Q: When did you know you would pursue a career as an Attorney?
SM: I didn’t know any attorneys growing up so it’s a seemingly odd choice, but I was a good student and thought good students practice a profession. While I enjoyed my science classes, my language, history, and government classes were always easier and more fun. That naturally led to law school and being an attorney. 

Q: Can you share with our audience, the types of law you specialize in?
SM: Business and real estate, both litigation and transactional. 

Q: What aspects of the daily job of being a lawyer interest you the most?
SM: I love being able to jump into complex, seemingly impossible situations and get stuff done. 

Q: Why did you decide to attend law school?
SM: I got in! Michigan is a top-ten school and they let me in, which meant in-state tuition - huge since I had to put myself through. 

Q: What types of cases do you handle?
SM: When I litigate, it’s either a case for one of my clients, or something complex and interesting that I agreed to tackle. 

Q: What is your approach or philosophy to winning or representing a case?
SM: Do the work at the outset – pick the right cases, put the time in early to really know the case and have a coherent theme. I can be very professional and easy to work with but as soon as someone starts playing games, hiding the truth, or trying to play dumb power moves, the gloves come off. 

Q: If we interviewed all your past clients … what is “one” common word that comes up when they describe working with your law firm?  
SM: Pitbull. Brutally honest. Get s*!t done type. 

Q: What was the most challenging part of law school for you?
SM: The first year was tough because I had no business background at all and felt like a fish out of water with so many students around me who had a working knowledge about corporations, stock, contracts, etc., and I was taking all kinds of notes about those terms while also trying to learn the law. Once I got that part down it was pretty fun. 

Q: What advice would you give to young women who want to pursue a career as an Attorney?
SM: Get ready to advocate for yourself. In the beginning there are equal opportunities for men and women, but the soft sexism starts as soon as you get pregnant, and it gets worse from there. Consider working for yourself rather than fighting male bosses with antiquated thinking about working mothers. Clients never, ever had an issue with my parenting duties getting in the way of in-office meetings as long as I got my work done, and judges never penalized me for being pregnant or taking time to attend to my kids, but my bosses did. 

Q: Were there moments in your career that were pivotal to getting where you are today?
SM: Joining a boutique law firm. When you come out of a top law school, the “right” thing to do is join a big name firm. Unfortunately, what ends up happening is you get a lot of research and writing tasks and don’t do much actual hands-on work. At a boutique, I was in the courtroom constantly and actually meeting with clients, which gave me the experience I needed. 

Q: What expectations did you have after graduating and receiving your law degree?
SM: I just wanted to have a real career and also have a family. That seemed like a tough enough goal to not have too many other expectations. 

Q: What are the best practices you have employed to build a successful career? 
SM: Stay in contact with people. Do good work. Keep doing good work for good people at fair prices and don’t get sucked into the game of always chasing more glamorous clients at higher prices. A very wise attorney told me after I launched my own practice to just take care of people and don’t go around fighting with your clients about $5,000. It was great advice and rings true – take care of people and they’ll take care of you. 

Q: What has been the most interesting legal issue you’ve dealt with in your legal career?
SM: There are so many. Each complex case is a chance to learn about a new issue.  

Q: What is it about your job that most excites you?
SM: Pursuing justice. Bullies get away with it if lawyers never call them on it. 

Q: What's your advice for women in male-dominated fields?
SM: You can’t be a man so don’t even try. Wear the diamonds, bright nail polish and frilly skirts if that’s who you are. You don’t have to lower your voice and pin your hair back; you don’t have to pretend to care deeply about football if that’s not your thing. Trying to force yourself into a more masculine box will only make it harder for people to connect with you and ultimately hold you back. 

Q: What's the greatest fear you've had to overcome to get where you are today?  
SM: Every lawyer is afraid of failure. It makes us good at what we do but also limits us personally. 

Q: Can you tell our audience one of your most memorable moments your career?
SM: I was in court a week after giving birth. My opponent wanted to have more time in the case calendar. I told the judge that I had given birth a week ago and had gotten my work done, so I wasn’t very sympathetic. I won. 

