2023 Up & Coming Awards: Elizabeth Haden, 39

Partner, Lathrop GPM, Kansas City

Practice Areas: Commercial lending

Law School: University of Missouri School of Law

Elizabeth Haden understood early in life that law as a profession — even with its great demands — also provides flexibility. “My dad is a litigator,” she says. “When I was growing up, he would be at our mid-afternoon school assemblies when most other working parents could not attend. When I was in high school, he volunteered as an assistant coach for my basketball team and showed up to practices at 3:30 p.m.” Now, as a lawyer, she realizes how many billable hours he sacrificed to spend that time with her.

“I advise young lawyers to be open to opportunities,” Haden says. “I started my career wanting to be a tax attorney. Then I played in a summer associate golf tournament and was paired with a number of attorneys in the lending group. We hit it off, and they started sending me work. I learned that who you work with as a young attorney is just as important as what you are working on.”

Haden’s biggest accomplishment for 2023 is transitioning to a new firm. This was a scary prospect because she had been at her prior firm for her entire career. Now, almost a year in, she is proud that she was brave enough to leave a place where she had great friends and success to build a practice of her own.

What is something about you that would surprise people?

I am a self-appointed Swiftie and spend a lot of my free time following all things Taylor Swift. I’ve seen the Eras tour three times already, and I am hoping to attend an international show sometime next year.

What is the best career advice you have received?

Whenever we were at a difficult spot in the negotiation of a loan document, one of my mentors, Mike Royle, would push back humbly by starting with, “In my limited 35 years of practicing law…” I’ve always looked forward to the day I can start plagiarizing that phrase. Thirteen years isn’t quite enough time, but I’m getting close.