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Pamela DeNeuve

Lawyer & Law Firm Peak Performance Strategist

The Lawyer of the Week- Episode 12, South Africa

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Dr. Jeanne-Mari Reteif

Human Rights Consultant / Attorney

CALIBRICS (www.calibrics.com)

Interview Transcript

Pamela: Hello my name is Pamela DeNeuve and I’d like to welcome you today to Lawyer of the Week. I am very pleased today to have Jeanne-Mari Retief today. How are you Jeanne-Mari?

Dr. Jeanne-Mari:  I’m very good. Thank you so much for having me

Pamela: Jeanne-Mari is in South Africa and so we’re very, happy that she made some time to be the Lawyer of the Week.

Let me just tell you a little bit about Jeanne-Mari

Jeanne-Mari is an admitted attorney and specializes in the development of international human rights and constitutional law. She has successfully completed legal projects for various key stakeholders in the global legal arena and is known for her creative and passionate approach to the evolution of a modern legal profession.

She has assisted law firms with team restructuring and is called upon to evaluate the strengths members could bring to the team, prior to appointment.

She founded CALIBRICS in 2012 and has since published in various accredited journals and has presented papers related to international human rights and humanitarian law both at home and abroad.

She serves as foreign liaison to the organized legal profession and is a proud member of the KAS expert group on international criminal justice. She holds a Ph.D. in International Humanitarian and Criminal Law.

Pamela: Welcome Jeanne-Mari!

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: Thank you so much for having me I hope I can contribute something valuable.

Pamela: Ok I’d like to ask you our lawyer of the week questions and the first one is when and what made you decide to become a lawyer?

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: That was actually, I think maybe pure chance or fate. I actually wanted to become a speech therapist and audiologist but I didn’t get through the interview rounds and I was very disappointed. One of my friends told me, “Well why don’t you just come and study law with us until you figure what you want to do.” I ended up being the only one graduating [Laughing] with a law degree they all went on to do different things.

Pamela: oh isn’t that something. Oh wow that’s really good. You were the one that ended up with a law degree.

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: Yes [laughing]

Pamela: Tell us about your practice and what are your biggest wins and challenges.

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: Well I ran a small practice that is basically focused on international human rights and humanitarian law and I focus a lot on Africa. I would think the biggest challenge would be, it’s not really a very well publicized field, especially in Africa.

Most of the attorneys work in commercial law conveyancing or family law, so it really is a kind of a club that you need to get into and you need to kind of get your foot in the door and that was definitely the biggest challenge for me when I started CALIBRICS.

Obviously, the biggest win for me would be that, I hope I’ve achieve it to that degree, and I hope that I can continue to broaden my field even more and meet more people and take on more projects in Africa.

Pamela: How long have you I’ve been practicing as an international human rights lawyer?

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: Well, I started in 2013 or 2012 when I opened CALIBRICS. I really started focusing on that. Prior to that I was working in legal research.

Pamela: Great! I’m sure you make a big difference all over Africa. I know you travel all the time to different locations.

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: I hope to think so. But the thing in Africa is that we have a very specific drive towards African solutions for African problems. And, this really puts us in a position where we have brilliant humanitarian and human rights instruments that are drafted and that exist. But practically implementing them always kind of seems to be the problem. So, I try and focus a lot of my effort on that and using the mechanism, the great mechanism that we already have in place and to try and make it practical and to have it implemented and to work.

Pamela: Oh great. So tell me what is the biggest opportunity that you see for you to make a legacy for your work that you’re doing, I know you’re in the beginning of it. But, if you would look back what will be the legacy you would like to leave about your work that you are doing.

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: I think I would like to leave a legacy to say that human rights, especially in Africa, is still very important and a lot of good things can come from that. I know that there are a lot of challenges that you face when you work in this field from budgetary constraints, to making good connections with people, to technological difficulties, administrative difficulties, but if you put your mind to it you really can do it. And, making a practical difference really does make a difference.

I think a lot of attorneys are very, obviously, economically driven which is fine because we all need to make a living. But, at the end of the day, I also think that we are in this profession to give back and I would like to see that happen to a greater degree.

Pamela: That’s good. OK, so one last question is what do you do to try to relieve your stress?

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: Well, it can get a bit hectic sometimes because I do travel a lot and, I have a lot on my plate. So, I always try to just be brutally honest, to myself about my situation and to acknowledge and accept that I have limitations.

Because I think sometimes, we think that we can do everything and, we tend to pile everything on and then you realize too late that it’s too much.

So just to be truthful with yourself as to what your limitations are, acknowledging those, and accepting those because it’s completely fine to have limitations and to work with those.

That’s why we have other people in the profession that have other strengths than we do, that we can sometimes rely upon. That works really well for me.

Pamela: Wonderful! Well thank you so much Jeanne-Mari and we really appreciate you being a lawyer for the week.

Dr. Jeanne-Mari: Thank you so much I really appreciate it.

Dr. Reteif’s Links:

http://www.calibrics.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-jeanne-mari-retief-76191b34

Thank you for joining

Lawyer of the Week!

 

Pamela DeNeuve

Lawyer & Law Firm Strategist

feel free to email me at:

pamela@pameladleneuve.com

We Hope to See You Next Week!

