Challenges don’t faze legal secretary

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Losing her right thumb and three right fingers in a snowblower accident has not stopped Erika Pack from accomplishing her goals.

After having her fingers removed in March 2012, Pack, a legal secretary for Quarles & Brady, underwent a seventh and final surgery that finally allowed her to return to her job full-time.

Pack’s return was planned carefully. She said she did not want to waste time figuring out how to get her job done because she knew that many people depend on her.

“By late summer, a team of people was working with me in preparation of my return,” Pack said. “They ordered the necessary voice recognition software, the best available, for me to work with. I was given a telephone headset, cordless mouse, basically anything that I needed to succeed, and it all worked out.

“I have to say, my ability to work and my work product has never suffered and in many ways has improved.”

Pack, who has dual American and Hungarian citizenship, has been at Quarles & Brady for more than 18 years since returning to the United States after working at a Canadian law firm’s Budapest office.

She said Quarles & Brady’s Phyllis Carr has been a mentor. Carr was a supervisor in charge of hiring in 1996 when Pack interviewed, though Pack did not perform well on the typing test.

“But I asked her to take a chance on me,” Pack said, “and I promised her I wouldn’t let her down if she hired me. And I kept my promise.”