Serafina Concannon is Of Counsel at Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered and an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center (her alma mater. She has been in private practice since she graduated from law school. She specializes in mass tort bankruptcy litigation. At Georgetown, she teaches Civil Discovery in Federal Courts, Privilege in the Context of Civil Litigation, and Representing Foreign Clients in U.S. Courts (not all at once, thankfully!).
In addition to being active with the WBA, she is also a member of Women in eDiscovery, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Litigation Community of the DC Bar Association.
Serafina has three young kids (two boys, ages 7 and 4, and a girl, age 2) who love dinosaurs, costumes, and being chased when “it’s not funny”. She has two cats (Bagel and Lox) who like to sit on her during Zooms and a dog (Latke) who gives her a reason to take a moment and go for a walk, and a little pond in my backyard with more fish than she can count. Serafina adds, “I have a husband who is supportive of me in every way.”
Outside of work, Serafina loves weightlifting, hiking, and biking; singing karaoke, playing pool, and scuba diving with her husband; traveling with family and friends to farms, mountains, and beaches; playing guitar by campfire; and discussing books with her book club.
When did you join the WBA?
Initially in 2018, but then I stepped away and rejoined this year.
In what committees/forums have you been involved in?
I am co-chair of the Litigation Forum.
Why did you join the WBA?
I had just moved to the D.C. area and wanted to make friends and get to know others in the local legal community.
What benefits do you get from being a part of the WBA and why do you think others should join?
The WBA offers leadership opportunities like no other organization I know. And the work I put in as a co-chair is far outweighed by the benefits the WBA offers me. Also, the WBA puts on the best events with the most inspirational speakers.
How has being a parent enhanced your career?
It has made me value my time. As a result, I have become far more efficient at accomplishing my tasks. For example, I used to feel like I could take an evening off and just catch up on work on a weekend, or procrastinate and then just pull an all-nighter. Now, weekends are my time with family, and I don’t need to explain to any mother about the difficulty of pulling all-nighters. So when I have work to do, I do it, and I try to stay ahead of it, too, so that when I need or want to take time for myself or my family, I have it.
What is the best advice you have received?
One of the best pieces of career advice I received was to become the go-to person with respect to a niche subject matter at your job. In litigation, that could mean learning inside out the local rules and procedure of a particular court, becoming an expert of experts, or comprehensively understanding the facts of a complex case. Then you will become indispensable.