Tag Archive for: Counsel

Voice of Experience: Jocelyn B. Redman, Counsel, Shearman & Sterling

Jocelyn B. RedmanBy Cathie Ericson

All different types of people can succeed at law firms, says Jocelyn Redman.

“Even if at first you don’t see people who look just like you or come from the same background, remember that you can succeed with different goals by leveraging your strengths and forging the career that works best for you.”

As A Shearman & Sterling “Lifer” She Finds the Career She Always Sought

Redman’s goal had always been to become a lawyer, but she felt that working in an office environment in another field would afford her a useful perspective on her career. She spent her first four years out of college working on energy and environmental policy analysis, and then went to law school. While earning her law degree at American University’s Washington College of Law, she joined the firm as a summer associate and has been there ever since, and was promoted to Counsel effective as of March 1.

Redman started at Sherman & Sterling in the finance group in New York City, joined the real estate practice after two years and relocated to the Washington, D.C. office in 2014. She works with her colleagues in New York and London, handling issues such as acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and leasing; she particularly enjoys matters involving Washington D.C. real estate given how hot real estate development is currently in that city.

“I’m always working with clients to suggest avenues that can guard against the tendency toward a boom-and-bust cycle,” she says, adding that the D.C. market is particularly appealing for investments – the continuous needs of the government can protect against the typical harsh fall that the real estate industry as a whole can have when markets turn. “We are always looking to tap alternative resources and be aware of trade-offs and how to protect our clients’ investments.”

Using Diversity As A Tool For Success

Over the years, Redman has found that participation in Shearman & Sterling’s WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) group has been useful as a way to get to know women partners and counsel from other specialty groups. She’s also found the “Lean In” circles to be applicable, particularly one module about body language that helped participants become more aware of the unintended messages they might inadvertently be sending through their presentation and carriage.

She believes that being a woman in the legal field can be a benefit, since clients are looking for diversity and differing perspectives in their legal teams. In fact, she finds that one of the biggest barriers for women in the legal field – especially at law firms – can be perception, rather than reality.

“I find that women worry that a legal career might take all your time, and that the only type of person who can succeed are those who put everything else aside,” she says. “And that in itself can cause women to self-select out, or decide they should take on a smaller role, when in reality those steps are not necessary and can just result in women lawyers taking jobs where they are being paid less and have less opportunity to grow in their careers.”

She cautions women not to assume you have to give your entire life to your career or play into the notion that success requires constant sacrifice. Unfortunately, she sees lawyers who perpetuate the stereotype by contributing to the myth that you can never have your weekends free or take vacations. “I am still learning to balance,” she says, “but there are ways to have hobbies and a family and be successful at your job.”

With a young daughter herself, Redman is learning to focus on other priorities outside of work while still providing excellent legal services to her clients on behalf of her firm. “Some of this ability to balance comes from maturing in your job,” she points out. In fact, traveling is another priority and over the years she has taken three trips to Africa with her mom.

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Voice of Experience: Rupa Briggs, Counsel, Capital Markets, Shearman & Sterling

Rupa BriggsBy Cathie Ericson

If you’re interested in doing something, be proactive and ask for it, recommends Rupa Briggs, who was just promoted to counsel as of March 1.

She notes that when you first start out you should work on as many different projects as possible to figure out what you like, and focus on building a strong reputation because competence begets more work. “Sometimes we tend to be ‘good girls,’ and don’t necessarily ask for opportunities, but you can’t be passive about your career. You must be in the driver’s seat,” she says. Because while people may have good intentions and want to be helpful, only you can plan the road map to get to your next steps.

Growing Her Career at Shearman & Sterling

After starting her legal career at a different firm, Briggs joined Shearman & Sterling in 2016, impressed with its capital markets platform and seeing vast opportunities for advancement and growth.

