Page 13 - Los Angeles Vol 5 No 4

Lisa
Helfend Meyer
Lisa It’s a Woman’s World
BY SARAH TORRES
ttorney Lisa Helfend Meyer wants to make things better—bet- ter for women in the workplace, better for her clients, better for her family.
Linking her innate nurturing side with her frustrations over starting her career in a sexist 1970s environment, Meyer—the senior partner of female-founded, family law rm Meyer, Ol- son, Lowy & Meyers—has followed her passion to ad- vocate for parents (especially the underdog) and their
children in all aspects of family law.
“Divorces, pre-nups, custody, depositions and trials,” rattles o Meyer of her typical work-
load. “I enjoy the challenge of a good ght.”
And sometimes those challenges don’t always garner her friendships with opposing counsel.
Like the ghts that earned Meyer the nickname “Lisa Hellbent Meyer” and those that got her and her partners dubbed “Pit Poodles.” Even before she was an attorney, Meyer advocated— for herself.
Meyer says, “it is because I never had an older brother, I always had to stand up for myself.”
Bad News
During a college summer internship in a local TV newsroom, decades before the #MeToo movement, Meyer got her rst tastes of chauvinism and workplace mansplaining.
“I think it was not only their behavior that was disturbing, but also their attitude toward the women who worked there,” says Meyer, recalling the men as “disrespectful.”
Her parents had discouraged her lifelong dream of becoming an actress, but saw, in her reactions to that summer’s experiences, a potential compromise—law school. For Meyer, it sounded like the perfect combination of performing on a public stage and commanding justice and respect. For her dad, it was his chance to see his daughter become a lawyer and ful ll both of their dreams. Meyer’s father passed in October 2018, but was proud of her accomplishments until the end.
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