I'm Gwen Nightengale, a workplace health & safety lawyer and the founder of A Deeper Well Coaching.

I know what it’s like to have to pivot in your legal career. I postponed my 2L summer associate position after learning during the on-campus interview season that I was going to be a mom. As my classmates were graduating with job offers and plans to study for the bar, I was moving my husband and daughter to a new city for a role that was not promised.

I graduated law school during the start of the great recession. My summer general practice law firm didn't hire my summer class. While I graduated thinking I would be an IP or regulatory lawyer, I pivoted. I joined a labor and employment law firm, where I discovered workplace health & safety and practiced for almost a decade. I’ve worked in-house for 7 years. I began my career counseling on workplace health & safety law in the mining industry and later pivoted to various iterations of technology and aerospace manufacturing. I even added a new practice area along the way. I know what it's like to start over.

Having only practiced law as a mom, I’m well versed in the juggling act of billable hours and managing a busy personal life. I closed out my lengthy law firm workdays leading girl scout meetings and volunteering my weekend time at swim meets. I’ve also done the reverse so I could chaperone field trips and finish that appellate brief. I know the impact of deprioritizing self needs to meet the important work deadline and show up for the people I care about, and still be told those efforts were not enough.

Unsurprisingly, I know burnout. I’ve experienced self-doubt and loud ruminating thoughts. I’ve questioned whether I have what it takes. I’ve also embarked on the the slow and vulnerable work of rebuilding my mental health, identifying my values, and choosing to follow them, even when the legal profession frowns upon it.

Along the way, I became the listening ear for colleagues navigating career challenges, interpersonal conflict, and the quiet internal whisper asking whether there’s another way to practice law. This journey has led me to my passion for coaching women professionals in law and in corporate.

In my spare time, I am pursuing a diploma for executive and senior level coaching and am now a coach in training. Here is a little bit more about my training program:

• Executive coach training with In Good Company, an ILM-approved program

• Working toward the ILM Level 7 Diploma

• Emotions Coaching Practitioner training (expected 2027)

• Guided by the ICF Code of Ethics