Jo Jiminez

“Positivity in practice – life, law and Lolita.”

Few of us might feel comfortable knowing that decisions made at the age of 17 would go on to indelibly shape our lives – but for Jo Jimenez, her teenage (partially Harry Potter-inspired) fascination with England led her to leave the US to study at Oxford University, the first in a chain of events which has happily culminated in her current professional success. Nonetheless, the path to her law career contained its fair share of challenges, particularly when faced with the task of finding a job in the post-financial crisis City. Reflecting on this time, Jo shares that she now sees the scarcity of job offers as a ‘blessing in disguise’, since her approach had been informed by a vague goal of ‘getting paid’, ‘working in the City’, and thereafter moving on to another job. In Jo’s view, her failure to secure an offer at that point likely saved her from starting off her career entirely wrong-footed, a feeling further solidified after pursuing a Masters in Finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

During her studies for that degree, Jo found that she strongly disagreed with a fundamental premise of Finance – i.e. financial markets that assume that every actor in the market is acting rationally and in their own self-interest. Jo felt that this assumption ignored the myriad other factors which influence decision making and, thus-discomfited, she gravitated instead towards the ordered and structured approach of Law. The opportunity arose for her to participate in Skadden’s vacation scheme, which led to a training contract and, after the successful completion of her law degree, a flourishing career as an Associate there. Skadden’s positive reputation for inclusivity precedes it, but the experience of working in a male-dominated field has nonetheless proven to be something of an education for Jo. She admits that before entering the workplace, she had never considered herself a feminist as she took for granted that her gender had no bearing on her ability to perform her job.

Sharing a story of an unsettling remark by a senior person at work (avowing that any woman who returns to the workplace after having kids is a bad mother), Jo notes that rather than feeling discouraged she felt galvanized by a new determination to succeed. Critically, her Department Head was supportive and openly renounced the comment made – a response that is reflective of the workplace culture that Skadden promotes. No wonder, then, that her definition of organisational entrepreneurship envisions an organisation where every aspect of its operation is reflective of the society it operates in. Drawing reference to the #MeToo movement, she noted that today it is increasingly clear that no organisation can afford to ignore important cultural shifts but rather must respond accordingly. At Skadden, Jo has found that this type of entrepreneurship translates into positive workplace relationships, being respected both as a person and as an Associate, and being encouraged to speak up and challenge the status quo.

Happily, she also notes that her work is very intellectually stimulating, and, despite the seeming monotony of the standards and precedents involved, Jo applies her own entrepreneurial approach to her practice, treating each transaction as distinct, new, and as a source of learning. Her professional experiences also demonstrate the strong link between entrepreneurship and diversity. One such example dealt with subtle distinctions in meaning between American English and UK English, and although still a trainee at the time, Jo (as the only American on the team) made a significant and pivotal contribution to their case. In another instance, the senior partners found themselves deferring to Jo, a junior team member, for advice on how to Tweet about a deal which, due to regulatory rules, had to be disclosed via the social media platform.

As she progresses in her career, she has put into practice her firm’s commitment to collaboration and open communication, making it a point to encourage feedback from all levels in the teams that she leads. Her mentees also benefit from her advice on positive engagement – that is, whenever reaching out to someone of whatever level, via whatever medium, stay away from assumptions of their level of knowledge. Instead, she counsels her juniors to think carefully about how the information will be received, what other information may be needed, and what they can do to make the recipients’ life easier. It is that last point that speaks to the level of consideration and compassion that Jo demonstrates, and which makes it obvious why, alongside her billable work, her firm’s Pro Bono work is her true passion project.

Indeed, Jo’s law practice is like a superpower which she wields, seeking to make the world a better place. She has found that for many people, there is a mental block against things which are even peripherally related to the law – a document to be filed at whichever Court, a contract written in ‘legalese’ – and she finds great personal satisfaction in stepping in and helping them, but more so in empowering them to do it themselves. This has typified her involvement in Skadden’s Pro Bono practice, and the firm has formed partnerships with international organisations and legal services agencies in support of their work (in areas such as human rights). Jo was effusive when discussing the impact that the firm has had, and she shared with us how this network bore incredibly rewarding fruit in a recent case involving a trans male Yemeni refugee.  

In that instance, the situation that Jo and her team were faced with was complex and worrying – he had fled Yemen at the outbreak of the civil war, both because of the war and because he had been outed. Taken to Saudi Arabia by his family, he was placed under house arrest, forced to dress as a woman, and had his phone, computer, and basic freedoms taken away from him. Incredibly and fortuitously, he managed to contact an LGBTQ organisation which put him in touch with one of Skadden’s affiliated refugee organisations. The firm started representing him in February, and Jo and her colleagues worked tirelessly to secure a number of grants which would cover the expenses to get him from Saudi to Lebanon.  Even with these grants, there were several obstacles to overcome – for instance, he would have to present as a woman because he was listed as such on his document, a cause for concern given that Saudi women were regularly stopped at airports when travelling alone, and were often turned back despite the perilous circumstances they were attempting to flee. Thankfully, an amazing lawyer in Saudi stepped in and literally gave him money (as he hadn’t been receiving his wire transfers), dealt with a myriad of other issues, and provided him with a much-needed escort through the airport. Having fled to Lebanon in October, as at two weeks before publication he let Jo’s team know that he was going to be resettled in Sweden – an immensely gratifying outcome from a situation that had at many points been nerve-wracking for Jo.

Indeed, in many ways these Pro Bono cases can be more demanding than the billable work Jo does, but it is also deeply rewarding and fulfilling to know that someone is better off after she stepped in. She shared the story of another favourite client, a charity called the Rwanda Sisterhood Association (RSA), that started off as an expat community of Rwandan women meeting after church on a Sunday. Having learned of the plight of mothers back in Rwanda who were giving birth at home without sterile medical equipment – and therefore faced with terribly high infant mortality rates – the RSA began passing a hat around to collect funds which they used to buy medical supplies such as umbilical cord clamps and razor blades. As more people became interested, they sought to register officially as a charity, wanting to do everything above board. When they came to Jo they were anxious to follow the process but at the same time found it overwhelming and daunting. Happily, she was able to take them through the four (4) month process of registration and take that burden off of them, allowing them to focus their energy on the amazing work they do.   

These two examples drawn from the broad range of pro bono cases Jo has tackled demonstrate her deep commitment to keeping people at the centre of her law practice, putting her own positive spin on a well-known Maya Angelou quote, Jo makes sure that her clients never forget how she made them feel. A self-described optimist, Jo seems to have a long history of positive reinterpretation of literature, starting at the age of 13 when she first read Nabokov’s seminal work Lolita and found it primarily to be a story of female empowerment. Always ready to view the world through a fresh pair of eyes, Jo re-read the text at 19 and was amused at her younger self’s interpretation as well as the inherent humour in the novel. At that point she had also been living in the UK for two years and this allowed her to read the book through the lens of European-American relations, and indeed with every re-reading she finds herself gaining a different sense of the novel – most recently gaining a new sympathy for the character of the mother.

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