Lisa Segelov
Attorney and Notary Israel
Attorney Australia
Cohen, Segalov & Co.
Real Estate, Family Law, Estate Law
About Lisa
Lisa Segelov is a Real Estate, Family and Estate lawyer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Originally from Sydney, Australia, she made Aliyah at the age 23, requalifying as an Israeli advocate. In the year 2000, together with her partner Gidon Cohen, she founded her own law firm: Cohen Segelov & Co., Advocates and Notaries. In addition to being Managing Partner, Lisa handles the firm’s real estate, family and estate matters, while her partner focuses on commercial and commercial litigation matters.
Lisa’s family law work reflects a broad, modern definition of the family as her files include drafting cohabitation and prenuptial agreements, matters concerning the relocation of children, guardianship issues, and international adoption and “kidnapping” cases. Her estate files often involve the complexities that arise in disputes between family members as well as assets in numerous jurisdictions throughout the world.
Lisa’s clients include Israelis (Hebrew and English-speaking), international clients (mainly from Australia, UK, USA, Canada and South Africa and the USA), and new Olim and returning residents.
Professional pressure point: when being available expands beyond what is workable
In addition to her legal practice, Lisa has four children (who are now grown up). It was always a delicate balance between work and family, with the priority of always being available for her children when needed. Over time, one of Lisa’s greatest challenges became reducing her stress level so that she could manage her professional and personal demands in a sustainable and tolerable fashion.
A significant shift in how Lisa ran her practice took place close to a decade ago, following a particularly stressful and demanding professional period. During this ten-month period she handled two major estate matters, one in Canada and the other in the US, in addition to her normal busy workload. This meant meant Lisa would begin with a full day in the office, then move into her parenting responsibilities, and later in the evening as North America began waking up, she would begin a second stretch of work connected with the Canadian and US estate matters. This second stretch of work was filled with online meetings and ongoing requests and had no clear ending hour. Working in this manner was physically and mentally exhausting. At the conclusion of these overseas matters, Lisa knew she wanted to implement major changes to her lifestyle and the manner in which she worked.
The lifestyle changes Lisa implemented to reduce stress
One of the first stress-reducing decisions Lisa made was to stop working on Fridays. Traditionally, she had worked Fridays to accommodate her clients from the North and South of Israel who preferred Friday appointments because it was their day off work. This decision was life-changing, as there is nothing more relaxing than having a two-day weekend. She also learned that her clients were adaptable and would accommodate her new work schedule.
Second, Lisa reintroduced herself to regular swimming and walking, creating her own wellness program. She still consistently swims three times a week (2 km each swim). Taking physical and mental care of yourself is one of the most effective methods to reduce stress levels, avoid burnout, rethink problems and increase one’s productivity, says Lisa. On days that she exercises, Lisa feels twice as productive!
Third, Lisa changed how she handled “interruptions” from phone calls, WhatsApp messages and emails. Now, if she is in the middle of a meeting or preparing documents for a client, and she receives a phone call/WhatsApp/email, she responds to the person calling or messaging her by telling them that she will speak later, rather than having that communication interrupt her focus and concentration. By doing this, Lisa sets her own schedule, rather than being at the beck and call of others’ schedules, and she gets work done in a timely manner as promised to her clients.
Fourth, Lisa introduced an internal sorting mechanism that distinguishes what is urgent, what is important but not urgent, and what can wait for a few days. Alongside this, she began giving her clients clearer messages regarding when they could expect to hear back from her. In her experience, people respond positively once time frames are clearly communicated.
Lisa executed all four of these changes into her practice within a period of about three months. Close to a decade later, these changes form the basis of how she runs her legal practice.
Lisa’s advice to other career-orientated women
According to Lisa, it is totally viable to pursue and develop a career and to be an involved parent. Nowadays the Israeli workforce is so much more accommodating to working mothers. At the same time, Lisa notes that working mothers to set priorities and systems that work for them. For example, Lisa points to the changes she details above that she herself made to her working environment and life-style in order to help her reduce her stress. Sustaining a successful legal career over many years has meant paying attention not only to the legal work itself, but also to Lisa’s physical and mental well-being, which requires setting boundaries and priorities.
Lisa believes is it critical that women retain (or create, if they don’t already have it) “me-time”. Me-time is the time that women need to set aside in order to “stop their routine”, “catch a breather” and enjoy doing something for “me”, whether it be sport, meditation, yoga, sitting on the beach, going out for coffee with friends, or reading a book.