Starting Out
“When I was right out of high school and working as a veterinarian’s assistant, I always looked forward to each new issue of a dog journal that came to the office, and eagerly turned to a monthly column titled, Your Dog and the Law,’ said Joanne Martin, now Legal Counsel for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Joanne earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences at the University of Florida in 1983, and without knowing any lawyers and having no exposure to the practice of law, she took the LSAT on a hunch that law school might be the right place for her. “My interest in the profession had been sparked by remembering a small thing, a column in a little-known magazine,” she said, “and that was all I needed.” She started law school several weeks after graduating from college.
After 22 years as a lawyer, 20 of which have been dedicated to healthcare law with the Mayo Clinic, Joanne has found the practice rewarding at several different levels.
Stuff Happens
Two years after practicing in a private law firm, Joanne took a chance at something different: she was hired as the first lawyer at the Mayo Clinic and St. Luke’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, where initially there was a mixed reaction to an in-house legal presence. “As the only lawyer for the Jacksonville campus, I didn’t have the luxury of time to do extensive legal research before responding to questions, and had to balance risk against giving practical advice to solve a problem,” she said. She also had to build relationships and credibility, “with the physicians and other internal constituents, outside counsel, and the lawyers who were our adversaries.” The change was challenging at times, but now the office has grown to four lawyers on site.
Joanne led the Legal Division in Jacksonville, and then served as Chair of the Litigation and Risk Management Practice Group enterprise-wide before giving up the administrative responsibilities a year ago, and returning to a varied, in-house, health law practice at Mayo’s corporate headquarters in Minnesota.
“One of the wonderful things about nature is that it shows us the repeating mystery of death and renewal all around us; an ending doesn’t mean the end, but a time for transition and a new beginning,” she said.
Finding A Niche
Joanne’s life-long interest in health sciences was the foundation for developing an expertise in healthcare law, but she quickly gives credit to the mentors she encountered along her career path for helping her excel. “Probably the most important mentor to me was the physician for whom I worked as a research technician in a laboratory at the University of Florida,” Joanne said, “because he taught me the importance of pursuing excellence in whatever I did, and showed me that I was capable of achieving far more than I thought possible.”
A little dose of humility helps too. “Along the way, I have learned the value of listening,” Joanne said. “Even though I may see the right answer quickly, I try to let others process information in their own style in the hope that we all get to the same place.” She does this, she said, by learning to let go of my sense of entitlement to being right.’”
Joanne said that young lawyers would do well to learn the difference between bravado and confidence early in their careers: “You can be right and be a jerk, and be wrong and be professional . . . which do you think people will remember about you?” she said.
Defining Success
“Success has meant different things to me at different times in my life,” Joanne said. “I felt tremendously successful just to have found my way into law school. Success’ was also being able to merge my background in research and health care with law, and practicing health care law with an exceptional group of people.” Success for her now is achieving more work-life balance, and “spending more time riding my bicycle, showing dogs, and getting reacquainted with music and my guitar,” she added.
The most successful lawyer in her life, she said, is the person who hired her at Mayo when he was the General Counsel. “He was, and still is, an incredible mentor he never confused title with ego, and never lost sight of the importance of balancing work with life,” Joanne concluded.
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