Voice of Experience: Dana Kromm, Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions Group, Shearman & Sterling

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Graduating from law school at the University of California, Davis in 2001, Dana Kromm found herself at the “tail end of the tech boom.” But the rising M&A star at global law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP in San Francisco has more than made up for her late arrival.

Recently named one of California’s Top Women Lawyers by the legal publication The Daily Journal, Kromm, a partner in the firm’s M&A group, has established a solid reputation in Bay Area transactions and within the private equity community, advising the likes of Twitter, Visa and Sybase, as well as Francisco Partners and a number of other major technology-focused private equity firms.

“The great part about M&A is that it’s a field where you’re constantly learning new things – there’s always something in a deal that’s new, a new problem or a new issue,” she explained. “Your job as an M&A lawyer is to be a master of all the issues – which means you have the opportunity to be constantly learning.”

The same goes for working in the technology space, she continued. “Technology issues keep you on your toes in the same way, whether you’re working with IP issues, regulatory issues, or something else. It makes for a vibrant and ever-changing practice.”

Kromm says she established her reputation in the technology M&A field by getting a keen understanding of the business objectives of her clients. “Particularly on the private equity side, it’s understanding the investment motives, why they’re interested in the particular business, where they see the growth coming from. And second to that, particularly with the technology companies themselves, it’s making an effort to understand their business as well and why they’re doing the transaction.”

She added, “Technology has its own set of individual issues and I make it a priority to understand what those are.”

Recently Kromm has worked on several deals in the healthcare information technology field, and she said she is interested in how pending changes to healthcare law, including the US Supreme Court’s expected decision this summer on The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will impact her clients.

“I’m interested in seeing how those changes impact the business model of the healthcare IT companies I’m working with,” she says.

Getting from There to Here

Kromm didn’t start out to be an M&A lawyer in the technology industry. A California native, she graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. After working for two years, she decided to go to law school.

“Once in law school,” she says, “I became really interested in what was happening in Silicon Valley and got my first job at a law firm that was a big player in the area, where I became interested in M&A.”

Over the course of the next few years, Kromm’s practice moved between a number of different firms, and in 2008, her team came to Shearman & Sterling. “I have worked with the same core group of lawyers for my whole career, and I am very fortunate,” she said.

Kromm made partner this past year – one of just nine lawyers promoted at the firm worldwide. “It’s very gratifying,” she says, adding that she considers this her proudest personal professional achievement to date. “It really was very important to me that my colleagues acknowledged that the work I was doing was valuable.”

A Support System

Particularly rewarding was the support Kromm received from her colleagues in the Bay Area. “I’ve been working with a group of three men – three great men – for my whole career. And I’ve really felt they supported me and have been great mentors throughout my career.”

Kromm attributes much of her success to her mentors. “Make sure you enjoy the people you work with,” she advised, “people who can be mentors to you and who are interested in your development. I’ve had the blessing of having three mentors when many people are lucky if they’ve had one. It’s really made the difference in my career.”

As she has become more senior, she continued, she has realized it’s also important to be a mentor. “You really need to try to take this kind of role for others,” she said.

Advice for Women in Law

Kromm feels the key challenge that women face in law and technology is the same as in any other industry. “It’s the struggle to find a balance between family life and work life,” she explains. “There is no question that it is even more challenging in a client-facing job. Clients want to hear from you quickly, and I don’t fault them for that. But it can be particularly challenging for women. It’s a perennial issue that women face.”

Kromm advises young lawyers – men or women – to be inquisitive. “When I was a young associate, I was always nervous about asking questions and appearing that I didn’t know something. I wish I hadn’t felt that way. Now, from my perspective, I appreciate it when young lawyers ask me lots of questions. It shows they’re paying attention, that they’re engaged. And it really helps them to build rapport with more senior colleagues.”

She also emphasized the importance of doing work you are enthusiastic about. “The most important thing in being successful is making sure you’re doing what you enjoy doing. Particularly in this age, with so much information available about career options, and so many exciting things available, I think people should embrace that thing they’re passionate about and do it 110 percent.”

Finally, she added, “I think women in particular need to make an effort to mentor and be a resource for other women in the profession, and provide the kind of mentoring and networking that helped them.”

Along those lines, Kromm is involved with Shearman & Sterling’s women’s network as well as its Bay Area diversity committee.

In Her Personal Time

Outside of her core work at Shearman & Sterling, Kromm takes part in pro bono work for Planned Parenthood affiliates in Northern California. “That’s gratifying on a personal level,” she says.

“Outside of work, I try to spend as much time as possible with my six-year-old daughter. For the past year, we’ve been learning to ride horses together. When you ride a horse you can’t think about anything other than riding a horse – there’s no ability for your mind to wander. It’s nice.”