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Drawing on more than 20 years of talent development and human resources experience, Jennifer Bluestein leads all talent strategy and human resources functions at Perkins Coie. This includes associate, counsel, and staff recruitment, development and training, performance management, employee relations, compliance, compensation, and benefits.
Jennifer deftly managed low attrition during the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented innovative well-being programming. With a focus on scaling a large talent organization to ensure strategic talent development on both the business professionals and legal sides of the firm, she has changed the evaluation and compensation process for associates as well as implementing the role of talent advisor and strategic workforce planning within the firm.
Jennifer is passionate about making law firms a better place for everyone, but particularly for women, racial and ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. She was an integral part of the firm’s leadership during the pandemic, responding to and anticipating the many day-to-day challenges the firm faced with a fully remote workforce. Jennifer’s extensive experience in mentoring, talent management, and other human resources matters led her to author An Associate’s First Year: A Guide to Thriving at a Law Firm, published in 2018 by Practising Law Institute. In 2020, she published Stepping It Up: A Guide for Mid-Level Law Firm Associates, also with Practising Law Institute.
Earlier in her career, Jennifer was a litigation and employment attorney at two large law firms in Chicago. She received her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and her B.A., cum laude, from Tufts University.
Active in her community, Jennifer played violin in the Chicago Bar Association’s all-attorney orchestra. She also served as a volunteer human resources consultant for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera. In addition, she is a former committee member of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice leadership committee and the Commission on Women in the Profession. Jennifer is a former board member of Connections for Abused Women and Their Children and former Chair of the Professional Development Consortium.
Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Jennifer spent more than 15 years in professional development roles at leading law firms, including at Greenberg Traurig where she served as the director of professional development and then chief learning and development officer.
