Lisa Mayhew: “Our DNA is not dominated by one nationality; we differentiate ourselves through our diversity”

Leaders League: Since the merger between Bryan Cave and Berwin Leighton Paisner in 2018, how has BCLP created its DNA and formed its positioning in the global market?

Lisa Mayhew: When Bryan Cave and Berwin Leighton Paisner merged, we created and built a new global law firm that neither heritage firm would have been able to do alone. BCLP is one partnership, one global governance, one profit pool, and one firm. To make our debut, we planned a business strategy review and pinpointed our strengths. A clear growth strategy was necessary to disrupt the market and increase our competitive edge. Essentially, our goal is to offer a frictionless, efficient, one-stop shop legal experience to our clients, and we do this through the modernization of our core services and the expertise of our technologically proficient team.

What are BCLP’s ambitions for the next three to five years in Europe and specifically in France?

Lisa Mayhew: We have clear ambitions: support our client relationships, offer industry insights to our customers, and become experts in their related markets. With 600+ lawyers in the UK, 70+ lawyers in France, and 150+ lawyers in Russia, among many other offices, and a presence in Africa, we hope to develop further in Luxembourg with a focus on fund formations, private equity, and pan-European transactions. It is important to note that 51% of our employees are in the US and 49% are abroad. In other words, we are one firm, but not one way. There is no substitute for quality in our profession and to provide this, we have learned to manage business across cultures and country borders. Since we do not have a DNA that is dominated by one nationality, we can differentiate ourselves through our diversity among competitors.

Olivier Mesmin and Constantin Achillas: The Paris office is 100% aligned with the firm’s global strategy. Within the past 18 months, we have developed a very strong real estate task force dedicated to the Real Estate industry, which wasn’t there before, with more than 20 lawyers. We still have some gaps to fill and so we have a handful of lawyers joining the firm in upcoming weeks. We are happy to say that the Paris office will reach critical size very soon. We are serving our clients effectively, increasing our credibility, and building our team on a base of seasoned lawyers with a profound track record.

BCLP launched project Advance to transform its business strategy as well as Cubed BCLP to revolutionize its legal services. Please explain how you plan to further develop this.

Lisa Mayhew: Project Advance focuses on three growth engines: Real Estate as an asset class, Mid-market transactions, and litigation and investigation law. This is essentially how we plan to build our law firm out and up. Cubed BCLP, on the other hand, is a brand. This cube, made of four squares, represents a house and the way we serve our clients. It is how we expect our lawyers to work with our clients through an honest communication style, technological expertise, and commoditized work. Using new tools, such as our Dawn Raid application, clients can react to our findings, know their rights, and contact the firm directly. It is a question of mindset as this affects the client relationship. In addition, the human touch is very important. Clients need to feel heard and understood at any time of the day, at any location around the world.

Lisa, being a woman and co-managing an international firm, what challenges have you had to overcome and what advice would you give to female lawyers who also wish to be leaders?

Lisa Mayhew: I am not going to pretend that I haven’t encountered discrimination. When I first became a lawyer, women were not allowed to wear trousers. I was expected to put on lipstick before meeting clients. I heard plenty of remarks from professionals about my appearance. There have been many cycles in my career. As an Employment lawyer, I worked with women since they fill most Human Resources positions. As I advanced in management throughout the years, there was a certain level of appreciation with me being a female. Though my gender can still bring about personal discomfort in the workplace, being dominated by mostly white males, I would not have been able to be so successful without the support of my family. I now have a platform to bring about more diversity and inclusion. My advice is this: Whether man or woman, whether young or old, no matter your sexuality or ethnicity, I encourage you to go after the opportunities that present themselves, make your own luck, and then take advantage of it.

With over 1,400 lawyers worldwide, what is your diversity policy and approach?

Lisa Mayhew: As a firm, we have global targets in terms of gender and ethnicity which we hope to reach at a certain date. These are listed out in our semiannual reports that we publish each year. Our most recent report addressed our law firm’s response to the Black Lives Matters movement and COVID-19 difficulties. We also make our culture and talent programs a priority. This includes BCLP’s global LGBTQ+ community and Amplify: raising the voices of women at BCLP. We have plenty of progress to make and this is something that is very important to our business. It is everyone’s responsibility, and we should own it in order to form a healthy habit of diversity and inclusion