Legal Training Meets Organization Development

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Susan Letterman White

How Legal and Organizational Development Experience Shape My Consulting

My background in employment law and experience as managing partner of a law firm, combined with my Master of Science in Organizational Development, gives me multiple lenses for analyzing organizational challenges.

When I review policies, practices, and talent lifecycle processes—from recruiting and hiring through development, advancement, recognition, and separation—I can assess them through legal, practical, systems, and change perspectives simultaneously. This helps identify not just what needs to change, but how to implement change while managing risk and ensuring compliance.

Having led a law firm as managing partner, I understand the challenges leaders face firsthand. This experience brings empathy to my executive coaching and organizational consulting—I've navigated the complexities of strategic planning, team development, and operational execution from the leader's chair.

This approach informs everything I do: strategic planning that accounts for implementation realities, change management that considers legal implications, and leadership development rooted in the actual experience of leading.

Working together for Complex Transformations

Large-scale organizational transformations often require diverse expertise. I partner with established consultants who complement my capabilities and share my commitment to measurable results.

Our collective expertise includes:

  • Korn Ferry certified leadership modeling, assessment, and coaching specialists

  • Change management and organization development (psychology and logistics) practioners

  • Strategic planning and implementation consultants

  • Training design and facilitation expertise

  • A smiling man with gray hair and glasses outdoors, with green leaves in the background.

    Jeffrey Baker

  • Smiling man in a suit outdoors with greenery in the background.

    Ted Witherell

  • A man wearing glasses, a pink striped shirt, a pink and blue striped tie, and a dark vest, smiling, with a beige background.

    John Leonard Harris

This collaborative approach has delivered results over the past 5 years for:

  • Culture and structure change and leadership development for Operational Services Division

  • Assessment and Inclusive leadership development for Mass Department of Transportation and MBTA

  • Audit, Report, and Implementation of equity and inclusion development for Worcester, Massachusetts HR and HHS Departments