Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with WLD member, Kate Beatty. Kate is a Senior Trust Advisor with Fifth Third Private Bank. We are excited to honor Kate and get to know her a little better!
Tell us about your practice.
I am a Senior Trust Advisor with Fifth Third Private Bank. My practice mostly consists of advising clients on estate planning, tax preparation, reviewing tax documents and day-to-day trust administration. Prior to joining Fifth Third, I was a partner in the Trust & Estates and Wealth Management Group with Dentons Bingham Greenebaum where I primarily advised on and prepared estate plan documents for clients, litigated trust and estates issues, as well as advised on a few guardianships and adoptions.
How did you become involved with the Summer Associate program at Dentons?
Although I was never a summer associate in the Dentons summer program, I came from a background with no attorneys in my family, so I saw the summer program as a good place for me to be supportive and help our new associates navigate how to be an attorney and working in a firm. I could assure them that I didn’t know the ropes when I first started and no one expects them to know everything when they first start either.
I also knew I wanted to be in a leadership role in the firm so I volunteered to be a coordinator of the summer program and then moved into the role of Summer Associate Hiring Chair for our Indianapolis office. I saw this role as an excellent opportunity to impact the direction and future of the firm through who we were hiring and recruiting for our summer program.
What advice do you have for more experienced attorneys who are mentoring newer attorneys?
Mentoring has a reputation as being formal and a lot of work, but that’s not necessarily the case. Mentoring can take many different forms and can be as simple as calling to check in on someone or grabbing a cup of coffee. It’s not something that has to have a formal start and end date. I think some of the best mentoring develops organically over time and some mentors might not even realize they are a mentor to some newer associates. People also frequently think of mentoring in the professional aspect of people’s lives, but you can also be a mentor for many different areas of someone’s life, such as parenting, exercise and life changes. My advice is to keep mentoring casual and always be on the look out for small ways you can encourage and support newer attorneys.
And, conversely, what advice do you have for newer attorneys who are being mentored?
Ask questions and be open-minded about the answers. Be proactive about reaching out and communicating. Mentees can be afraid to reach out because they think they might be bothering someone, but most people can spare five minutes and will be happy to share their triumphs and challenges with you. Now that we are emerging from COVID, it’s even more important for newer attorneys to reach out and seek mentors. Don’t sit around and wait to be mentored -- any communication or just simply checking in is beneficial. Often when a newer attorney reaches out to a more experienced attorney they feel they may have a connection with, those relationships click and develop into long-term mentorship opportunities.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love reading and normally have a few books going at the same time. Right now I am reading The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Searcher by Tana French and Win by Harlan Coben. I also love to spend time with my family, cooking, going to concerts and traveling. Every year I plant a vegetable garden and I plan to expand the garden this summer. My kids love to help in the garden, but don’t like eating all of the vegetables!
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