You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered daily
Marie Claire Daily
Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.
Sent weekly on Saturday
Marie Claire Self Checkout
Exclusive access to expert shopping and styling advice from Nikki Ogunnaike, Marie Claire's editor-in-chief.
Once a week
Maire Claire Face Forward
Insider tips and recommendations for skin, hair, makeup, nails and more from Hannah Baxter, Marie Claire's beauty director.
Once a week
Livingetc
Your shortcut to the now and the next in contemporary home decoration, from designing a fashion-forward kitchen to decoding color schemes, and the latest interiors trends.
Delivered Daily
Homes & Gardens
The ultimate interior design resource from the world's leading experts - discover inspiring decorating ideas, color scheming know-how, garden inspiration and shopping expertise.
Alanna Rutherford, 34, partner, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP
Résumé: The youngest — and only African American — equity partner at her firm, Alanna Rutherford's CV is every pre-law student's fantasy. Negotiating billion-dollar settlements and challenging California's gay-marriage ban, as she may later this year, is all in a day's work for this legal diva.
Background check: "When I was 8, I wanted to be James Baker, the White House chief of staff; he worked behind the scenes. I never wanted to be president. I enjoy crisis management, which is what litigation is."
Big break: "Getting a record $4 billion for AmEx in its 2007 and 2008 settlements with Visa and MasterCard felt really good. I'd been working with them before they filed the lawsuit and saw the case through to the end."
Adrenaline junkie: "I do one thing every year that scares me. I've jumped off cliffs, skydived, and cut off all my hair. I also want to see 100 countries before I turn 40. I'm at 78 now, including Mongolia, Malaysia, and Zambia."