New Lawyer Division Member Spotlight: Mallory Chase

Mallory Chase, a sixth-year attorney with a practice focused on legal malpractice defense and business litigation, is the newest partner of Wingert Grebing Brubaker & Juskie. She is a member of the SDCBA Legal Ethics Committee and the California Lawyers Association’s Legal Ethics Committee where, among other things, she writes articles on ethics issues, contributes to ethics advisory opinions, and provides advice to SDCBA members through the Legal Ethics Hotline (619-231-0781).

Chase’s legal accomplishments began well before she was an attorney. Chase graduated magna cum laude in 2015 from California Western School of Law, where she earned eight academic excellence awards, was the Law Review Executive Lead Articles Editor, and gained a wide variety of internship experience, including work with the California Correctional Law Section, the County Counsel’s office, Office of General Counsel for Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), and as a judicial extern with the United States District Court for the Southern District.

Although a natural success in the legal profession, Chase did not always aspire to be an attorney. After graduating with a B.A. in psychology from UC San Diego, while interviewing for master’s programs, Chase realized she was not interested in pursuing a career in psychology and took time off to discover a new path. Two years later, while working as a manager of local tanning salons, Chase’s father helped her find her calling in the law. As a school district superintendent, Chase’s father suggested she shadow an attorney for the school district to see if she was interested in a legal career. Through that opportunity, Chase became interested in law and applied to law school.

Although very successful in law school, Chase was initially intimidated by the spotlight attention of a trial attorney. However, the very day she was sworn in, Chase interviewed with Wingert Grebing Brubaker & Juskie for a position as a litigation associate, where she began her five-year path to partnership. Chase encourages new lawyers to not be intimidated by what scares them, because if they push through the fear, they might find an invaluable experience or a new passion that they didn’t expect.

“You won’t know what you like or don’t like until you give it a try and succeed or fail,” Chase says.

Affectionately called “Legal Mal” by her colleagues because of her passion and skill in defending legal malpractice matters, Mallory Chase enjoys the legal malpractice field for the unique experience of getting to know other attorneys in the community, personally and professionally, that she might not have otherwise connected with. She also loves that legal malpractice gives her the opportunity to work on underlying cases in all different areas of law, including family law, probate law, personal injury, and business transactions.

In recounting meaningful career accomplishments, Chase shared a case where she zealously defended an attorney against a motion for disqualification on a novel issue. Chase diligently researched policy to support her position and developed arguments as to why the law should be extended to protect her client. A few weeks after the matter was taken under submission and following lengthy oral argument, “Legal Mal” prevailed.

When asked about her greatest professional challenge, Chase echoed the often-cited struggle for work-life balance. She also acknowledged that, “as a new attorney, you want to do well, but it takes forever to figure out how to do things.” She shared that although it took a while to find her groove, her firm’s flexible policy on how and when work gets done helped her incorporate things like fun and exercise into her routine to better balance personal and professional growth.

For new lawyers looking for the perfect job, Chase suggests making your job search an ongoing effort. She believes that making and nurturing connections within the legal community is invaluable. While she feels fortunate that her first job as an attorney was a great fit, she encourages new attorneys not to make their job search an isolated, single task. It is not about getting a job and being done with it.

“Try and find people and a practice that make you happy, and then it won’t be as hard to put in the hours and put out the kind of work product that will make you stand out in your firm and in the community.”