Season 2, Episode 12: Loving Your Job vs. Loving Your Work with Punam Kaji

Notes To My (Legal) Self

Punam Kaji is Assistant General Counsel at Ben E. Keith Company, a food and alcohol distributor. Her practice focuses on employment and litigation matters for the Company, which has about 5000 employees working in 14 states. She is Board Certified in Labor and Employment law.

Punam’s expertise comes from years of counseling and litigating employment law matters for clients while working at Haynes and Boone, LLP in the firm’s Fort Worth, Dallas, and Houston offices. Punam is an alumni from SMU Dedman School of Law and the University of Texas at Austin for her undergraduate studies. Punam has been recognized for her legal work as a 2019 Top Lawyer in Fort Worth Magazine, and she was a Finalist for a Corporate Counsel award from the ACC-DFW in 2019.

When Punam is not handling labor and employment issues, she serves her community. She is currently on the Diversity Committee of the Tarrant County Bar Association. She was recently appointed to the State Bar of Texas Diversity Taskforce. She is the past Chair of the Asian Pacific Interest Section of the State Bar of Texas. She has served on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of Houston (SABA Houston) and as a committee chairperson of the Dallas Asian American Bar Association (DAABA).

Punam’s commitment to local bar associations and D&I initiatives has been recognized on various occasions. She was named a Finalize for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion by the ACC-DFW in 2020. In 2013, she was recognized as DAABA’s Member of the Year. In 2016 she received the Outstanding Public Service Award by SABA Houston. She has served on the board of various non-profit organizations in Houston and Dallas. She is currently on the board of New Leaders Council Dallas as the Mentorship Chair, and she is on the board of WiseUp TX, a nonprofit for South Asian Texans to become more engaged citizens and a host of their podcast.

Punam regularly speaks at conferences and other venues regarding workplace issues, employment law, and on diversity and inclusion. She enjoys traveling with her husband, eating out and cooking (you can follow her food adventures on Instagram @eatsbyPK).

In this episode, we discuss what it means to love your job vs. to love your work. Many attorneys struggle with mental health and poor job satisfaction - how to have a realistic approach to job-satisfaction? Why is the “do what you love” message not an equitable one? How to find your balance and maintain job satisfaction?