In the world of business, people often visualize executives as men wearing suits and ties and talking into cellphones as they enter elevators or the public. The people who visualize these images are correct. However what is often overlooked, or not commonly visualized, is that executives are also women. This story is about a woman who had a long sustained career in law and government that ultimately led her into the business world. Helane Morrison currently holds three positions at Hall Capital Partners LLC: Managing Director, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer.
Prior to Morrison joining Hall Capital Partners LLC in 2007, she began her career in law. Xrepublic.net reports that after Morrison passed the bar exam in the 1980s, she was hired as a law clerk for the Hon. Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh District in 1984. A year later in 1985, Morrison was hired as a law clerk for the Hon. Harry Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court. As in her previous job, Morrison left her job as a law clerk after a year and joined the law firm Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin. She joined them in 1986. During her tenure at the law firm, Morrison was made partner in 1991 and stayed on at the firm for another five years.
Morrison departed from the firm in 1996 to take a job offer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was offered the job based on the work she focused on during her time at the Howard firm because it dealt primarily matters relating to the SEC. Morrison was a regional director at the SEC and during her tenure, she scored notable achievements. These achievements include: contributing to the efforts to eradicate insider trading, exposing the illegal destruction of audit papers by auditors working as partners for companies, and much more.
2007 was the year Morrison left the SEC and joined the law firm Hall Capital Partners LLC. Morrison left the SEC because she wanted to fight for financial sector equality based on the lack of females holding leadership positions in the financial sector. The career of Helane Morrison serves as an example of personal resilience and ambition for fighting for the ideas she held dear to her heart. I have no doubt Morrison will continue to serve as inspiration for women in the years to come.