Daniela Cohen

Associate, Winston & Strawn London

40 Under 40 Category: Legal Services

Biography:

Daniela Cohen is an English qualified solicitor and a finance associate in Winston & Strawn’s London office. Her practice focuses on cross-border corporate finance deals, including corporate lending transactions, leveraged acquisitions, and other debt investments. Daniela has extensive experience representing domestic and international bank and non-bank lenders, as well as private equity firms and corporate borrowers in a wide variety of sectors. Daniela also has experience advising on general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, and other equity investments. 

Daniela, originally from Slovakia, received her Master of Laws (Magister Iuris) degree from the University of Vienna in Austria in 2007. She received her Postgraduate Diploma in Law in 2008 from the BPP Law School in London, where she also completed the Legal Practice Course in 2009 (with Distinction).

Daniela is rated as a ‘Key Lawyer’ in the category of Bank Lending: Investment Grade Debt and Syndicated Loans in the 2020 edition of The Legal 500 legal directory for the UK. She has also co-authored the UK chapter of the Chambers Global Practice Guide for Banking & Finance since the inception of the publication.

What effect has the COVID crisis had on your professional life? 

I feel very privileged to be able to say at this point that the pandemic has not impacted my professional life in any significant negative way (other than missing out on office chat of course!). What it has in fact shown is that, due to the services we provide being so versatile and so virtual in a way, the legal sector - and perhaps the financial sector as well – is uniquely well positioned not to suffer in a downturn in the same way as some others. This is particularly true for finance practices of law firms, which have seen an influx of financial restructuring work and work related to government-backed loan schemes introduced in response to the COVID crisis. 

In addition, working remotely from colleagues, clients and others involved on finance transactions has reinforced an awe in me for the work we do. Even in ‘normal’ times, the level of concerted effort and dedication of often dozens of people participating on any deal is remarkable. However, working on these complex, time-pressured, and dynamic transactions from the kitchen table or home office whilst delivering the highest standards of professional, service, is quite impressive to me. Being able to continue working alongside these driven and smart individuals is something that I value and that helps to keep the mind off the less healthy preoccupations. 

Lastly, I have been very pleased with how my firm, Winston & Strawn, has responded to the crisis and has been on point with communicating that the wellbeing of its employees is paramount to it. I am sure that, once the situation has improved, the flexibility and consideration for our personal circumstances we have benefitted from so far will continue and contribute to a better work-life balance in the long term.

How do you define a good leader?

As I see it, good leadership is a reflection of the inner quality of a person combined with the ability to instill or encourage that quality in team members. To me that quality comprises a number of things such as integrity, a sense of fairness and, last but not least, professionalism in all dealings, whether with colleagues, clients or counterparties. Knowing what you don’t know and showing it, despite being on top of a hierarchy, is important also and helps in building a team with the right skills set that complement one’s own. 

In the context of legal services, the hours can be long and stressful and the demands on quality high, which makes it that much more important to have a shared sense of purpose and culture based on those qualities. Someone who is able to strike the right balance between hitting all these goals will, I think, be respected as a leader. 

I have been fortunate to have first observed great leadership skills initially from my parents as business owners. In my own career I have also been very lucky in coming under the mentorship or leadership of partners who have been as thoughtful about their own success as about mine.