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Airriess always there for colleagues, despite difficulties of working from home

By: Michaela Paukner, [email protected]//December 15, 2020//

Airriess always there for colleagues, despite difficulties of working from home

By: Michaela Paukner, [email protected]//December 15, 2020//

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Crystal Airriess - Godfrey & Kahn
Crystal Airriess –
Godfrey & Kahn

Crystal Airriess is the person other paralegals at Godfrey & Kahn come to with questions — a role that has become all the harder ever since everyone started working from home.

When a veteran paralegal left the firm in 2019, Airriess saw an opportunity. She became the senior paralegal at the firm in February — just one month before the pandemic hit.

“It’s more awkward when you can’t just walk into the next office with a question,” Airriess said. “(But) I really wanted to try to maintain an atmosphere of availability, even though I wasn’t physically there.”

Airriess has done more than just trying to keep her calendar open over the past nine months. She’s helped with complex commercial-transaction work, managed state-compliance matters, maintained corporate-record books, trained new paralegals and associate attorneys, managed work during staff changes and temporary leaves of absence, and more.

Her colleagues said she’s been a master communicator and a sounding board for new ideas.

“She is an asset to our team, consistently going above and beyond what is expected and providing exceptional service to our clients,” said Brett Koeller, shareholder and a chairman of Godfrey & Kahn’s corporate law practice group.

And she’s managed to do all of that as she worked remotely while being pregnant and caring for a 3-year-old.

“Work was done in pieces and at odd hours of the day,” Airriess said. “The concrete barriers between work and home life were removed, so it helped to artificially section off the day so that I could concentrate on work during work time and not feel work creeping in during family time.”

No matter where or when she’s working, Airriess seeks to be as helpful as the paralegals and attorneys who answered her questions and gave her advice in the five years she has been at Godfrey & Kahn.

“I still benefit from that constantly, but also now have the opportunity to help others in the same way,” Airriess said. “It benefits all of us to share what we know.”

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