Voice of Experience: Sanja Udovicic, Partner in Project Finance Group, Shearman & Sterling
Client service and innovative deal making are what drive Sanja Udovicic, a partner in global law firm Shearman & Sterling’s project finance group in London. “My proudest professional achievements derive from successfully accomplishing my clients’ objectives and delivering their goals,” she says, particularly when working on what she describes as “complicated and interesting deals that haven’t been done before in frontier jurisdictions.”
Her recent and ongoing work, for example, includes advising multilateral lending institutions and commercial banks on the financing of an upstream gas project in Uzbekistan, counseling the government of Croatia on their tendering of a concession for the operation of the Croatian toll road network and advising lenders on a power project in Indonesia which won a number of awards for its innovative financing structure.
Udovicic began her career in 1995 at a different firm. When the project finance team she’d joined moved to Shearman & Sterling the following year, she moved with them. “We doubled the size of the firm’s London office overnight and continued to grow the team while working on some really significant projects,” she recalls. “They were exciting times.”
Since then, in addition to the fantastic experience she’s gained working on pathfinder deals in a high-end practice that has been at the cutting edge of project development and financing, she’s benefited from the firm’s global network. As well as time in London and New York, she spent a decade in Asia, based in the firm’s Hong Kong and Singapore offices. She has worked on transactions all over Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa in sectors ranging from power, including renewables and nuclear, oil & gas, transport and other infrastructure, entertainment, telecom and media. In two decades of advising on the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects and related M&A transactions “no two deals have been the same and I’ve never had a dull day,” Udovicic says.
Udovicic has also had two opportunities in her career to work in-house — on secondments to a power development client in London and later to a multilateral development bank in Manila. “These secondments gave me great insight into my clients’ businesses and what they want from their counsel – clear, concise and commercial advice that is tailored to their business and goals” she says.”
The client relationships developed in Asia remain important to Udovicic in London and reflect the globalization that she has found to be an increasingly key factor in her practice. She explains, “When advising on a major financing in Africa, with lenders based in Japan, Korea, China, Europe and the US, the ability to field a team with experienced lawyers in each of the key time zones and with the requisite language skills is hugely important to the success of the transaction.”
“It’s crucial to be with a firm that values this globalization,” she adds. “Our Asian clients remain vital to the current business I do out of London as many of them are very active in the regions in which we operate – Japanese, Korean and Chinese sponsors and lenders, for example, are making significant investments in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and the Americas. We’re able to connect them with colleagues and resources around the world, and they view that as a significant asset in working with the firm. ”
Growing Your Career
Udovicic advises young women – and men – that it is never too soon to begin thinking strategically about your career and how you want to shape it. “Develop relationships with those inside and outside your organization,” she says, recommending that mentors and sponsors be found in an organic way by establishing relationships at all levels.
She emphasizes that it’s critical to proactively move your own career forward. For example, find ways to acquire the necessary skills for particular work that interests you, by seeking out more senior people who are doing it. “We encourage our associates to develop their personal business plans and then help them to integrate these into the wider business plans that drive the strategic direction of the practice group,” Udovicic says.
Growing the Ranks of Women in Law
Udovicic says that she has been fortunate in having had access to the advice and encouragement of a number of key sponsors, both male and female, throughout her career, although she has always been aware of the lack of female role models at senior levels in the legal industry.
At the entry level, she knows that law firms are slightly weighted in favor of women, but when rising through the ranks, those percentages reduce as you get closer to the partner level, and further diminish when you look at the senior partner, practice group leader and office managing partner levels.
“Pre-partnership, there’s a particular time that those numbers dwindle, and the reasons for this are, of course, myriad,” she says. “Some of these reasons center around issues of work/life integration. Certainly, this can be challenging as a transactional lawyer, because the hours – and travel – can be demanding, but we need more role models to show that it can be done. Some young lawyers are also being discouraged because they don’t see a career path. We are hearing that, statistically and anecdotally, fewer young women may be choosing law as a career because of this perception. As a business, we need to address this if we are to attract and retain the brightest and the best.”
Udovicic adds that she is extremely fortunate to have a husband who is directly involved in caring for their three-year-old son, Wolfie. This enables her to balance the challenges of a very busy, travel-intense career with the demands of family life.
The Importance of Diversity
Udovicic is a member of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee in London, as well as a Resource Partner for the firm’s Lean In initiative.
Shearman & Sterling has always been very active on diversity issues. The firm’s Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention (WISER) is an associate-led group that seeks to promote and advance women by offering a forum for them to speak to both peers and senior women. “We want to help them navigate their careers in a determined, positive way to achieve their goals,” Udovicic says, adding that it’s not just in women’s issues, but that diversity is also important to the firm as it relates to social mobility, minorities and LGBT communities, as well as those with disabilities.
Outside the firm, she has become involved with “Women in Law London (WILL),” which one of her colleagues, London senior associate Suzanne Szczetnikowicz, co-founded this summer as a way to address the low female partnership figures across London.
“It is incumbent on women partners in law firms to take an active interest in women’s issues and diversity by helping to advise and guide the careers of younger lawyers,” she says. “If law firms lag behind their clients on diversity – and some of the statistics are showing that this is starting to be the case – they will find themselves less representative of the clients they serve. I am actively involved in the promotion of diversity and inclusion in the firm because I want us to be leading on these issues.”
Udovicic notes that the initiatives are not all focused exclusively on women. Young men are now experiencing many of the same issues related to childcare and the need to be equal partners at home as, increasingly, both parents are continuing to pursue their careers. “Our training and coaching programs, as well as our Lean In meetings, are open to men and women and we are encouraging the dialogue at all levels, among all partners and employees, in the belief that an evolution in culture and working practices requires support across the board,” she says.
Giving Back to the Community
Pro bono work has long been a tenet of successful law firms, and Shearman & Sterling has a very active schedule of pro bono and community outreach endeavors, providing services to those who would not otherwise have access to legal counsel.
Udovicic is an enthusiastic contributor to various pro bono and charitable initiatives, such as fund raising for Refuge, a U.K.-based charity that supports women who have been victims of domestic violence.
“Client work, business development, pro bono activities, diversity and inclusion initiatives, family commitments — every day is a busy day,” Udovicic says. “But the message I want to give to young women thinking about pursuing a career in law is that it’s all very rewarding and motivating. The more you put into your career, the more you will get out of it. Balancing work and life is a daily juggling act but can be managed and is absolutely worth it.”
By Cathie Ericson
