Voice of Experience: Priscilla Hughes, General Counsel Europe & Asia and Chief Counsel M&A in Financial & Risk, Thomson Reuters

“Explore and learn about all the things you can achieve and then ask for what you want.” That’s the advice Priscilla Hughes of Thomson Reuters gives to women, whether they are novices or seasoned professionals—a lesson she had to learn the hard way.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Hughes didn’t know how many career opportunities were out there for women. “I thought that my dream job would be working for the telephone company,” she says. But thanks to hard work, good mentors, and a willingness to take risks and try new things, her dreams have been dwarfed by reality. Never did she imagine she would find herself as a leader in the legal field — as General Counsel Europe & Asia and Chief Counsel for M&A in Financial & Risk at Thomson Reuters.

Discovering Options

The first person in her family to attend college, Hughes wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do as an undergrad or what she could achieve. Throughout college, she had worked for the Children’s Aid Society as an intake coordinator and witnessed first-hand the challenges often faced by severely disabled children. While working at Children’s Aid, someone suggested that, with her skill set and capabilities, she consider becoming a lawyer. “Looking back, it was kismet!” she says of her decision to apply to law school.

Hughes was accepted into Fordham University’s law program and attended part time while working full time at law firm Weil Gotshal. “I paid for law school with my overtime earnings,” she recalls. She planned to return to a public service career but fell in love with corporate law instead.

If You Want Something, Let Others Know

After completing law school, Hughes returned to Weil Gotshal as a corporate associate, but she knew that she wanted to specialize. She worked hard for a number of years and kept her head down but was passed over for partnership. Shortly thereafter, she was offered an opportunity to join Shearman & Sterling and she took it. She recalls that when leaving Weil Gotshal, Ira Millstein, a highly-regarded senior partner at the firm, said to her, “If you wanted to be partner, you should have asked for it.” Millstein’s sage advice resonated with Hughes — it wasn’t enough to do good work to get what she wanted, she also had to be vocal.

From Outside Counsel to Corporate Counsel

Hughes spent the next decade immersed in Mergers & Acquisitions deals. At Shearman & Sterling and later as a partner of Morrison & Foerster and co-head of that firm’s global M&A practice, she represented clients in publishing, information technology and other industries on a wide variety of transactions including unsolicited take-overs and proxy contests.
“I was totally focused on M&A transactions, and it took my legal knowledge to a whole new level,” she says.

A few years later, when the Canada-based Thomson, one of her biggest clients, offered her an employment opportunity of a lifetime, she made the move.

While her work didn’t change dramatically with the new in-house role, Hughes learned that there was a big difference in culture. “In my experience, law firms have a very clear hierarchy and it’s a very collegial environment,” she says. “At first, I found the corporate world to be much harder to navigate. There were so many different personalities and agendas to understand. It was easy to get lost.”

Networking was also part of her work responsibilities. She recalls, “One night, a colleague dropped by on his way to a cocktail mixer when he saw me at my desk. He commented that if I was still at my desk at 8:30, I was only doing half my job.” His point: connecting with colleagues and others was as important as exceptional performance in her office. As a self-described introvert, Hughes learned to become comfortable with casual networking events by treating them as assignments. “When I have to socialize in an unfamiliar situation, I make a plan of who I want to meet and what I want to talk about,” she explains. “I am more comfortable if I have an agenda.”

When Thomson merged with Reuters, Hughes became General Counsel for the Americas for the new, expanded company. Her geographical responsibility may have been smaller, but the scope of her overall responsibility doubled. Hughes joined a sponsorship program at Thomson Reuters that paired her with a senior female legal executive at the company, Susan Taylor Martin. “As a sponsor, Susan helped me navigate my career and kept me accountable and on track,” she says. “It was really useful to have regular meetings where I could go over my goals and challenges with someone who’s been there. Thanks to that positive experience with Susan, I’ve never forgotten the value of mentoring.”

Never Stop Growing

In 2012, Hughes took on global M&A responsibility for Financial & Risk at Thomson Reuters in addition to her role as General Counsel for the Americas. When the position of General Counsel for Europe and Asia opened up, Hughes remembered Ira Millstein’s advice and raised her hand. She explains, “There’s a perception that professionals in their 50’s sometimes want to settle in and be comfortable at work, but I know that I have at least one or two more big jobs I want to tackle. The timing was great. My daughters are grown, and my husband liked the idea of something new. So I raised my hand and got the job.”

In her new role, Hughes is based in London and recently took a much-anticipated trip to meet her team in Asia. “In the U.S.,” she says, “most financial regulations are at the federal level and occasionally at the state level. In my new role not only do I have to understand rapidly changing financial regulations for our company and clients, I have to do it for multiple countries!” To communicate with a far-flung, multinational team, Hughes uses video conferencing technology whenever possible. “When you are not meeting in person, it becomes even more important to listen,” she says. “I work hard to pay attention to subtle social cues and I ask if I am doing something correctly.”

Giving Back

According to Hughes, women are still a long way from parity in the professional world. She explains, “I find women have a much smaller strike zone for success. Too much in one direction and you are seen as too timid. Too much in the other and, well…” She believes that taking action is the best way to promote change. She sponsors other women at Thomson Reuters and makes a point of letting her colleagues know about opportunities for professional development. “At a company as big as Thomson Reuters, it can be difficult to know everything that is available,” she says. Hughes is also helping other women succeed in the UK. She and her legal department colleagues are introducing a program at Thomson Reuters to sponsor and help women train as solicitors in collaboration with the Lord Mayor’s Trust.

Working Hard and Enjoying Life

Now that Hughes spends her time in both the US and UK, she and her husband are taking time to travel together whenever possible. After meeting her team in Asia, Hughes and her husband went to an out-of-the-way museum in Tokyo where none of the signage was in English. “Because I don’t read Japanese, I didn’t know if a particular piece was ‘important’ or why, and I could just enjoy the art for what it said to me. It was quite enjoyable. It was also a bit bold, and I like that.”

By Beth Senko