You Say ‘Emoji’ …

Margo Pillischer introduces her senior law partner as Dan. After hours, she’ll be switching up a letter and calling him Dad.

“We’re very professional, but it’s impossible to fully separate our family relationship from the fact that we’re lawyers working in the same firm,” Pillischer says.

Like many parents, Dan Ross occasionally finds himself on the receiving end of his child’s humor.

“Sometimes,” he says with a laugh, “if I’m talking too long, she’ll send me a text that’s an icon of an aircraft. It’s her way of telling me to ‘land the plane.’”

“It’s an emoji,” Pillischer corrects.

Ross, 68, started the Austin-based firm that became Ross-Scalise Employment Lawyers in 1998 after running a handful of small construction businesses and restaurants, earning his law degree, and working the corporate client side of cases to get a better idea of how big companies think.

Those experiences were the building blocks for the legal practice he always wanted to create—one that helps working people go up against powerful opponents. His clients are often people being sued by their former employers over such things as nonsolicitation and confidentiality agreements.

“Many times, people are just getting bullied because they don’t know their rights,” Ross says. “A big company is suing them for reasons that aren’t always legitimate. They signed a big contract when they were hired that they didn’t even read, because they wanted the job.”

Pillischer, 37, has always shared her dad’s passion for repping the little guy. She began her legal career in New York, volunteering for the Innocence Project while still in law school, then working professionally for the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County and, later, as a plaintiff’s attorney for personal injury clients. 

“I wanted to eventually work with my dad. But I wanted to get my own experience first,” she says.

Growing up, Pillischer says, law was always a part of her life. She remembers attending a hearing at age 7 and watching her dad present an argument. Afterward, the judge let her approach the bench and sit in her chair.

“I picked up the gavel, banged it and said, ‘You have five minutes, Mr. Ross!’”

Pillischer’s mom, Vicki Ross, and dad could tell early on that their daughter’s mind worked like an attorney’s. She was 4 years old when her dad was preparing for the LSAT, and he let her help him study for the logic portion.

“She was fairly consistently getting the questions correct,” Ross says.

Their talents overlap, but also complement one another.

One thing Ross hadn’t anticipated, he says, was how valuable her point of view would prove to be as a millennial, a female attorney, and a working mother. (Her husband, Jonathan Pillischer, is also a lawyer.) GenXers and younger make up a significant portion of Ross-Scalise’s clients.

Pillischer, who oversees the firm’s marketing, grew up in the internet age, which helps her understand the social media and messaging channels that people in their 20s, 30s and 40s will respond to.

While she enjoys teasing the company patriarch, her tone becomes serious when she talks about his role at the firm.

“Dan’s been doing this for so long, if you bring him a scenario you haven’t run into before, he can tell you five stories that relate to it,” Pillischer says. “You may have to listen to all five of them. But you’re going to learn something you didn’t know before.”

Comparing Notes