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At Extended Stay America, no day is the same for senior litigation counsel Erin Young. Since stepping into the role in 2022, Young has leveraged over two decades of private practice experience to manage litigation in a role that’s new to the leader and the company, which has over six hundred hotels in the US. It’s an opportunity that’s brought its fair share of challenges and opportunities.
“One day, I might be dealing with a slip-and-fall case. The next, I might have to learn about emotional support animals after a guest leaves exotic birds in their hotel room,” she says. “Also, we often have guest who stay for long periods of time and our hotels become little communities for some people, so there’s a lot of conflict management.”
As the company’s first attorney dedicated to managing its litigation, Young explains that she’s had to stay prepared for the unexpected while blazing new trails and developing a more cohesive litigation strategy.
“You need to realize that you belong in the room and that your perspective matters. Know that you add value to discussions and to the environments that you’re in.”
Erin Young
Developing relationships with outside counsel and internal business colleagues have been paramount to those ends. That’s why the leader prioritizes clear and concise communication as she navigates the complexities of her work and the dynamic nature of her role. But she admits that tendency didn’t always come naturally to her.
“As a young Black female attorney, I struggled with imposter syndrome and shrunk in my seat at times. I didn’t speak up even when I knew I was right,” she shares. “But over time, I learned that you can’t effectively organize if people don’t understand what you want and what your perspective is.”
That change in perspective ties into advice she has for young people who might have similar struggles on their way to success: trust yourself.
“People doing the most speaking aren’t always the most knowledgeable,” Young says. “You need to realize that you belong in the room and that your perspective matters. Know that you add value to discussions and to the environments that you’re in.”
Young traces her ability to communicate and to advocate for herself back to her twenty-three years in private practice, when she gained extensive experience in mediations, depositions, client counseling, and risk mitigation. But that journey also showed her the value of having a healthy work/life balance. For years, she rolled up her sleeves and buried herself in her litigation work. She didn’t realize the toll it took until February 2021, when she was diagnosed with cancer.
Erin Young’s Career Legacy
“I hope it will be that I paved the way for those who look like me and who worked hard to practice ethically. If I said I’d do something, I’d do it. I want to be remembered as someone who is true to her word and has never tried to be someone she wasn’t.”
“While undergoing chemotherapy, I realized that the stress from the boots-on-the-ground litigation I did for my entire career was not something I could keep up,” she says. “I always enjoyed litigation, but I started to be worn out by the kind of conflict that’s necessary in that type of environment.”
The realization hit home as she recovered from a surgery for six weeks. It was the first time in her career that she was completely logged off and wasn’t actively checking her emails. She describes it as “one of the most relaxing six weeks I ever had.”
“At that point, I determined that I couldn’t let the most relaxing time in my life be cancer treatment,” she says. “I needed to switch gears. I did enjoy some aspects of litigation and wanted to keep my irons in the fire, but I needed a different environment.”
The Extended Stay opportunity was the perfect fit—not only because of the shift in her responsibilities but also because of the company’s support for organizations like the American Cancer Society, which aims to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support. As a board member for the organization’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer movement, Young has leveraged her network to spread awareness and raise funds. She’s been inspired by Extended Stay’s partnership with the organization to provide critical resources.
“Extended Stay has a special partnership with the organization, in which they provide money and rooms to those traveling for treatment and who are staying in another location,” she says. “As a breast cancer survivor, it’s been impactful to see and be part of a movement that provides a lot of information and resources that many people don’t realize are available.”
