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At Buchanan Ingersoll, A Lawyer Finds
Her Identity
Madeline Farber, The Am Law Daily
July 31, 2015
Earlier this month, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney litigation counsel Paul Madden left the
firm’s office in Philadelphia. At least one person would say that Paul Madden was never
actually there, nothing but a name attached to a different identity.
Madden, 68, spent his entire career as a commercial litigator, having been a partner at
Buchanan Ingersoll, as well as Saul Ewing and Philadelphia’s Rawle & Henderson. He
specialized in antitrust, securities litigation and constitutional law matters.
But after 43 years of doing legal work, Madden, a Duke University School of Law graduate
and self-described “jack of all trades,” was ready for a change. He had never really felt like
himself.
In February 2014, Madden started hormone treatments to start his transition from a man to a
woman. Almost a month ago, Buchanan Ingersoll took down Paul Madden’s biography page
on the firm’s website and replaced it with one for Maryellen Madden.
“When I was Paul, there was a part of me missing. I always wanted to be Maryellen,” said
the newly minted Maryellen Madden. “There was this day a couple of years ago when I was
dressing at home, and I looked in the mirror, and I saw Maryellen for the first time. I said,
‘There you are.’”
From her earliest memory, Madden knew she identified as a female, but explained that it
wasn’t possible to embark on a gender charge until now because the support system that
she knew she would need wasn’t there.
After her initial hormone treatment last year, the next year and a half would include an
eight-hour facial feminization surgery, hair transplants and endless electrolysis. Madden said
the process, if it ever ends, “won’t come soon enough.”
She explained that before she came out to her colleagues at Buchanan Ingersoll, she had a
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2. lot of fear. Madden made herself a timeline of when, who and how to tell people of her new
identity.
“I knew telling my managing partner was the point of no return,” she said of Joseph
Dougherty, who this month became CEO-elect at Buchanan Ingersoll. “I had to think hard
about that. But I came to the conclusion that he would be accepting, and I was absolutely
right.”
After coming out, Buchanan Ingersoll brought a trainer to speak with staff and attorneys on
how to adjust to working with a transgender employee and to help clarify what being
transgender means. Robyn Gigl, managing partner of the Livingston, New Jersey-based
Stein, McGuire, Pantages & Gigl and vice-chair of the New Jersey Bar Association’s LGBT
rights section, also came to the firm to help educate others on Madden’s transition.
In early July, Madden entered Buchanan Ingersoll’s office in downtown Philadelphia for the
first time as Maryellen, a name she said she chose because it was “distinctly feminine.”
Madden explained that she was greeted with flowers on her desk and a stream of people
coming into her office to express their support.
Since coming out, Madden said, “the support has been amazing.” And even though it’s too
soon to judge how she’ll be accepted, “so far it’s been seamless,” she added. Madden is
aware that for most transgender people, acceptance is a long time coming.
A 2011 study released by the National Center for Transgender Equality revealed that 41
percent of respondents to a survey used in the study had attempted suicide at some point in
their lifetime.
When asked what advice she would give to a lawyer in her position, Madden explained that
she would not feel comfortable offering any advice because “everyone’s story is different.”
“I live almost in a cocoon here in Philadelphia with the firm I work in and the people that I live
around,” she said. “Not every community is accepting like that.”
Nonetheless, Madden said she does feel that society is becoming more welcoming to
changing gender. She said that people such as transgender economic historian Deirdre
McCloskey, and transgender writer Jennifer Boylan and recent events with Caitlyn Jenner all
made her feel more comfortable in her decision. But even though their stories are inspiring,
Madden said they are not why she decided to transition herself.
“There have been many pioneers that have come out and made people aware that there
were transgender people, and they were, ‘normal,' in every sense of the word,” she said.
“They were people you knew and that you respected and liked. I had originally thought that I
would retire and slip away and do this quietly, and I realized that I couldn’t do that, because
it would tell people I was ashamed of who I am, and I’m not.”
Even before transitioning herself, Madden has used her legal background to advocate,
support and help the transgender community. Five years ago, Madden found herself at a
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3. transgender conference and heard Michael Silverman, executive director at the Transgender
Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nonprofit that seeks to achieve equality for
transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services,
community organizing and public policy efforts.
At the conference, Madden approached Silverman about getting more involved with the New
York-based defense fund, which led her to join the organization’s board of directors last fall.
Madden said that Buchanan Ingersoll has sponsored the nonprofit and has worked with a
“name change” project that provides services to members of the transgender community
who can’t afford to change their name to match their gender identity. So far the project has
reached jurisdictions in Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Madden had her own
name change hearing in Philadelphia on July 29.
Other than facing the expenses of a name change, which Madden said could result in
expenses ranging from $1,500 to $2,000, she will eventually have to deal with more
bureaucratic issues that will arise as she continues her transition into a woman.
From Social Security, 401(k) benefits, credit cards, bank accounts and even the dreaded
Department of Motor Vehicles, Madden explained that there are a staggering number of
places that have to be informed of her new identity.
“Your identity is tied to your gender and your name, and you have to change all those,” she
said. “There’s no guidebook for that, and everyone is a little bit different [in trying] to figure
that one out. It’s very useful to be a lawyer in that regard.”
When it comes to changes in her career because of her new identity, Madden said that
learning how to litigate more as a woman than as a man will present some new challenges
for her, as well as finding her voice in the courtroom.
“As a man, I had a very resonant voice. When I walked into a courtroom, I would hear my
own voice and think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to be OK, this sounds fine,’ and I had confidence in
that,” she said. “I don’t have that as a female yet, and as a litigator your voice is very
important. I have to develop a new personality for the courtroom.”
Madden said that as a man, she didn’t feel as if she ever overpowered people as a litigator,
but instead used more misdirection in her technique. She said that some of those techniques
should continue to work for her as a woman. Madden added that she hopes for a courtroom
experience in the next couple of months, her “first as Maryellen.”
As a prelude to this, she still needs to complete her name change, register the new name
with the Pennsylvania Bar Association and get it placed on the rolls of the courts where she
is admitted to practice. Even though that remains a few steps away, Madden is looking
forward to getting back to litigating.
“I would like to move into doing litigation for the transgender community,” she said. “I hope
those opportunities present themselves.”
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