A Legacy of Leadership Rooted in Community and Compassion
By Scott E. Collins
One way to learn how “powerful” or “influential” a person is in King County is to search the person’s name in the Puget Sound Business Journal. When you search the name of Kelly Twiss Noonan, there are too many “hits” to count, as her accomplishments over her 35 years in the law have put her high on the lists of power and influence in our community. In 2022, Kelly was recognized by the PSBJ as one of its “Women of Influence” and, in a separate list, PSBJ named her in its “Power 100” in recognition of her positive influence in our community.
But to stop there would miss the person Kelly really is. For when you see Kelly for the person she is, you see that her influence and power do not come from having the title of a successful law firm’s Managing Shareholder since 2002. Nor do they come because she has sought out power and influence. Instead, you see her power and influence derive indirectly from how she has been successful, by how she lifts and supports those around her, and by how she cares for our community with her time and talents.
Her Life and Leadership
Kelly was born in France where her father was stationed in the military at the time. When she was four, her family settled in Yakima. She attended the University of Notre Dame where she obtained a degree in English in 1985. Unsure of the next step, Kelly moved to Seattle and spent a year working as a bill collector for Thousand Trails. She found she had a knack for collection work, which seeded the idea that she would make a good lawyer. That fall, she enrolled in law school at the University of Washington where, not surprisingly, she excelled in her studies and graduated in 1989.
During her summer before 3L, Kelly clerked at Monroe, Stokes, Eitelbach & Lawrence, which is now Stokes Lawrence. She knocked their socks off that summer, received an associate offer that she promptly accepted, and has been there ever since. Yes, an entire career at the same firm, a rarity these days.
In 2002, Kelly was elected as Managing Shareholder—the first woman in the position—and she continues to hold the position to this day. During her 23 years at the helm, Stokes Lawrence has grown in size and prestige under Kelly’s leadership. She took over the firm with a lawyer count in the twenties and has organically grown the firm to the 57-attorney firm Stokes Lawrence is today. That growth came in part from expanding the firm’s footprint in 2007 to a Yakima office to tap the agricultural sector of our economy, and from adding nine attorneys from the former Seattle firm of Mills Meyers Swartling in 2019. It also came in her careful assembly—one person at a time—of a puzzle in the vision Kelly held for her firm.
Kelly will retire from Stokes Lawrence at the end of this year. While she has some uncertainty as to filling newfound time beyond spending time with her extended family, traveling, and doing arts and crafts, it is certain that she will leave her firm in excellent shape. She will also leave her imprint for years to come. The good manager that she is has planned for the succession of leadership for several years, so that when it happens the firm won’t miss a beat. Her successor—Theresa Wang (a KCBA Trustee)—has been appointed and is ready to take the helm, thanks to the foresight and planning Kelly put into the process. While I can hear in Kelly’s voice an excitement about this next chapter in her life, I also hear a wistful tone when she tells me that her session at the Neighborhood Legal Clinics last week was her last after volunteering for over 25 years. Retirement will be well deserved, but a tad bittersweet too.
Vision With Values
When I ask Kelly about her successes as Managing Shareholder, her modesty deflects the discussion to the contributions of her colleagues. But I won’t let Kelly get away with that.
With a clear vision of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the law, Kelly has supported her words with action and results. As a majority women-owned law firm, Stokes Lawrence has been certified as a Women Business Enterprise and, in 2021, the firm was accepted for membership in the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF). For three years running it has been nationally ranked as a Top 50 Best Law Firm for Women and Diversity by Seramount. In its annual Ceiling Smashers report, Law360 ranks Stokes Lawrence seventh nationally among law firms of 100 or fewer attorneys with the highest representation of women in equity partnerships. The firm’s website provides the data to back up such recognition—55% of the firm’s shareholders are women; 63% of the firm’s associates are women; and 64% of the firm’s attorneys involved in management are women!
It’s not just about numbers or accolades for Kelly. It’s about transforming the legal workplace, and Kelly’s trailblazing leadership has transformed Stokes Lawrence into a welcoming place where attorneys—both women and men from all backgrounds—find fulfillment. So much so that Stokes Lawrence is annually ranked by the PSBJ as one of “Washington’s Best Workplaces.” Kelly’s long-time law partner Bradford Axel credits Kelly with creating a culture where people are not expected to fit into a box; the firm values people for who they are and what they bring, especially differences.
