Some lawyers must compete against their colleagues to solicit the most desirable clients or cases. Others create or find a niche they can call their own. Attorney Linda Norwood is one of the latter.
“I do work other lawyers don’t do,” she says quietly.
Norwood does court appointed guardian ad litem and conservatorship work. When someone is disabled, most commonly due to age, she’ll step into their shoes to make the medical and financial decisions she deems are in their best interest.
“Maybe they don’t have a family member who can do those things, or maybe they have a family member, but that hasn’t worked out well,” Norwood says, still speaking softly.
She more thoroughly explains what she does by way of a story:
“A lady was in an independent living situation. But she had lived past the time when she should have been on her own. She was hard of hearing, nearly blind, and had no family nearby to take care of her. So I became her conservator.
“She threatened suicide, so she was taken to a local geri-psych unit. She loved it. She didn’t want to leave. They called me while I was moving her things to an assisted living room and said every time they mentioned sending her back, her psychosis went through the roof.
“The only way I could communicate with her was by writing a note, so I wrote, ‘You’re about to leave.’ And she said, ‘I have no choice.’ I wrote back, ‘You do. My only job is to do what’s best for you, and if you’re telling me you don’t want to go back, then I’ll find another place for you.”
Norwood secured a doctor’s permission to take her client out for an hour to see a different assisted living place. The lady moved in on a Friday, Norwood gave her a hearing aid the next day, and she’s now getting dentures and having her eyes checked. “She loves it,” Norwood says, her voice rising slightly with satisfaction.
Helping the client involved developing trust, which wasn’t easy. But by giving her client a choice, Norwood was able to build the bridge that allowed her to help the lady.
Each case the local chancery court assigns Norwood is unique and comes with its own challenges. She tells the story of becoming guardian ad litem for a gentleman who placed an ad for a caregiver and subsequently hired a divorced woman Norwood believed did not have his best interests at heart.
“He loved her. And she was able to get her name in his will, which gave her a vested interest in him having a shorter life. His daughter fought against this, and he loathed her for that. Now the caregiver is out of the picture, and I was able to help reconcile the father and daughter,” she says.
Although reluctant to trumpet her efforts, Norwood is clearly a caregiver herself, and is making a positive difference in the lives of others through her job. However, she says the benefits are hers. “This is my blessing job,” she says.
Norwood grew up in Atlanta, Ga., moved to Cleveland, Tenn., when she was in seventh grade, and studied social work at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. One of her teachers suggested she attend law school, so she did, earning her doctor of jurisprudence at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She met her future husband, Jeff Norwood, now a partner at Husch Blackwell, while in law school.
After working at firms in Knoxville, Sevierville, and Cleveland for a few years, Norwood took time off to rear their daughter and son. When she returned to work a decade later, things had changed. So before reactivating her law license, she worked as a paralegal at Baker Donelson. “We didn’t have fax machines and computers when I started practicing law, so I needed to familiarize myself with the new technology,” she says.
A friend who does guardian ad litem and conservatorship work told Norwood she found the work to be tremendously satisfying, so Norwood reactivated her license, introduced herself to the chancellors, and went to work.
While Norwood’s practice encompasses other aspects of the law – she does contract work for bankruptcy trustee Doug Johnson, for example – she concentrates on her guardian ad litem and conservatorship efforts. Her son says she has the perfect job for her.
“He says, ‘We’re grown up, so you can’t take care of us. But you can take care of these people,’” Norwood says.
Norwood smiles as she mentions her son. A 23-year-old graduate of Southern Methodist University, Stewart is currently working for Raytheon, a defense contractor. Her daughter, Jamison, is a third year medical student doing her surgery rotation at Erlanger.
Norwood also chuckles at the idea of being married to a lawyer. While she enjoys conversing with someone who speaks the language of the law, their first year of marriage was rough. “We both went at every argument like we were going to win. We finally had to go to a counselor, who told us marriage isn’t about winning but about building a relationship and making compromises,” she says.
Norwood and her husband have been married 28 years.
In her spare time, Norwood likes to exercise and stay active at her church, Signal Crest United Methodist. But since she works at home, her clients are nearly always on her mind.
“During the day, I’ll take people to the doctor and do my running around, then I’ll fix dinner, and then I’ll do my paperwork. I thoroughly enjoy what I do,” Norwood says.
Others appreciate Norwood as well. In recognition of her work as an attorney and her contributions to her community, the Chattanooga Bar Foundation this year selected Norwood as a new Fellow. The gesture humbled her. “I’m not a long time member, nor do I have a long and distinguished career, like some of the other Fellows. But I was honored,” she says.
When Norwood found a niche in the law to serve, she also found work that fits her well. And she plans to continue her current practice for many years to come. She might not be competing against her colleagues for the most desirable clients or cases, but she couldn’t be happier.