Over the years, she has become a trusted advisor to her clients, the professional achievement she is most proud of so far. “As a junior associate, you spend most of your time learning the deal process and how you fit into the larger picture, but as you continue to develop as an attorney and your knowledge of the substance of your practice grows, your interactions and client relationships begin to change,” she says. “It was so satisfying and rewarding when clients were directing questions to me in the first instance, instead of to a partner or senior associate,” she says, adding that it was very confidence building.

Currently Briggs is working on a couple of healthcare-related IPOs, which she finds exciting and interesting since it’s such an important milestone in these companies’ evolution to help them reach the next step in commercializing their drug or product. The space she is working in is cutting-edge and includes smaller biotechs focusing on, in some cases, rare diseases and medtech companies with innovative products for large patient populations.

“For me it’s tremendously satisfying because you see the impact these drugs or products will have on individuals, and you know that even in the context of an IPO, you are making a difference by helping the company raise the capital they need to get to the next level.”

Other exciting areas that will impact the world of business and financial markets are blockchain and artificial intelligence. Briggs sees that regulatory issues related to these emerging technologies will continue to evolve, and she watches with interest to see how clients will integrate these technologies into their own businesses and how Shearman & Sterling can help them navigate the challenges from a regulatory standpoint.

Women Need To Advocate Together

Briggs has found that it can be more challenging for women to develop the informal networks that men generally have. Because law partnerships tend to be male-dominated, many women face a dearth of role models. She encourages women to focus on building their own informal networks. “We put our heads down and work hard, but there are other skills and elements that are necessary to become successful that we don’t always know about.”

One ally is the firm’s WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) group, which she co-chairs, that offers both the opportunity to network and to learn more about these informal norms, while also building the professional development skills that women don’t as easily pick up, from building your brand to establishing and maintaining trusted relationships with clients.

She believes that men might naturally have more avenues to learn these skills and market them – so it’s important for women to support one another in creating those paths if they are not emerging.

On that note, she recommends building networks with both senior and junior women and urges senior professionals to pay it forward and serve as a mentor that a junior person can turn to for advice. “Being available and engaged with other women is the key to retention,” she says. She looks forward to helping further build the WISER program as it continues to focus on providing women at the firm with the tools to build their careers and professional relationships.

As mom to an active preschooler, Briggs says she focuses less on achieving work/life balance than just making sure she’s doing her best. “It’s easier to manage what’s going on and integrating work and life when you are engaged. The personal and intellectual satisfaction I receive from the practice spills over nicely to make all the parts of my life blend successfully.”

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Voice of Experience: Helen Cook, Counsel, Shearman & Sterling

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 By Cathie EricsonHelen Cook

Helen Cook describes her career as a jagged line veering all over the place. A native Australian, she first started at a law firm there, but took a job in Dubai sight unseen after being bit by the travel bug. Working on energy and infrastructure projects in the Middle East region, she developed a specialty in nuclear energy, which she took to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and then to Shearman & Sterling, where she is a counsel in the Washington, DC office. Today she focuses on international nuclear law, a field she never dreamed of entering, particularly given that Australia has no nuclear power plants.

Harnessing the Opportunities in Nuclear

“Had I known I would eventually enter this field, I might have combined my law degree with an engineering or science degree; because as a nuclear lawyer you have to understand the basic technicalities of nuclear energy, but I’ve done my best to learn on the job and from people in the industry,” she says.

In fact, along the way she even wrote a legal textbook, The Law of Nuclear Energy, not long after she had ventured into the nuclear sector. After complaining that there were few useful resources available for lawyers starting out in the area, a former mentor encouraged her to write the book she would have found useful. The resulting piece was published in 2013, and a second edition is currently in the works.

Since there are relatively few new nuclear new build projects in the world today, she considers herself extremely privileged to be working on the largest – a deal that is close to being finalized after a two-year investment of time in the Middle East. In addition, she is working on two in the UK and one in Turkey.

Nuclear is a complicated industry, but despite its challenges she believes that the focus on climate change in global energy policy should see enhanced recognition of the benefits of nuclear energy. “The nuclear industry also needs to more clearly and credibly articulate the potential of nuclear energy to help achieve global warming goals,” she says, adding that its emissions are comparable to those of wind power and hydroelectric power.

