Our clients are the gift that keeps on giving
This holiday, we’re grateful for incredible clients like Everlaw, who shared their testimonial and insights on working with us
You know you’ve found the right client-law firm match when it feels like you’re working with friends. Tong Tejani’s amazing clients make everything we do worthwhile. As Joyce puts it:
“A law firm partner once told me that she loved being a partner because she got to choose her clients and work with her best friends. At the time, I thought she was exaggerating. But I now know what that means—many of our clients truly have become friends. We love supporting them and watching them succeed.”
Best of all, it appears the feeling is mutual. Our clients have supported our success and often tell us how highly they regard our team. We’ve gotten especially encouraging feedback from our work with Everlaw—a collaborative, cloud-based litigation platform for corporate counsels, litigators and government attorneys. This fall, Everlaw reached $2 billion in value—becoming one of the few legal technology companies to be valued at over $1 billion, placing them in the elite rank of “unicorn status.” We’ve been privileged to be part of Everlaw’s journey, so we took some time to chat with Shana Simmons, general counsel at Everlaw, about her experience with Tong Tejani.
Q&A WITH SHANA SIMMONS, EVERLAW
How did you first hear of Tong Tejani?
I read about Zohra in 2019 through the Leadership Council of Legal Diversity. She had just won their prestigious Rick Palmore LCLD Alumni Award.
At the time I was working at Google, and we were looking to hire someone to lead our public sector cloud enterprise. I was so impressed with her depth of enterprise knowledge, so I had the team reach out to her. I wanted to follow her career—you don’t find many people in the public sector enterprise commercial space who are also so caring about the community. I joined Everlaw in August 2020, and I soon realized they were investing in and growing the public sector business. When I learned Zohra had launched a law firm focused on counseling technology companies selling to public sector, it became obvious she should be our first outside counsel hire. It was an opportunity to leverage her in-depth knowledge of government procurement of commercial technology to support our growing public sector business.
How did Tong Tejani perform straight out of the gate?
Zohra and Joyce make you feel like you’ve known them for a decade. When I first met them, Zohra was extremely warm and knowledgeable, and Joyce was astute and charismatic. They immediately understood our needs. We were in the middle of working on a deal with another big law firm in DC, and the law firm was missing a lot of issues. I could tell quickly that they got it, and I knew that they had my back. The other lawyer was doing the job we assigned him to do, but Zohra and Joyce went above and beyond and told me what I didn’t know that I needed to do.
What role does Tong Tejani play for your firm?
They support us in our public sector activities, both in general counsel and deal-making, and counsel us on all our government activities globally. They’ve truly become trusted advisors, because in all ways, they KNOW the business. They’ve gotten to know the personalities in our company. It’s one thing to do a deal, but another to understand what makes the best LONG-TERM decisions.
What makes you believe they care about your company?
It’s because they are always thinking about the company, not the specific acute issue at hand, or the matter that they’re working on at the time. They go above and beyond—if they see something coming down in legislation that can impact us four years from now, they are always looking at that.
How does your experience with Tong Tejani compare against working with other government contracts counsel?
The other firms were very short-term. When we were getting a deal done, there was nothing to think about beyond the deal. Tong Tejani doesn’t wait to be invited to the party—they’re the kind of guests who arrive with a plate of food and stay late to clean up.
What would your advice be to a company considering whether or not to hire Tong Tejani?
If you want a trusted advisor who has your back in public sector, call them immediately. They are thoughtful, human and down-to-earth, yet they’re firm and always deliver on time. I just love them so much! Because they’ve been practicing so long, they have very practical legal and go-to-market insight. They’re two badass women of color!
Zohra returned the sentiment: “Shana is an incredible lawyer and leader. For our firm to have been her first outside counsel hire when she first became GC at Everlaw is an honor that I’ll never forget. But more than that, it is a privilege for us to witness her in action with her grace and strength. For us to be a part of her continued success, and just to get to know her better as a person, makes our working with Shana fulfilling and fun.”
This holiday season, we’re thankful for our phenomenal clients like Everlaw. Your support and kind words have been the best gift we could receive.
We'd love to hear from you. Contact us at info@tongtejani.com