A Peek Inside Her Agenda: Imani Maatuka, Esq.

“I love the pressure. My life has been so touched to where when I say something is going to happen, it happens.”

Redefining the traditional career trajectory in law, Imani moved on from a successful tenure as a mid-level associate at Sidley Austin LLP to become the Managing Partner at MAE Law, an Illinois-based law firm her mother is currently the Senior Managing Partner of. Imani is set to open the first office of MAE Law outside of its flagship office in Champaign, Ill., in the Dallas, Texas area, building on her mother’s legacy and defining her own.

Imani Maatuka, Esq. discusses her most pivotal career moments that redefined a traditional career path in law, what success and prestige now look like, and what it means to be intentional to shape your own professional journey.

Her Agenda: What got you into Law from [studying] Mass Communications and Journalism at North Carolina A&T University? What made you make that first pivot?

Imani Maatuka, Esq.: I come from a family of attorneys, so growing up in a family of lawyers, the question was never, ‘Are you going to law school?’ It was more like ‘When?’ I think they all instilled in me [that] undergrad is kind of a crash course: find something that you’re passionate about and something that comes easy to you that you love, where school doesn’t feel like school in a way where it’s onerous, and it doesn’t excite you. But find something that you can pour your all into so that you can do really well, and then when you have the big stage, which is grad school and/or law school, then you can reap from what you sowed. For me, that looked like getting a full ride to a top 20 university that drastically changed the kind of career outcomes that were afforded to me.

I’ve been passionate about PR, and I owned an event company in high school, so I was all about marketing and putting something together: thinking of all different interests, whether it be a shareholder’s interest or a consumer’s interest, and how you market something to meet those interests. That was natural to me. What’s also funny is that my mother was a Communications major as well. It was just a natural fit with what I had been doing and what my interests were. It was also something that afforded me the ability to really hone in on my skills and do well so that the next stage came a bit easier. 

Her Agenda: After law school at Washington University School of Law, you received a job offer from a big law firm. What was that like for you, and how did that hone in on the skills that you had acquired from undergrad and graduate school? 

Imani Maatuka, Esq.: I’m really big on affirmations and manifesting things. When I say I’m going to do something, I feel like I’ve planned it out my entire life. My mom told me about a moment during my first semester at North Carolina A&T University, where I told her, ‘Mom, I’m going to graduate in three years with a 4.0, and I’m going to get a full ride to law school, ’ and I did exactly that. Similarly, when I got into Washington University School of Law, I made my plan: I wanted a Big Law summer associate position. I wanted to be at Sidley Austin LLP, and at that point, I wanted to work in Chicago and then either be a Big Law partner or start my mom’s next law office. That was my manifestation day one of law school…most of which happened, but some of which didn’t happen, and for good reason. It felt like [it was] according to plan; it felt almost divine. 

I went to the Dallas office of Sidley Austin LLP because I had some really good people in my ear who shared with me in the fall of 2019 that, at that point, many of the bigger law firms were announcing big moves to Texas. Everyone was opening an office in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, and the Texas market was this emerging legal market from a corporate law standpoint. I had some really good mentors. Thank God I listened to them, and I was open at the time. 

From there, I do more research on the Dallas office [of Sidley Austin LLP] in particular, and I see that it is a female powerhouse. Still to this day, I’ve never really seen a firm of that many female partners killing the game in global positions and in tons of leadership positions with huge books of business. That’s what we call in the industry ‘rainmakers’; these women were just unmatched and unparalleled. That’s why, to me, it almost seems divine, because it was exactly where I needed it to be at the exact right time. I needed to be in a smaller office that was growing and trying to position itself as the top office in the firm, which arguably they are. I needed to be able to be with the movers and shakers in this industry who were on their rise to power, who I could grab on their coattails and have them mentor and train me in a way that I knew would be so additive to my career.

Her Agenda:Being at [Sidley Austin LLP] was very pivotal to your growth as a law associate. Walk us through your next major pivot. What was the thought process of making that change from going from a big corporate law firm to your mother’s firm? 

Imani Maatuka, Esq.: I did both of my summers at Sidley. In total, I did two summers, five years; it felt like seven years at the firm. I really do feel like I grew up there in so many ways. In Fall 2021, I started as a 1st-year associate. I started as the first associate [at the Dallas office]. I ended up starting before the class that came in with me, about a month prior. And that was, again, almost divine. Because of that, I got on some really sophisticated and complex matters as a first year and matters with very small teams where I was able to get really good experience that most first years would never see. 

From 2024 to 2025, I made that transition where I’m no longer a junior associate: I’m a mid-level associate, what we call a managing associate. I have juniors under me. I’m truly managing the cases and anticipating what’s next. I’m liaising with partners and the clients and managing those expectations, but I’m also managing down, so junior associates are sending me work, and I’m reviewing it, letting them know what we need to fix to get it to the next level. And so with that, I started to look at building my own book.

I started looking at the writings on the wall. It was almost a perfect storm, where you have me trying to build a book of business, and then, from a litigation standpoint, a lot of firms’ business models were changing. You can’t talk about this without [talking about] the advent of AI and how more things were being outsourced to that tool. You’re also seeing that the bigger law firms are getting more expensive and their rates are constantly climbing. I also saw that a lot of them were re-servicing existing clients and were using boutique law firms to outsource some of the roll-up-your-sleeves type work. I was seeing this divide, where a lot of the ‘sexier’ work and the fun work from a litigation standpoint was being outsourced to these boutique firms. With all of that, seeing the writing on the wall from a market standpoint, I thought that it was the perfect storm for me. 

