This month’s “Women of Legal Tech” series at ALM’s Legaltech news features Wendy Riggs — who “isn’t afraid to make moves.” So much so, that we bumped her scheduled December WoLT to this month, so that she could announce her latest move: to launch her new company, Riggs IGC Global Consulting.

Marrying young and quickly having two children, Riggs learned fast—especially about how to climb work ladders — and not to waste time with bosses who don’t recognize (and take advantage of) her talents.

Read her interview here.

CODEX EXTRAS

Here are six bonus questions exclusive for CodeX:

1. Advice for young women: Stay strong. Speak up. Don’t give up. When you’re feeling insecure and/or vulnerable pick yourself up and keep moving forward. Try to refrain from being self-deprecating – I still work on this every day.
2. Work tips re: “managing up:” Communicate by being open, direct and to the point while also being mindful of company culture and politics. Don’t read too much into how people appear to perceive you – give them the benefit of the doubt.
3. Favorite vacation venue:  Any beach destination. I love the idea of exploring all of the amazing coastal destinations. My recent favorite was Nerja, a small resort town on the coast of Spain.
4. Dress codes: Dress for the culture of the company. Understand that each company is different and you need to adapt to the culture in order to be successful.
5. Who is your most important mentor: Renée Machi Lawson, Deputy General Counsel, Airbnb. I was Renée’s first hire to the litigation team at Zynga. She not only tested my abilities from day one (asking me to interview our Chief Financial Officer on my first day of employment), she provided the foundation for my successful growth. And, more importantly, she always had my back. Fast forward to today – she is the reason I chose to launch a consulting practice. She has continued to promote and support my professional (and personal) growth.
6. Favorite charities:  Legal Services for Children. I enjoy helping children. While working at Twitter, I volunteered with Legal Services for Children in San Francisco assisting with the completion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) requests. Seeing these kids working so hard, not only for themselves, but for their parents/families was truly amazing and humbling.

Photo courtesy of Wendy Riggs.  Photographer: Robby Rivers.
Cover image: Clipart.com

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist. She is a member of the Calif. bar. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu. Twitter: @MonicaBay.