When I press Kelly for her secret sauce, she speaks to firm culture. A law firm and its leadership, she says, must relentlessly foster its culture in everything the firm does. The firm must do more than welcome its people; it must constantly promote and preserve teamwork and collaboration among all who work there. For only then will every employee feel comfortable, empowered in a role, and enabled to succeed. In that model, Kelly is a servant leader whose leadership is not about ordering others around or boasting about her accomplishments; it’s about perpetuating a collaborative, inclusive culture that elevates and empowers everyone else to succeed, while she stands aside to cheer them on.
Brad Axel characterizes Kelly as a “phenomenal leader.” What makes her so, he says, is that she is unfailingly optimistic, she is an excellent listener, she values the good qualities in everyone, she shows grit by not avoiding difficult decisions, and she believes in the pursuit of personal growth by everyone. He adds:
The way Kelly goes through life is fundamentally positive and she constantly gives in large and small ways to people, and respecting people is one way she does that. I can’t think of a time when Kelly ever took the limelight or credit for herself or made someone around her feel small. She has a lot of power as the Managing Shareholder of a large downtown Seattle law firm, but she only uses that power to elevate those around her.
Paying It Forward
Paying it forward is another core value by which Kelly lives. In her early years as Managing Shareholder, she was one of few women managing partners in Seattle. As more women rose to leadership, and knowing the unique challenges women have in managing law firms, Kelly created a forum for women managing partners for peer connection, support, and mentoring. This forum provided comfortable space for sharing successes and challenges and receiving input and advice in law firm management. She is also an active member of CEO Connect, a peer advisory group where regional business leaders regularly meet to support and mentor one another; and for years, Kelly was involved in the Women Presidents Organization.
I have mentioned Kelly’s long tenure as a volunteer attorney with the Downtown Legal Clinic where she has provided counseling to pro bono clients. She also used her management talents to lead the Board of Trustees of the King County Bar Foundation, the 501(c)(3) arm of the KCBA that funds pro bono programs and scholarships for minority law students. Kelly recruited me to the KCBF Board and I will forever be grateful to her for her invaluable mentorship and advice during my year as President. And how many times have we (read that, I) taken advantage of Kelly’s never-can-say-no spirit to have her do the “ask” at the KCBF’s Breakfast With Champions, which she does so well. If the Breakfast were Saturday Night Live, Kelly would have earned one of those fancy SNL jackets for hosting five or more times!
Parting Shot
When I ask Kelly for one piece of advice she would like to pass on as she heads into retirement, she offers this:
There is a lot of perfectionism among lawyers. Lawyers need to learn to give themselves a break and to develop a growth mindset, with the understanding that what was learned today will be used tomorrow. And that the practice of law is a team sport—each lawyer needs to rely on teammates and let the others rely on you, with a fair dose of grace worked in for everyone including yourself.
Terrific perspective for us to embrace.
Happy Retirement, Kelly!
I have my own personal perspective to offer. I have known Kelly for many years and our working lives parallel in many ways. We overlapped in law school; we volunteered together at Legal Clinic; we became managing partners of similar law firms at the same time (but I only made it 21 years); we share the same values; we served together for years on the KCBF Board; and we even have sons who played travel club basketball against each other. Even with so many parallels, I am in awe of Kelly. I have had a front seat to all she has accomplished in her career, but the awe comes in seeing her remain grounded in modesty and empathy, in witnessing her servant leadership that elevates all around her, and in knowing this powerful and influential person has been as much committed to DEI and volunteerism to lift our entire community as she has to her law firm’s for-profit enterprise. I have tried to model myself after Kelly in all that I do, and have from time to time, when facing my own challenge, found myself wondering what Kelly would do.
Please join me in thanking Kelly for her years of contribution to our bar association, in congratulating her on a long and successful career, and in wishing her the best in the next chapter of her life.
And when you next see Kelly, be sure to compliment her on her jewelry. With what little spare time Kelly has had for herself over the years, she makes all her own jewelry, not to mention dabbles in other arts by doing watercolors, metal-working, and mosaic making. As I hope you can now see, she is a woman of many talents, and I can’t wait to see how she will apply her talents after her retirement from the law.