My mother’s firm had been growing exponentially year after year. They were in a place where they were thinking about opening a new office. The opportunity to litigate alongside my mother in her prime and in my prime in probably the last 5-10 years that she’ll be practicing [law], that a clock that is ticking and a moment that I would not be able to seize had I not done so at that time. So, I describe it as a perfect storm of all those things happening all at once. It was the easiest decision I’ve ever made in my life, but it was the hardest decision [too]. There were a lot of tears, because I felt like I was leaving a family to join family. I grew up at [Sidley Austin LLP] for seven years. I had people pour into me in every sense of the word. And so, that was very difficult. But I think I had the resolve, because I knew they weren’t leaving, they weren’t disappearing into the ether. Those are still people I can and do call for mentorship, for their thoughts on sticky issues, etc. But with all of that and the opportunity to work with my mother before she retires and to build upon a legacy that she’s already established? It was a no-brainer.

Her Agenda: What was the mindset and intentionality behind stepping away from the traditional trajectory of going for partner at a big law firm to joining your mother’s firm? What have you gained from charting your own professional path in law? 

Imani Maatuka, Esq.: Everything I do is intentional. I think you have to be [intentional]. No decision or life-altering plan that you make should be done so haphazardly. 

From an intentionality standpoint, knowing that I have built myself up enough to have the resolve and feel comfortable with taking that next step was huge because there was no second-guessing myself or anxiety that I think a lot of people have when they’re in that transitional phase. I didn’t want to be a service partner. I did not want to be a partner who just works on another rainmaker’s book, where you have the partner title, but not bringing in the business. That is not who I wanted to be. I wanted to be bringing in my own business. I wanted to be the rainmaker. I wanted to be the woman that I have idolized for so many years, the woman that I’ve seen in action, the woman who taught me all the things I know.

I think the intention started from day one. I did a lot of sacrificing from 23 to 28 years old, so I gave a lot of time. But I made that very intentional sacrifice where I was going to do something hard: I can give [Sidley] five years, and I will get so much in return. I think about the time that I put into my craft of mastering the art of litigation. I was there to soak up as much as I could, to make the connections and relationships that I knew would stand the test of time, and to get the experience that, when someone is questioning my ability, I can speak to them and they’re like, ‘She knows what the hell she is talking about.’ I gained all of that and so much more.

I gained my autonomy, I gained independence, and I gained another opportunity to really pressure test myself. I knew the game, and I wanted to step out of my comfort zone again, because I felt like that’s when I flourish. [Outside my comfort zone] is where I put my money where my mouth is, and I whip something up, and I do something miraculous, and it’s only when I’m uncomfortable that I can achieve in a way that I’m used to achieving.

On top of that, in gaining time with my family, I think about the last seven to eight years and how much time I had to take away from familial relationships because I was so hyper-focused on my job. And now, some of that pressure has been taken off, because I’m now the boss. There’s pressure with me being the boss, but also there’s a freedom in that as well where I answer to myself. I’ve found different avenues to rebuild and regain that lost time. I’ve gained so much support. It’s been beautiful to see how many people have come in support of me once I announced this big transition.

Her Agenda: Now, as a Managing Partner of MAE Law and opening your own law office in Dallas, Texas this summer, MAE Law’s first office outside of its flagship office in Illinois, how has that shaped what success and prestige looks like to you? 

Imani Maatuka, Esq.: Success to me now looks like longevity. [MAE Law] is a firm that’s been in existence since 1974. The name, the brand, the workmanship…that’s the success. The fact that you can stand the test of time and you can continue to provide excellent service to not only your clients, but to your community. The fact that you can provide some sense of sustenance to your employees and give them something to look forward to every single day of their lives. To me, that’s the meaning of success. 

What [success] looks like for me now as the Managing Partner [of the Dallas office] is that I want to see MAE Law grow. I want to see offices populating across the country. I want to see new junior attorneys coming through our ranks and getting the same training that was afforded to me at the same level of experience that was afforded to me, and then they do the same in turn for others.

Her Agenda: What does building a career path with intention mean to you? What would you tell a professional looking to shape their career intentionally and taking an alternative career path? 

Imani Maatuka, Esq.: You have to find your village. You have to find those mentors who can show you all the various ways in which you could pivot or take your career. I think there’s power in seeing it done and then being able to make it your own. The only way you can do so is if you see those stories and those paths that have been walked, so you have to go out and do the work of finding those people. Then, it’s a matter of connecting with them, getting in front of their face, and being bold enough to demand a little bit of their time. And then you have to buy in. You need to be a route runner and hone in. You’re a route runner, and you listen and pay attention. That’s not to say there won’t be pivots and pitfalls and stumbles and roadblocks. But even with that, you can still persevere and get to the next point. 

In addition to building your village, I would also say to make a plan. I’m sitting here today because I sat down with myself, and I continue to sit down with myself, and I reflect. I go back, and I revise, and I reflect again. ‘What do I want my life to look like?’ ‘What do I want the next phase to look like?’ I’m so thankful for those moments where I can be real with myself, and I can sit with my thoughts. Sometimes I sit in that discomfort of ‘What do I actually want out of life?’ 

Thirdly, what are your values? For me, I really care about a career where I feel unencumbered. I really care about the flexibility and the sophistication of my practice. I care about being able to make an impact. I have my scholarship program, the Bridging The Gap Scholarship program. When I’m thinking about a career path for me, it’s a career path that fills all of those cups, because if it doesn’t fill those cups for me, I’m not going to feel fulfilled. And everyone’s cups are different. Some people might put family in that cup. Some people might put money [in their cup]. Some people are fueled by finances and what they can do with that money for their family or the community. But for me, those are my values. I would say those are the three things [I would advise]: find your village, make your path, and then three, figure out your value system. 

[Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]