Q: What’s one lesson you’ve learned in your career that you can share with our audience?
SM: Being straightforward is so important, whether you’re writing a contract and need it to be unambiguous and enforceable, or you’re writing a brief and need the judge to clearly understand why you think you’ll win, or you’re trying to get a case settled and need to convince the other side why your proposal makes sense. Drop the excess, flowery language and just come out and say what you’re trying to say. 

Q: Which woman inspires you and why? 
SM: Cher. She has this wonderful interview when she relates that her mother was telling her to marry a rich man and she told her mom, “I am a rich man.” 

Q: What are some of the challenges you feel women face today?
SM: There are still way too few of us in higher echelons and that leads to soft sexism. 

Q: What advice would you give to young women who want to succeed in the workplace?
SM: Don’t give in to the impulse to quit when the kids are young. Yes, they want you around all the time and it’s hard to leave them, but when they are proud of you, it makes it all worth it. 

Q: After high school, where did you feel your career path would take you?  
SM: I wanted to work in China doing international contract law. Unfortunately, when I lived there I realized that the Chinese business community doesn’t take blonde American women very seriously, so I pivoted. 

Q: Can you tell us how you manage your work life balance?
SM: I don’t. Nora Roberts described it as juggling glass balls – some days you’re not your best at work, some days you’re not your best with the kids or family, but you juggle and if you keep juggling it comes out not perfect but manageable. 

29 Things About Attorney Sara MacWilliams

1. What's your favorite family tradition? 
Christmas. I married into a family that carries on old traditions and makes a huge thing of it, which is fun.  

2. What celebrity would you like to meet at Starbucks for a cup of coffee? 
None, I’m a tea drinker. 

3. What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time? 
Work out and play with my kids. 

4. Who is the most fascinating person you’ve ever met? 
Clients. I am fortunate to work with some brilliant businesspeople who come from very interesting backgrounds to their success. 

5. What was the last book you really got into? 
There are too many to pin one down. 

6. What’s the most amazing adventures have you’ve ever been on? 
I’ve traveled a lot, but nothing beats traveling with babies. Nonstop adventure, from the plane ride to strapping a baby to my chest and heading out for hikes with hopes that you’ll find somewhere to change diapers along the way. 

7. Among your friends, what are you best known for?
Being fearless. 

8. What’s your favorite international food? 
Thai curries with tofu 

9. What’s your favorite app on your phone? 
The messenger app since that’s how I check in with my nearest and dearest during the day. 

10. Best and worst flavor ice cream? 
Worst is mint chocolate. 

11. What TV shows did you watch when you were a kid?
Not many, but I loved Inspector Gadget. 

12. What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done? 
Launching my own law firm. 

13. What’s your favorite quote or saying? 
Stop waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel and light it up yourself. 

14. If you unexpectedly won $10,000, what would you spend it on? 
Savings. 

15. Are you a morning person or a night owl? 
Night 

16. What would your perfect vacation look like? 
The beach, my kids, something active to do during the day and good food at night. 

17. Favorite Dessert? 
Frozen yogurt. 

18. Do you read reviews, or just go with your gut? 
Reviews for sure. 

19. What’s your big passion? 
Health. I’ve been pre-diabetic for 20 years, which is amazing because I was passing out regularly in college but got my sugar under control. I still struggle sometimes but have controlled that and so many other issues with my vegetarian diet and regular exercise. 

20. What’s your signature drink? 
Vodka soda with lime. 

21. What would you sing at Karaoke night? 
No, but I’d cheer on a friend. 

22. What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play? 
Anything my kids are playing. 

23. Which of the five senses would you say is your strongest? 
My nose, I can smell anything and everything, which is not always a good thing with a bunch of kids in the house. 

24. If you could go back in time to change one thing, what would it be? 
I would launch my own practice sooner instead of being so afraid to do it for so long. 

25. What were you like in high school?  
Bookish, good grades, but I had a lot of fun too. 

26. What would your perfect Saturday be like? 
Some friends and all of our kids hanging out. 

27. Would you rather cook or order in?
Order in. 

28. What was your favorite subject in school? 
US history, taught by a wonderful teacher who gave us the unvarnished truth about events we’d heard the sunny version of all our lives, including a particularly memorable day when she told us that contrary to what we had been told as children, women are still not equal and won’t be anytime soon. It was good to hear that and come to that realization before I had to go face it in the working world. 

29. Cake or pie?
Neither