The first deal I worked on when I qualified at Allen & Overy (A&O) was for David Morley and everything went wrong. On the Monday morning, I went to his office and he saw the look on my face and said: ‘Helen, don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.’ I turned around and walked out, but that stayed with me. The job of a lawyer is not to bring problems but to find solutions.
My family were the first generation to go to university, no history of lawyers. I wanted to be a journalist, but once I got into the law degree, I really enjoyed it, and haven’t looked back.
I went to New York as a trainee and desperately wanted to go back there. Banking was a very international choice, you could travel with it. New York was the catalyst for me leaving A&O because they didn’t have a place for me there and this was when the NY firms were just arriving. So I joined Weil Gotshal, but then never ended up going back to New York. It was very exciting at the time. But there is something, always something, keeping me back in London.
Anytime a client rings up and gives us a deal is a really good day.
One of the best deals I had was SEAT, which at the time was the biggest European leverage buyout. That was fun. It was breaking new ground legally because of its structure and also we were working as quite a big team, six partners altogether. I like to build a consensus. This can take weeks sometimes but I like building ideas on top of ideas.
We asked: ‘Why aren’t there more female partners?’ They said: ‘It’s feeding through the system.’ 20 years later we are still waiting.
The hardest point in my career has been coming back after maternity leave, for both positive and negative reasons. After six months of changing nappies and singing nursery rhymes, you can start to lose self-confidence. Coming back into the office and fitting in with a group of partners who have been managing without you and looking after your clients can be hard. And my group of partners at Ashurst have been very supportive. I cannot imagine what that must be like in a less supportive team.
When I started work in 1992, my intake was split 50:50 in gender, and we asked: ‘Why aren’t there more female partners?’ They said: ‘It’s a matter of feeding through the system.’ Over 20 years later and we are still waiting.
I was sponsored, and I do think it was sponsored, rather than mentored by Anne Baldock when I was first at A&O and then by Erica Handling. That’s important – having people who were willing to put themselves out on my behalf. I want to try to be the same for junior people and in particular junior women.
I am very close to Erica, she was my best woman at my wedding a few years ago and I still see her a lot.
I head up the women’s network at Ashurst, which is brilliant. But we need to get the diversity issue out of the networks and into the business.
It’s so trite but my mum was my biggest influence. She worked incredibly hard in a single-parent family, and you don’t appreciate it at the time, but when I look back at all the sacrifices she made for her children, I realise how easy it is for me compared to what she had to do.
Yoga is a big part of my life – I like to get mental headspace as well as physical well-being. I used to do lots more exercise and go on fitness holidays and do running, but that’s all gone out of the window since having children.
Our merger has transformed the firm. The growth potential in Asia is hugely exciting and the merger has been a brilliant catalyst to re-energise the firm as a whole.
The personal touch is still there in banking. What it means is you have to have relationships with lots of different people. We need to make sure we know the whole legal team and that they understand what Ashurst can offer. It means you are spinning more plates.
Bonds are here to stay but, for the time being, loans are definitely coming back. The alternative credit providers have made a huge impact over the last couple of years – it will be interesting to see what happens here. The differences between the banks and the funds are becoming less marked. The flexibility is not as stark as the loan product moves more towards covenant-loose.
It is now so much harder for junior associates to build relationships with clients. There used be a lot of face-to-face meetings before and we very rarely do that now. Everything is done through conference calls, you can execute all your documents remotely and everything gets pdf’d around.
I love doing deals. I can’t imagine not doing deals and being in full-time management, but I do enjoy having a leadership role. I stood for the board in 2011 and didn’t get on. But in five years’ time I would like to think I would play a part in setting the strategic goals of the firm.
In 20 years’ time law will be a very different profession. However, the things that I love, the intellectual stimulation and interaction with people, will still be there. It will be harder but still a fantastic way to spend your life.
Helen Burton is a partner in Ashurst’s finance practice