Odds were 23-1. That’s a longshot in a horse race and a sucker bet at the casino. The odds reflected the slim chance that Cherie DeVaux had in her debut appearance as a Kentucky Derby trainer.
Then she won.
Is a horse trainer someone who can teach us something about LPM? Cherie DeVaux is one tough cookie. Her own sister says that all nine siblings agree that she can be kind of a word-that-rhymes-with-witch. She added that she loves her to pieces even still. Competition is fierce when you’re playing in the big leagues. Yet forty-four-year-old DeVaux holds her own.
She’s also tough to work for—type A, hard driving, and thick-minded as DeVaux calls herself, meaning that everything, by hook or crook, is going to turn out just fine. And, of course there’s a ton of planning that goes into everything turning out just fine.
DeVaux sees herself as being attuned to her horses, understanding their moods and reactions, paying attention to detail and at the end of the day, trusting her gut. Of course, she gives kudos to the phenomenal team behind her.
These are the factors that helped DeVaux pull off one of the most improbable final stretches in Kentucky Derby history. But few great feats, whether in sports, business or the legal arena, happen by accident. Cherie DeVaux had the experience, the expertise, and the vision to carry it out.
How about LPM managers? Against the odds and under a storm of righteous critics, each of you must summon up whatever it takes to get the job done. In that way, LPM has a lot in common with horse training. On the way to the finish line, you must pay attention to detail, lean into the team and follow your gut.
Pay Attention to Detail
Grooming Golden Tempo to win was just like training a professional athlete. Process matters. From breaking in, to physical conditioning, to track etiquette, the phases are all critical. And the process doesn’t end there. Recovery and mental health are equally important. The entire system functions like a well-oiled machine. DeVaux and her team, from the owner to the veterinarian to the groomer and more, built a process that works. They aren’t making decisions on the fly and changing conditions on a whim. Winning processes for horse training are built on experience, tested for validity and executed consistently. Still, the process is not rigid. Horses are unpredictable and success is not guaranteed.
It’s the same for LPM. That’s why you have plans, controls, budgets, reporting, goals, risk management, and accountability built in to ensure that the intended outcomes are realized. DeVaux, like a legal project manager, is the steward of a process that is designed to cross the finish line efficiently, effectively and with the least amount of friction.
Lean into Team
Having grown up in a large, blended family, DeVaux probably knows a thing or two about teamwork. She also knows what it’s like to say whatever she needs to say, even if it means throwing in some colorful language to get her point across. According to a recent article in Sports Illustrated, the hat hanging in her barn reads, ‘I’m not for everyone.’ In a cutthroat business where the daily work is far from glamorous, DeVaux is not one to back down from a challenge. On occasion, she has to don the not-for-everyone persona in order to focus. But she also recognizes that as tough as she is, she can’t win without a strong team behind her. That team depends on her ability to lead and communicate well. Just like LPM.
DeVaux made a recent decision to bypass the Preakness. A win there would have earned Golden Temple a triple crown in 2026 following the win at the Belmont stakes. Why did she forgo the race? According to DeVaux, the horse needed a well-deserved break for his health, happiness and long-term performance. I’m guessing she’s not only looking out for the four-legged member of the team, but the two-legged ones, as well. As a big fan of horses, this makes me like DeVaux even more.
There’s a lesson here too, for LPM. LPM is one of the best tools a legal practice has to ensure that teams are healthy, happy and focused on the long-term. Burnout is real. A 2022 Bloomberg Law Workload and Hours Survey found that lawyers feel burnt out 42% of the time. LPM can help by putting resources to their highest use and ensuring that the workload is equitably distributed.
Follow Your Gut
Most of us refer to that gut feeling as intuition. Intuition may seem magical but it really is all about experience and pattern recognition. In racing terms, it happens when the subconscious mind reaches the finish line before the conscious mind gets out of the starting blocks. The Kentucky Derby win didn’t just happen. The offspring of trainers, DeVaux was born in Saratoga Springs, my parents hometown. It’s a horse racing place, a town that comes alive for the summer thoroughbred horse racing season every August. So, despite a couple of detours, like competitive bodybuilding and a party girl phase, DeVaux has been around horses her entire life.
Like DeVaux, experienced LPMs use intuition. Many of you, though not all, are lawyers. Those who are not, have experience and work philosophies that include project management, operations, and finance. You have a certain spidey sense when something is off. You may not be able to articulate the ‘why’ because everything is so automatic. This is your experience compressed.
One caveat, though. Since intuition is not a conscious process, it may be distorted by bias or stress. Realize that you have come to a warp speed conclusion without recognizing the observable indicators. That doesn’t mean you throw out intuition. Verify the conclusion through data, methods, and team input. That’s what LPM provides. You will be a stronger legal project manager as you come to quickly recognize troublesome patterns, problematic client behavior, and shifting priorities.
The Winner’s Circle
Cherie DeVaux never thought she would win that day or get the attention she got. It’s not typical for a horse trainer to get much public recognition since much of the Winner’s Circle hoopla is focused on the horse and the jockey. But because she was the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, things were different.
As for LPM, credit for the win goes mostly to the lawyers. But, just as behind every winning Kentucky Derby thoroughbred there is a team with a strong leader and a plan, behind every successful LPM initiative, there is … a team with a strong leader and a plan.
Cherie DeVaux reminds us that the win is made possible, not in the final stretch. Rather, it is an orchestrated effort across a team of experienced and talented individuals. That’s when LPM is at its best, as well.
The odds were never in DeVaux’s favor. Even Golden Tempo’s jockey said he was lazy. True to his temperament, the thoroughbred lagged woefully behind in the race, sometimes to the point of being out of the NBC broadcast pictures entirely. For DeVaux, the hours were long and the work grueling with the most frequent reward being an affectionate nuzzle by one of the 120 horses that she trains. There was no shortage of naysayers. But it was deeply satisfying work and the sweetest victory ever.
Although Jose Ortiz rode the horse across the finish line, DeVaux, like legal project managers, is largely responsible for creating the conditions for the win. What conditions can you create?
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