March 11, 2025
Chase Johnson is a trial lawyer in the Dallas offices of Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel. Her practice focuses on representing individuals harmed by asbestos exposure, dangerous and defective products, toxic exposure, and birth injuries. She is a 2023 graduate of the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, where she was senior articles editor for the Jurimetrics Journal of Law, Science, and Technology. In addition, she earned her bachelor’s degree cum laude from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Read on to learn what Chase had to say during our Women’s History Month Women In Law Roundtable Q&A.
Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel: Where do you think we are in terms of gender equality in the legal profession? How do you see the field growing and changing in the future, not just for women attorneys but all lawyers?
Chase Johnson: I think overall we have made a lot of progress in terms of gender equality in the legal profession, but I also think there is still a lot of work to do, especially with gender equality in all practice areas as well as seeing gender equality in leadership positions.
These past few years have made it clear that some of the changes we’ve seen from COVID-19 are here to stay, particularly with the use of technology to bridge the gap with physical distance. With that, I can see the field changing to allow for more flexible working schedules that could allow for a better work-life balance for people with different lifestyles. I can also see the field continuing to progress in terms of gender equality in a way that allows women attorneys to be seen in more equal proportion in different practice areas and in leadership. I believe that we will continue to push for progress so that women attorneys can have equal opportunities for success in this profession. I have had the privilege to have several women attorney mentors, and I think being able to see women successful in this field, and being successful leaders in this field, is so important for young attorneys as well as women considering going to law school.
WKPS: What personality characteristics or skills do you possess that you believe enabled your career to flourish?
CJ: I believe my ability to multitask and effectively split my attention to multiple cases has helped my career a lot. Being able to focus on a case is very important, but it is equally important to be able to maintain sufficient focus on other active cases in order to make sure no case falls behind due to focusing too heavily on another. This is a skill I have worked hard to develop, and being able to purposefully plan how to split my time and attention among my cases has allowed me not only to efficiently work my cases but also maintain some work-life balance.
Personally, I also think empathy is also an important, if not the most important, characteristic or skill that has enabled me to flourish as an attorney. When practicing law, I think it can be easy to get bogged down in the intricacies of the law and procedure. However, at the root of every one of my cases is a person who has sought our firm out for help, and helping our clients get compensation as best that we can is the heart of what we do. Being able to empathize with our clients is essential in keeping our clients’ best interests close to heart in all that we do.
WKPS: Many issues that our firm tackles – like helping talc-exposure victims and survivors of birth defects and sex abuse – have unique implications for women. How important is the legal field to ensuring fair treatment for women and protecting their rights? Why is it important to have female attorneys involved in this litigation?
CJ: I think the legal field is essential in ensuring fair treatment for women and protecting their rights. Rights are not truly rights if they are not enforced, and the way to enforce rights in our country is through legal processes. Navigating our legal field can be confusing, time consuming, and stressful, especially for people who aren’t familiar with working within our legal system. Our work representing our clients allows us to apply our expertise to ensure that they get fair treatment and their rights are protected. These issues can be very complicated and emotional for our clients and being able to represent our clients can help them jump through the hurdles of our legal system and hopefully get compensation and justice for what happened to them.
Having female attorneys involved in these areas of litigation is so important because there is no perfect substitute for lived experience. While a female attorney may not have experienced what our clients have, through life experiences, they can more readily appreciate and accommodate for the unique implications these issues have for women. Having female attorneys involved in these areas of litigation can also be beneficial from a client perspective. Some women clients may be more comfortable talking with a female attorney about these issues, or at least having a female attorney present. Furthermore, just as representation matters amongst attorneys, representation matters between clients and attorneys as well. It never feels good to be the only woman in the room, so having female attorneys involved in these areas of litigation can help make sure our clients never have to be the only woman in the room for their own case.
WKPS: Is there a practice area you focus on that particularly affects women? Why is it important to you? What positive impacts have you been able to make through your work?
CJ: I have focused on ovarian talc cases, which due to the injuries in these cases primarily affect women. These cases are important to me because they deal with matters that historically have sometimes been swept under the rug or deemed impolite to discuss, to the detriment of many women. I think these cases are so important not only in the pursuit of getting our clients compensation for their injuries, but also in bringing attention to how exposures to substances like talc can have unique harms for women. I am proud of being able to help our client’s voice be heard and to help get them compensation for their injuries to the best of my ability.
WKPS: What is one piece of advice you’ve received that you would pass on to law students and lawyers? Women law students and lawyers?
CJ: One of my professors in law school told me pretty early on to learn how to manage my time. He explained that no matter how busy law school may seem, as an attorney you will have many more pots on the stove, and it will be essential to be able to manage all of them. While I will say there were some times in law school I was just as busy as I am while practicing, in my experience, this was good advice to take to heart while in law school where I had the time to develop my time management skills before being a practicing attorney with my own cases. Specifically for women law students and women lawyers, I would pass on the advice that your experiences as a woman, and your unique perspectives as a woman, are an asset and not a detriment to you. As we have seen, there are many issues we tackle that have unique impacts on women, and our experiences and perspectives can help us be more empathetic and more effective advocates to our clients.
Check out our Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel Virtual Roundtable Q&A: Women In Law for more interviews with our attorneys.
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