Challenges and Opportunities in Conquering the Industry as a Younger Woman

The generational imbalance in nuclear industry started around in the 1990s when people left the industry after Chernobyl, so she says there’s a lot of gray hair at most major nuclear conferences – and it’s mostly on men. “It’s probably hard to find a more male-dominated sector out there,” she says. And, a lot of her work is in the Middle East, where being a professional female can be more challenging.

Her hope is that more young women will be interested in a career in the sector, but she acknowledges they have to be willing to be bold and challenge themselves to do things that might seem out of step – citing the book she authored as an example. “If my boss hadn’t suggested I write it, it wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it helped establish my personal brand and reputation in the market,” she notes.

At Shearman & Sterling, she considers herself fortunate that there are many strong women leaders in the project development and finance practice and throughout the firm, as well as male mentors, who are willing to push you forward. “It’s crucial that men will put you in a room full of other men and not hesitate to give you the lead negotiating role. There have been a number of male partners who have been instrumental in pushing me into leadership roles, which have had tremendous impact on my success as a woman,” she says.

Since her work most often entails a weekly grueling international flight or two, she realizes more than most the value of coming home, where it feels like a vacation as soon as she walks in the door. Her ideal vacation at home? Going for a run around the Georgetown waterfront and cooking a meal with her partner in the evening.

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Voice of Experience: Hae-Ran Song, Counsel in the Capital Markets Group, Hong Kong, Shearman & Sterling

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By Cathie Ericsonhae ran

“The best part of my job is working alongside my Shearman colleagues, who are not only extremely talented, but with whom I truly enjoy spending time,” says Hae-Ran Song.

She finds this to be a crucial aspect of an office since so much of her work involves teamwork and having one another’s support to get the deals done. “Both senior and junior colleagues have to work in tandem to divide and conquer to successfully execute the transactions,” she says, noting that this carries over to her home life as well. “In the same way, I think having the support and encouragement of my husband and kids in what I do has been instrumental in my success.”

 

Developing Experience Globally

After attending law school in Australia, where she grew up, Song started her career at a Sydney-based multinational law firm, but had always intended to work overseas, preferably in a U.S. firm. That’s why she was delighted when an opportunity to work at Shearman came up after just one year, much earlier than she had expected. She initially joined the Hong Kong office but was able to relocate to the New York office to join her husband in a job transfer, eventually returning to Hong Kong for family reasons.

Along the way, she’s maintained her focus on corporate transactional work, appreciating the opportunity to meet and work with many different colleagues and clients, while feeling supported by the firm in her relocation needs.

She finds her work in Asia advising foreign issuer and financial institutional clients in connection with international and U.S. capital markets offerings exciting. Because Asia is still a growing and evolving market, she constantly is working to address or overcome issues specific to the region, such as local regulatory requirements or hurdles, which means no deal is ever the same — and no deal is ever easy.

“I’m always learning, and I always have to be on my toes,” she says, adding that structuring transactions and coming up with solutions to meet both local and U.S. requirements is particularly interesting since it involves brainstorming to identify creative solutions that will meet the clients’ needs.

 

Balancing The Roles of Full-Time Mom With Full-Time Lawyer

Song says that when she first started her career, she was focused singularly on her job rather than on a potential family. As she became more senior, her priorities changed, and she wanted to have kids and be an involved mom as much as possible.

After she had her first child, she began to wonder if she could be the mom she wanted to be, while simultaneously a full-time attorney, often working crazy hours. “I was worried that I would fall short at both things, but whenever I start feeling that way, I take a moment to realize that I have to stop putting pressure on myself and focus on my priorities.”

She says that while many people wonder how to find the perfect balance between work and family (and a social life!), she’s come to realize that a perfect balance is impossible. Instead, you have to figure out the right balance for you, which is different for everyone. “Don’t let your reality be dictated by what anyone else says or what popular culture says,” she advises.

