Shari L. Heyen

Co-Chair Global Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice, Greenberg Traurig

Shari L. Heyen is co-chair of the firm’s Global Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice and co-managing shareholder of the Houston office. Shari has experience in complex restructuring, bankruptcy, insolvency and complex commercial litigation matters. She has represented numerous creditors’ committees, debtors, bank groups, acquirers and other significant constituencies in national Chapter 11 cases and workout proceedings, including complex oil, gas and energy cases. Shari has broad experience in the prosecution and defense of fiduciary litigation, real estate, oil and gas, health care, receiverships and alternative energy matters.

Shari has been recognized for her restructuring and bankruptcy law experience by The Best Lawyers in America (2010-2021), Texas Super Lawyers (2004-2020), and Legal 500. She has also been listed multiple times as a Winning Team Member by Global M&A Network’s Turnaround Atlas Awards in its recognition of Greenberg Traurig’s Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice; and in 2019 she was named “Top USA Woman Dealmaker” by Global M&A Network, and one of Houston Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business in the “Outstanding Leader in Law” category. 

What do you know now that you wish you knew in the beginning of your career? 

I tell junior attorneys and young professionals to foster relationships with a wide range of people. Your law school colleague could be the next general counsel or CEO. Of course, having a mentor can help a young professional navigate a new position. However, I would challenge new attorneys to identify and secure a sponsor. This is a much more targeted relationship because a sponsor is fully invested in an associate’s career growth and development, focusing on personally introducing them to opportunities and contacts who will likely positively affect their practice or future book of business. 

What do you enjoy most about your role? Least? 

Fast-paced complexity. Those are the things that fascinate me and most restructuring cases deliver on both fronts. Many times, I feel like a first-responder -- and in cases where a company’s survival is on the line, I am. During the height of the pandemic the intensity and volume of matters on which we worked on for clients could have been frightening for a less-cohesive team. It takes critical thinking and creativity to tackle challenging business issues for clients. Having the right team in place can make the difference. Very important to me is having a diverse team that offers a diversity of experience and delivers commercial solutions in real time that work in our complex real world.

What effect, if any, has working remotely had on your career and/or your industry? What have been the challenges and how have you worked to overcome them?

Challenges often result in “better.” We have always had the capability to work remotely, therefore the transition to full-time remote was not difficult. Restructuring attorneys have historically been road warriors, traveling to courtrooms, depositions, negotiations, and face time with clients. We know how to do this. Having enhanced technology has presented clients with many efficiencies and greater accessibility and connectivity. However, previously we could have side conversations in hallways or during breaks during a court proceeding. A great deal of negotiations took place during these breaks. We have had to adapt by having virtual break sessions, but some of the chemistry gets lost during screen time. Greenberg Traurig scaled our technological capabilities to accommodate a global workforce of more than 4,000. In the restructuring practice the transition to being fully remote required us to envision and then implement a fully remote court room setting. So that is what we did. We set up a virtual court room in-house. This has paid huge dividends and has garnered praises from judges. While virtual courtrooms and digital visits are valuable to our clients, one loss has been the ability to shepherd junior attorneys in person. We are making it work, but I am looking forward to returning to the in-person model, even a hybrid model, post-pandemic.

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

Work for us will always reflect our historically elevated level of commitment to client service. We work where we can best meet client needs. During the pandemic, we have learned to scale technology and use it to successfully foster and grow relationships on virtual platforms. In a post-pandemic world, we will need to strike a balance between meeting online and in-person client meetings, which continue to be important. We are likely to see more of a hybrid situation, where there will be a mix of remote and in-office work to the benefit of clients and employees alike.