Kara Maciel always knew she wanted to be a lawyer, and a high school trip to Washington, DC was the moment that made it certain.
What she did not anticipate was one day leaving a comfortable partnership to build her own firm from the ground up.
Maciel is the co-founder of Conn, Maciel & Carey, a boutique law firm that now has offices across the country, more than a decade after its founding.
Before she ever considered striking out on her own, Maciel spent years aggressively paying off her law school loans ahead of schedule, a deliberate strategy to create financial flexibility.
That discipline, she explains, was not about frugality for its own sake but about buying herself the freedom to take a serious professional risk when the moment arrived.
The moment came during back-to-back parental leaves, when Maciel and her future co-founder each returned from leave carrying the same idea independently.
That convergence of thinking gave the two lawyers the conviction they needed to walk away from established partnerships and launch something new together.
Twelve years on, the firm has grown significantly, and Maciel reflects on what she wishes she had understood earlier about the business side of running a legal practice.
One area where the firm has focused considerable attention is technology, particularly using it to standardise billing practices consistently across multiple office locations.
Maciel has also spoken about her belief that boutique practice offers lawyers and clients something distinct that larger firms struggle to replicate at scale.
Her story offers a practical account of how deliberate financial planning, professional timing, and a willingness to take calculated risks can combine to create a practice built around life rather than the other way around.
For lawyers considering a similar path, her experience at Conn, Maciel & Carey illustrates that the business fundamentals matter just as much as the legal expertise brought to clients.