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Triebenbach took time to ensure legal career was right fit

By: JESSICA STEPHEN//September 30, 2015//

Triebenbach took time to ensure legal career was right fit

By: JESSICA STEPHEN//September 30, 2015//

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Somewhere deep inside, Lauren Triebenbach knew she was supposed to be a lawyer.

She just couldn’t quite take the hint.

“People told me as a kid, ‘Oh, you’re going to be a lawyer.’ I heard it enough to really give it some serious consideration,” said Triebenbach, an attorney at von Briesen & Roper in Milwaukee.

And, yet, she still wasn’t certain.

A high school internship at the Legal Aid Society in Texas helped.

But, not one to be satisfied with simply double-checking, Triebenbach enrolled in law classes as an undergraduate. It was one last test designed to make sure a legal career was what she really wanted.

“It’s far too much time and far too much money to undertake if this wasn’t a good fit for me,” she said. “So, I confirmed it and reconfirmed it and reconfirmed it, then the second I took my law classes, I knew that was it for me.”

Today, she’s glad she took the time to be sure. The effort has helped her find her place in construction law and as a shareholder – a milestone she marked last year, just after returning from maternity leave.

Her ability to juggle it all impresses Roy Wagner, also a shareholder at von Briesen & Roper.

“It’s nice to see she’s balanced work and life in a way that everyone is a winner — her clients, her husband and her son,” he said.

As the mother of a 2-year-old, Triebenbach said that she is still working to strike the right balance. But she credits her firm for allowing her to work at 90 percent, an arrangement that makes her feel as though she doesn’t have to make compromises, either as a mom or as a lawyer.

“That extra 10 percent allows me the expectation of having a little more free time in my weekends and my evenings. By taking myself back, I’ve been able to assert some control over keeping my family time sacred. I think you can always do better, but I think I’m doing pretty dang good.”

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