Lorri Salyards: From Paralegal to Executive Director

After graduating from school Salyards relocated from Nebraska to Colorado and has lived in the Denver area ever since. She has traveled some and used to spend weekends at a summer home in the mountains, which has changed to a vacation home in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Salyards's career in the legal field started at Boettcher & Company, where she served as a paralegal in the legal department, reviewing restricted stock sales. From there she went to work for the now-defunct law firm of Parcel Mauro, followed by others. She has administered small law firms, has held the position of human resources director, and now is the executive director of a firm — "all very different responsibilities and experiences which all have led to an overall hands-on understanding of the internal workings of the business."


When asked what made her decide on a career in the legal field, Salyards states, "I, like most legal administrators of my vintage, stumbled into law office management by being in the right place at the right time. After all, the profession of legal administration only came into being in the early 1980s. For me, it was working in a small firm and exhibiting management skills that the senior attorneys recognized as a potential advantage to them. The rest is history."

Although her degree is in a field unrelated to law, or administration for that matter, she is a certified legal manager. She credits her years of experience on the job and the confidence she acquired from working in management in law firms for her ability to advance to the executive director position she has held since 2000. She has been in legal administration since 1986 in different-sized firms with varying levels of responsibility.

She says, "The position I hold now allows me to get involved in the strategic planning of the firm as well as ensuring the day-to-day operations of the firm are working like clockwork."

Throughout her career, Salyards has considered many different people mentors along the way. She says that her success has been possible because of the leaders she has been privileged to work with and their acknowledgement of her abilities and potential. The network of legal administrators and other professionals she has developed over the years has allowed her to consider many opportunities, each of which has afforded her advancement in her career.

"Those who challenge me and my decisions are the ones that push me to be even better," she says.

Salyards finds the benefits of the legal profession to be manifold.

"The benefits of being in legal administration are that you truly can make a difference if you are in a firm that respects your position for what it is. You can make a difference in people's lives through helping them to be better at what they do, which in the end makes the firm a better place to work. It also is rewarding to work around highly intelligent people whose expectations are higher than most in other fields that I have worked in."

When asked about her goals for the future, Salyards says that she will absolutely continue in the legal profession. She plans to remain a part of a firm that values her skills, abilities, and integrity and which will allow her to be a part of leading the firm to the next level to everyone's benefit. Currently, Salyards is the executive director at Moye White, LLP, a 52-attorney, Denver-based law firm. She has been there since 2000 and intends to stay there "as long as I can make a difference."

Salyards is also interested in other enriching activities.

"Over the last 20 years, I have devoted a lot of time to my professional association, the Association of Legal Administrators, serving at the local and regional levels. I also write articles for legal publications, and I'm an instructor in ALA's Essential Competencies for Law Office Administrators. I enjoy speaking to groups on topics in which I have expertise. I have been a speaker at various seminars as well as at high schools on HR- and finance-related topics. In my free time I enjoy the outdoors as well as reading and traveling."

When asked what she does for fun, she replies, "For fun, I get together with friends wherever they may be. I travel, and I spend as much time as possible with my two college-age sons as they will allow."

As far as advice for her peers goes, Salyards states, "You will get out of it whatever you put into it, which is true of anything in life. If this isn't doing it for you, move on. Life is short."