firm has gone to great lengths to be nimble during the pandemic. Working remotely is not something attorneys did regularly, but the entire office is now working from home — and have learned they can do things differently and still be productive, even more so.
- The Cavanagh Law Firm has not laid off a single employee during the pandemic; in fact, it has added four new lawyers to its team and has kept salaries intact.
- In this typically male-dominated industry, Helen Davis is the first female managing partner at the firm. The firm has evolved over the years, with now one-third of its lawyers women.
- Davis volunteers her time as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where she teaches a community property class. This is just another way, she is “paying it back” and mentoring the younger generation.