And while it can be challenging, she is proud of the balancing act she has achieved, calling herself both a full-time mom to her kids, ages 5 and 8, while also a full-time lawyer. She achieves that by realizing that while she can’t always be with her kids, she has to make the most of the time she does have with them, on weekends and evenings. “I choose to focus on what I can do,” she says. “It’s a matter of attitude and perspective and choosing how to balance your time to fit in work, family, travel and hobbies – whatever is important to you.”

Key to that balance is learning to be flexible and adapting to your circumstances, in her case, moving from being single to married to having kids.
It’s also important to know both your strengths and limitations, and to leverage those strengths, such as multi-tasking.

In addition to the support she receives from her family and firm, she appreciates the Shearman initiative WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) and other opportunities to get together with women colleagues. “It’s important for women to hear each other’s stories, and I find it encouraging when you hear about struggles in addition to successes, so you know you’re not alone.”

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Mover and Shaker Sylvia Favretto, Counsel, Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory Group, Shearman & Sterling LLP

Sylvia Favretto“To be successful, you must present yourself as a reliable, responsive and knowledgeable member of the team,” says Shearman & Sterling’s Sylvia Favretto. “No matter how intelligent you are, or your level of expertise in your field, it will be difficult to advance in your legal career if you can’t project to your clients and colleagues self-assuredness and confidence in your abilities.” She adds that team members and clients alike need to know that they can depend on you for timely, accurate advice.

Finding the Right Fit Straight Out of Law School

After completing her undergraduate degree at Duke University, Favretto attended law school at the University of Michigan during which she served as a summer associate for Shearman, splitting time between the firm’s London and New York offices. In the fall of 2006 she started in the New York office in the leveraged finance practice group, ultimately transitioning to her current position in the financial advisory regulatory group. There, she finds she is constantly learning something new due to the dynamic nature of the group and its subject matter. “There is often not a large body of precedent for complying with new rules and regulations, so helping financial institutions adapt to the changing regulatory environment is both challenging and stimulating,” she says.

During law school Favretto had heard the common lore that the hours at big firms are intense and that associates would be living at the office with their whole lives revolving around work. “I had heard so many stories and warnings, that my expectation was that I would put my head down and work hard and that would be the primary way that I could add value and advance in my career,” she says. However, she found that while part of that is true, she soon learned that there is much more to being a successful lawyer — the key was not only to work hard and produce great results but also to network and market oneself both internally and externally.

Throughout her tenure at Shearman & Sterling she has been involved in its women’s network and has found it to be valuable not only for the internal training and mentoring but for the client and alumni events they organize and participate in. These events provide the opportunity for Favretto to meaningfully engage with successful women in law and industry with whom she wouldn’t necessarily otherwise interact.

Finding Meaning in Mentoring

Along the way, Favretto says she has been fortunate to have fantastic female mentors at Shearman, both informal and formal. “What was most valuable — and surprising to me — was that my mentors truly cared about my success and advancement,” she says. “They were generous with their time and had a genuine desire to invest in the careers of their mentees, rather than just doing so in order to check a mentoring ‘box.’ It really made a strong impression.” Favretto was surprised to discover just how meaningful mentoring relationships could be, and strives to serve in a similar capacity to associates in her firm.

Balancing Work and Life

Favretto’s two-year-old son, whom she calls “the light of her life,” has made her more efficient in her work. She’s learned to take a broader view of the concept of “work-life balance” by assessing what she achieves over the span of a week or month, rather than looking at any one single day. She says that when her son was first born, she wasn’t sure how she would be able to handle it all, but that it’s something she’s learned by doing.

“It’s tricky when you have a job you want to return to and excel at, yet you don’t want to neglect other, equally important aspects of your life. It’s difficult to plot out in advance how precisely you’ll achieve balance between your professional and personal life, but every person’s situation is different, and I believe everyone can find a balanced path forward that works for them.”

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