Elle McCulty

Partner, Waller

40 Under 40 Category: Legal Services

Elle McCulty is a partner in the Finance & Restructuring Group at Waller in Nashville, Tennessee. Lenders and borrowers rely on Elle for advice and counsel on complex debt financings, including senior and subordinated credit facilities, syndicated and single lender loan transactions, asset-based loans, acquisition and development financing, and other commercial finance matters. She serves clients in the financial services, healthcare, and private equity industries. 

Elle earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School and earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from American University. From 2010 to 2011, Elle clerked for the Honorable Leonard B. Sand in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to joining Waller, Elle was an associate at the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP. Elle serves as the Chair of Waller’s Women’s Leadership Council. Waller was named one of the top law firms for women in 2018 and 2019 by Working Mother magazine.

What is your definition of success?  

Success is not an end-goal but a measure of whether I’m fulfilled personally and professionally at any given stage in my career. Today, that means having the skills and expertise to be a valued advisor to my clients on complex issues and a trusted mentor to junior members of my team, and it means getting to work on sophisticated deals that stretch me to think outside the box and deepen my knowledge base. It also means spending quality time with my family and friends outside the office, enjoying the fruits of my hard work. 

Did you change the way you approach work while working remotely during the pandemic? Have these habits stayed with you as we emerge from the crisis?

As a working parent, it was already imperative for me to have a designated home office space where I could work effectively outside of office hours. While I had the flexibility pre-pandemic to work from home during business hours as well, remote work never seemed attractive enough for me to sacrifice the camaraderie and knowledge-sharing benefits of being in the office. I was surprised (pleasantly!) to realize during the mandatory remote-work period we faced in 2020 just how productive I could be with the time dividend generated by a commute-free work environment. It’s hard to replicate the positive impact that face-to-face interaction has on training, culture and loyalty, but you don’t necessarily need to be in-person five days a week to get those benefits. That said, a hybrid approach requires increased coordination and trust---and probably some failed experiments along the way. We, as organizational leaders, need to be ready to model the behavior we want to see and ready to change things up if the approach is not working for our team or our clients. 

What advice do you normally give to the junior talent you mentor?

The two most important qualities in a junior associate are attention to detail and a good attitude. It takes years to become an expert on the substantive matters, but you can add tremendous value day-one by focusing on the nitty-gritty. From scrutinizing the party names and verifying defined terms are used consistently, to conforming the margins and correcting numbering issues. As you read each document in detail to get the basics right, you’ll pick up the substance and learn to spot what’s missing. And, if you can do all of that with a positive, can-do attitude, you’ll be every partner’s first choice in no time. 

When interviewing newcomers to the industry, what do you say to pique their interest on why they should accept a position in this industry?

It’s no secret that the practice of law can be adversarial in nature, but the finance practice is unique in that the interests of the borrower and lender so often align. It’s not a zero-sum game. Unlike many other transactional practices (and certainly unlike litigation), closing the deal is the start of the relationship between the parties, and we’re all working to set that relationship up for success. Negotiations may get heated along the way, but the incentives are there on all sides to be cordial and find solutions. The most fulfilling part of my job is when a sticky situation threatens to torpedo the deal, and I can find a legal solution to structure the transaction in a way that gives the borrower the flexibility they need to operate their business while protecting the lender against risks that might otherwise go beyond their acceptable risk profile.