 

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Quotes from our Lawyer of the Week

  • I am here to protect the human rights and I will do the best in my capacity to do so.
    Diana Constantinidou
  • I love this work. I really do. To me, especially now more than ever, we need a strong news media. It’s not just a business. It’s part of our democracy.
    Edward Birk
  • You don’t have to be large and on the world stage to seize these opportunities and to apprehend these threats. It really is a function of the vision and the insight of the leaders. When they get it, then there’s an opportunity for them to persuade and help their partners get the message and act to remake themselves.
    George Beaton
  • I did not intend to create this legacy, but I see the ripple effects of it, and it’s so meaningful to me. I think that through the podcast, I’m also hoping to create a legacy of service to the profession.
    Okeoma Moronu
  • That’s one of the things that I find very satisfying; building bridges between people from different countries, working closely with them and seeking those deeply satisfying relationships that are created in cross-border trade and investment facilitation.
    John Grimley
  • I’m very lucky to have a family and a wife that absolutely just creates a life that’s there and that one can go to. I think about the stress that we experience in our work, that is the best we can offer. So I really live for that. It’s something to be grateful for.
    Nic Swart
  • The legacy that I want to leave in the work that I’m doing is having made a difference and having hopefully spearheaded some type of meaningful change in the culture of the legal profession, as it relates to addiction and mental health specifically.
    Patrick Krill
  • It’s not so much my practice that I want to make a difference in, but I want to know that I left the legal professional a little bit better than I found it.
    Courtney Wylie
  • the real reality is some of the lawyers, some of the law firms, are going to be left behind because they’re not moving into the current reality where they can’t just rely on referrals.
    Montina Portis
  • When you take a lawyer out of the system, you take the voice and the ability of the people to protect themselves from overreaching government and overreaching organizations out the equation.
    Ian Connor Bifferato
  • I think a lot of attorneys are very, obviously, economically driven, which is fine, because we all need to make a living. But, at the end of the day, I also think that we are in this profession to give back and I would like to see that happen to a greater degree.
    Dr. Jeanne-Mari Reteif
  • "I would like my clients to think of me as of being a valuable resource to them and a knowledgeable resource that helped them protect their business and the most valuable assets of their business, which is their inventions, their ideas, their brand and that they remember me as somebody they could go to at any time to help them protect their intellectual property assets.
    Crystal T. Broughan
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  • So you have to be that person who is challenged again and again so that you will grow as an expert.
    Dr. Peter MacMillan
  • I always tell my clients and my friends and colleagues, it’s a two-way road. You know- you give, and you receive, you give back, and it keeps going that way. It’s wonderful.
    Fernanda Alem-Freitas
  • In terms of successes, I will tell you, having done this, I’ve gone much further and made more connections and more friends and more inroads into the industry much earlier in my career than I ever could have possibly imagined.
    Gene Quinn
  • my thinking was that I really need to understand what clients really wanted. So in order to really do a good job, I needed to find out what moves them, what kept them up at night.
    Silvia Hodges Silverstein
  • So when we talk about a legacy, it’s a legacy that people to this day tell me — oh, I remember working with your Grandfather and he was such an upright man. Wow, let’s hope they say that about me.
    Jordan W. Charness
  • this answer made me to become a lawyer instead of a mathematician.
    Anandavasagan K.
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    Anne Brafford
  • it is my goal to try to increase diversity within our profession, and even for as long as I’m here, I will advocate for the inclusion of different perspectives, different peoples, and different ideas that can make this world a better place.
    Robert Johnson
  • I have learned a lot of things the hard way and if I can help others sort of avoid the mistakes I’ve made and have the vision I lacked, then that’s how I want to help
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  • "I’m sort of traditional with an edge. I have respect for tradition. I have respect for history, but I’m also very inquisitive. I like to, you know, sort of architect things.
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  • I am all or nothing. I believe that the world has enough mediocre people. I had a mentor tell me that once and I give 110% to everything I do.
    LaKeisha Randall
  • You’ll never know how high that peak can be unless you find recovery, and with recovery, anything is possible
    Brian Cuban
  • Being able to live and work anywhere in the world. And we do live, you know- we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, in County Cork, Ireland now.
    Walt Hampton
  • You know, the best thing that anyone could possibly do is think about what’s important to them and get back to that really basic thing. Personally, professionally, financially. You know, where would you like to be? Because you can be there if you take a couple steps, you know? And it just- it can be incremental
    Bridget Venus Grimes
  • The people I represent have their own families and their own spouses and I see that vividly through my own experiences and trying to help them. I often try to, although perhaps not the easiest thing to do, but try to put myself into their shoes and approach a case with that regard.
    Mark A. Torres
  • My legacy really is to try to enhance the wellness of the members of our profession and to open up this dialog.
    Heidi K. Brown
  • At the end of my days, I want people to look back and say, "Yes, he really did make the world a better place and here are some concrete examples of places where he's influenced people, or influenced organizations, or cultures." So, if I can do that and leave that to the world, then I think I've done a pretty good job.
    Maurice L. Rabb
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    Bill L., Chairman of Litigation
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