Law's a Family Affair for Terrie Gleason

Sometimes lawyers' children avoid anything to do with law. But Baker & McKenzie global customs chair Terrie Gleason found they can be quite helpful. When client IBM reached out about a partnership with ShelterBox--a charity that brings supplies and temporary housing to disaster victims--Terrie and her pro bono teamtackled foreign sanctions issues, including entering areas like Syria in light of the refugee crisis. And her three kids (now ages 15, 13, and 10) decided to pitch in to help.

Terrie points out Jack, Anna, and Christopher, who held a read-a-thon with a friend and raised $3,000 for the nonprofit. It's part of a "club" she made for her kids to meet new friends after the family moved and led to their interest in community service. They've made a website, sewn blankets for dog shelters, and sold goods they madeat crafts fairs to raise money to donate. This summer, they plan to hold another reading drive and recruit all of their friends. It may have boosted their determination when ShelterBox awarded them and Terrieits "President's Gold Level Volunteer Service Award" at a conference in San Fran recently.

Terrie brought in others at the firm, such as associate Alex Lamy, to work onissues including itsglobal privacy policy and IP rights.Terrie's been with the firm since she was an associate herself--starting a summer after her 2L year. The work remains interesting and challenging, she tells us--from creating global strategies for trade compliance (you have to do it right in 65 countries, not just one) to negotiating on behalf of clients in new free trade agreements (like one ongoing between the EU and India for which she's worked closely with colleagues in Amsterdam).

Another interesting matter came about as a result of beef hormones, whena US-EU trade dispute about their useled to a retaliatory tariff on othergoods. That included one client's candy export; to make the issue more real and concrete for the recipient,Terrie sent over a sample to the German minister who decides which goods are removed from the tariff list.(These tariffs can be around 300%.) She later learned that the minister's son saw the candy and told her how much he loved it, which helped the minister reach a favorable (and tasty) conclusion for Terrie's clients.