Sarah Gilbert

Partner, Hahn & Hessen LLP

Sarah Gilbert is a partner in the Business Finance Group at Hahn & Hessen LLP. Her practice focuses primarily on representing financial institutions and borrowers in all aspects of commercial lending transactions (including restructurings and workouts).  She has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating and closing a wide variety of transactions, including acquisition and leveraged buyout financings, asset-based financings, exit financings, debtor-in-possession financings, and unitranche, second lien and mezzanine facilities. 

Sarah has provided training and presented lectures to clients on a wide variety of business finance topics. She has also developed and presented continuing legal education programs and hosted roundtables for lawyers on developing issues and trends in secured lending and related legal documentation.  

As a California native, Sarah earned her B.A. from California State University, Chico and moved to New York City in 2004 to attend Fordham University School of Law.  

What do you think work will look like in the post-pandemic world?  

If I’ve learned anything from living through a pandemic, it’s that I can’t possibly predict what the future will hold for my practice in a post-pandemic world. When I left my office last year, in preparation for the impending shutdown, I remember taking one last look around and thinking I really hope I didn’t forget anything important because I won’t be back for a few weeks. It’s now been over a year since leaving my office that last time, and our entire firm has been working remotely without any issues. While I do miss the personal interaction that daily office life provides, our business has not suffered from the transition to remote working.  Our firm has proven to be quite flexible in where, when and how we work, and I expect this trend to continue even when our “offices” are back up and running.  Frankly, this newfound discretion over the structure of our work days is what women, especially those with families, have been seeking to enable them to accommodate their complex work/life schedules. It’s unfortunate that it took a pandemic to shift the work model in women’s favor, but I hope these changes stick.

How can commercial finance organizations attract and retain more women?

Law firms generally do a great job of recruiting women.  The problem lies in keeping women as long-term employees. I know many women who have left the industry once they decided to start a family simply because they knew the obstacles created by raising a family while maintaining a law practice would be too difficult a hurdle. If we want these women to stay, we need to offer them options to help keep them in the workforce as other aspects of their lives evolve and we need to make sure that they know such options exist before they feel like they need to choose between career and family.

What do you enjoy most about your role? 

I am lucky to have spent my career at a firm where my colleagues and clients are some of the loveliest people you will ever meet. Working with people whom I have come to know so well over the years has fostered a level of teamwork and collaboration that brings a great amount of satisfaction to the job.  Knowing that my hard work benefits both myself and people that I respect and care about is truly rewarding. It is encouraging that my firm has been able to maintain these close relationships despite the fact that I have not seen my colleagues or clients in over a year. Success in this field is grounded in strong relationships – my team’s focus on fostering such a uniquely collegial atmosphere has ensured that my firm serves its clients not only by providing exceptional legal counsel but also by cultivating lasting relationships among its lawyers and its clients which promise success in any context, be it realizing new opportunities or facing new challenges (global pandemics included).

Least?

Video Zoom meetings. When the pandemic ends, these have got to go.