In a profession where many are perfectionists and mired in routine, being thrown into a permanent work from home situation causes a level of disruption no one is prepared for. Denise Gaskin provides advice for perfectionist lawyers to help them create a new routine and build stronger relationships with their teams and clients. In her chat with Mark Yacano, she shares tips and advice on how to navigate the emotions and feelings everyone is experiencing and find your focus amidst a lot of uncertainty.
Denise Gaskin, president of RavenWork Inc., offers a variety of consulting services including business writing, teaching, and providing training on topics related to culture, wellness, and creating healthy workplaces. In her career, she has worked in three industries including healthcare, behavioral health and legal. She has a passion for wellness/heathy workplaces and how they connect to a firm’s culture and support operational strategy. Denise has spent her career studying wellness, psychology, collaboration, facilitation, dialogue and the power of language. She has used her training to help firms build and achieve their strategic goals.
Denise holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Educational Psychology with emphasis on collaboration and dialogue. She also has an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University and a B.S. in Exercise Science and Wellness from Ball State University.
Previously, she was the chief operating officer at one of the largest regional law firms in the Pacific Northwest, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt. Before that, she was COO at The Van Winkle Law Firm, a mid-sized firm in Asheville, North Carolina.
Before moving into law firm management, Denise worked in healthcare. She was the director of operations of a multi-county behavioral health organization in rural, western North Carolina. Her formative professional years were spent developing and implementing health promotion programs for a large hospital system in Indianapolis and leading wellness promotion work for large corporate clients of the hospital.
