Article: July 20, 2007
Persistence Pays for Steele's Practice
by Julie Bird, Contributing Writer
Cheryl Steele joined Horack Talley Pharr & Lowndes in 1987 as a litigator, but what she really wanted was to work on real estate deals.
It took her two years to make the transition, but after she got into the firm's real estate section, she never looked back.
Real estate development deals are "sort of like putting puzzles together, and I really like that," says Steele, now a partner.
Her abilities have been recognized in the industry.
This year, she was selected by her peers as a North Carolina real estate Super Lawyer in Law & Politics magazine and was chosen to be a member of Business North Carolina's Legal Elite.
"Every year it's been building, and last year I was able to outperform all of my partners," says Steele.
It's the first time a woman has been the firm's top-earning partner.
Her personal revenue was up 56% in 2006 from 2005, accounting for 10% of the firm's income.
Her client base grew 240% in 2006, mostly on the strength of referrals. Steele estimates up to 40% of her clients are women.
With many of Steele's clients expanding into development in South Carolina, the firm opened an office in Rock Hill in January.
She also coordinated development of an agency to underwrite title insurance in South Carolina, a move that's expected to increase firm revenue.
Earlier in her career Steele wasn't sure that kind of success would ever come. Her law degree was from UNC Chapel Hill, but she had botten her bachelor's at Meredith College, the private women's college in Raleigh. She didn't have the connections in Charlotte that many of her male colleagues had.
"It seemed like the guys networked with their fraternity brothers and played golf."
Ten years ago, her 13-year-old nephew came to live with her. Suddenly she didn't have time to spend evenings attending events, serving on boards and other networking venues that can help lawyers grow a client base.
But Steele developed ways to network with women, and her practice grew year by year.
"Women want to have a relationship with you before they work with you," she says.
One important networking group was Commercial Real Estate Women, or CREW, which helps women develop their careers in the field. Steele has held various leadership roles in the group.
"A lot of commercial real estate is making things work that might not have otherwise worked," she says. "It's fun to take a project and get it to the end and see the results."
With her client base growing so much in the past year, Steele says she has learned to delegate and focus more of her time with clients.
"I'm just very blessed," she says. "I worked really heard at networking and trying to be self-sufficient and not depending on the firm or other attorney to generate business. I wanted to build it on my own."
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