Women's History Month commemorates and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
In honor of International Women's Day (March 8) and Women's History Month, we've asked a few of the phenomenal women at Nossaman to share their personal insights, stories of inspiration and what it means to #AccelerateAction.
Mary Lynn Coffee | Partner
Can you describe some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your professional journey and how you overcame them?
The 2008 financial crisis brought the greatest professional challenge of my life. At that time, my kids were young, my house was under renovation and my area of practice was the same as it is now: CEQA/NEPA review, land use entitlement and state and federal endangered species, wetlands and water quality permitting for large development projects. At that time, however, my practice was 95% private development (housing, mixed use and commercial development projects). The financial collapse eviscerated the private development industry, and one of our largest client developers declared bankruptcy, leaving the Firm to try to collect a large sum in legal fees. With Nossaman’s tremendous support (including bankruptcy court support to recover fees), I was able diversify and change the focus of my practice to public agency infrastructure development. My infrastructure project career began in earnest in early 1998 when the Deputy Director of Environmental for California High Speed Rail, who had worked for me in my prior career at The Irvine Company, asked for our help with environmental review and permitting for that transit project. I now serve far more public infrastructure clients than I do private developers but still maintain a good bit of work in the private sector.
Have you encountered gender bias in your career? If so, how did you address it?
I was quite horribly harassed at my first firm, including very overt and inappropriate behavior. To make matters worse, when I asked for help from a young female partner, the response, verbatim (not that I hold a grudge or anything) was: “It’s the 1980s in California, girlie. LA Law and all that. What do you expect?” The firm did not last long into my career (or past the early 1990s) when the first California real estate crisis of my career occurred. With my now husband’s support, I was able to gracefully get out of that firm, into a new firm and begin developing a new environmental law focus within the real estate industry. I did not sue the firm or the partner at the time, which I have always regretted. I particularly poignantly regretted that decision shortly after landing my new gig, where I watched the way Anita Hill handled her situation so publicly and with such poise.
Tell us about a woman who has inspired you.
Since leaving my first firm in 1991, I have been lucky enough to be inspired by several women, who have served as either coaching or peer-to-peer mentors over time—some still to this day. The list includes Susan Hori, who started her career at Nossaman, was a key consultant for me in two in-house roles, became my peer when I left in-house and has gone on to become a dear friend and the managing partner of Manatt OC. The list also includes the current CEO of Jamboree Housing, Laura Archuleta. Laura helped start Jamboree Housing, now one of the largest nonprofit affordable housing developers in the state, with a single partner and has grown the organization and its impact into a true housing development force. I admire not only her business sense and success, but also her gracious advocacy in policy and entitlement matters, and her intelligence, compassion, empathy and quick wit. I’m proud to now serve alongside her as Jamboree’s Chairman of the Board. Susan and Laura share a number of qualities, including great business sense, strong strategic problem solving abilities, tremendous passion for both their professional endeavors and “doing good things” (as we like to say at Nossaman), a strong sense of empathy and an awesome sense of humor (occasionally enhanced by a glass of wine—another favorite thing that we sometimes share).
Adeyemi Ojudun | Associate
Can you share a specific moment in your career when you took decisive action that had a significant impact?
In 2022, after seven years of practicing as a litigator, I decided that I wanted to pivot and become a transactional lawyer. Luckily, after a few months of job searching, I was able to meet wonderful attorneys at Nossaman in the Infrastructure Group that were willing to take a chance on me. I have now been at Nossaman for two and a half years and have only had positive experiences. I like to call Nossaman my “Goldilocks firm,” as I am able to work at a mid-size firm that shares my core values but am still able to work on meaningful and complex transactions with talented lawyers in a highly regarded practice group.
What advice would you give to other women looking to accelerate their own progress and impact in their careers?
I would encourage women to take ownership of their careers, which looks different for each person. Generally, doing so requires you to be proactive and plan steps to achieve short-term and long-term goals, as well as placing oneself in a position to take advantage of opportunities to level up. Taking ownership of one’s career is not always comfortable and may require you to vocalize your goals, needs and concerns to your supervisors. It may also require you to leave your comfort zone and challenge yourself to avoid a professional plateau.
Tell us about a woman who has inspired you.
On a personal level, it may sound cliché, but my mother is one of my biggest inspirations. She is strong, dependable, generous and caring. Her dedication to both her family and career has impacted the way I navigate my personal and professional journeys. On a professional level, as an associate in the Infrastructure Group, I’ve had the pleasure of working with several talented women lawyers (Liz Cousins, Yukiko Kojima, Nancy Smith, Ann-Therese Schmid, and Patricia de la Peña). The infrastructure field is male dominated, so it has been helpful to learn how these women approach different transactions and witness how they navigate this field.
Amanda Johnson | Paralegal
What role do mentorship and networking play in accelerating action and progress for women in your industry?
I think mentorship and networking are truly the keys to unlocking your potential, with the beautiful part about it being the chain reaction it can set off. When you finish school and land your first position, you realize how much you actually didn’t learn in school, and my mentors helped fill in those on-the-job gaps for me as I was getting my bearings early in my career – but the learning never stops! With each new case I am assigned and each new colleague I meet, I acquire new skills to carry forward. I love the way mentoring goes both ways, how both learning and teaching go hand-in-hand for workplace and professional development. I think mentoring works best when it’s a 360-degree process: when I can coach my colleagues on the skills my mentor who “taught me everything I know” showed me, the achievements become contagious!
Tell us about a woman who has inspired you.
Before my first trial, my aforementioned mentor – with the kindest of intentions – cautioned me against wearing pants to court. I asked the lead partner on the case her opinion, and her response was a captivating anecdote of her personal experiences with the evolution of expectations for women’s attire in court from her time as a new attorney to then as a seasoned federal litigator. A judge policing women wearing slacks in court only sounds unreasonable to 2025 ears because of the women who fought the large and small battles to normalize for women what’s always been normal for men, and I don’t want us in 2025 and beyond to take those progressions, even for something as seemingly trivial as equality in fashion and comfort, for granted!