Lauren Priest-Stephens

Senior Associate, Squire Patton Boggs

Biography:

Lauren Priest-Stephens is a senior associate with Squire Patton Boggs, having moved to the firm from Speechly Bircham LLP in 2008. She focuses her practice on asset-based lending, banking and debt finance matters. Her experience includes financing transactions from the negotiation of term sheets and the structuring of a transaction to the completion of financing documents. Lauren is familiar with the negotiation and drafting of documents for complex cross-border transactions and has extensive experience representing all parties in a financing including lenders, borrowers and syndicate members. Following the completion of transactions, she often undertakes ongoing portfolio support work, including the review and drafting of documentation for the syndication and restructuring of transactions .  Lauren also has experience of guiding all parties to a transaction through the process of terminating transactions, through both re-financings and restructurings.

Lauren attended University of Law, York, L.P.C., 2003 and University of Hull, LL.B., 2002.

What advice would you offer to women just starting out in the industry?

I would offer up the advice that was given to me when I first entered the industry, which is to remember that a career lasts a long time, with many changes along the way.    The first few years of your career are not the only years that you will spend in this industry.  At the same time as careers are lasting longer, the industry itself is changing rapidly in response to both world events and technological evolution.  In particular, as is so often said, the increased use of technology has lead both to innovation in the way that business is being done and also to the business itself.  As the industry evolves in response to these changes, new and exciting opportunities are arising.  In short, don’t treat change as an enemy, but rather a new opportunity.

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

The importance of networking and developing relationships across the industry. It is never too early to build a professional network and the process of doing so creates a huge opportunity to increase the sharing of knowledge and ideas between different aspects of the industry.  The development of a network at an early stage will provide an platform for both the development of a career and a strong base to develop opportunities as the same arise due to changes in the industry as a whole.

What kind of role has mentoring and/or sponsorship played in your career?

Mentoring and sponsorship from other lawyers have played an invaluable part in my career.  My mentors have acted as guides when I had difficult decisions to make about my future and pointed me in the right direction with respect to opportunities such as the delivery of training and the running of events.  Separately, my sponsors have helped my career in a number of ways, from attending training that I have given and events that I have organized, to ensuring that my name is put forward in respect of such items. The guidance that I have received from mentors and the promotion that I have received from sponsors during the course of my career has also motivated me to put myself forward for such roles and assist younger lawyers in moving their careers forward and the provision of such support, in turn, now plays a significant part in my career.

What do you think the industry could do to attract and retain the best and the brightest today?

It is really important for those moving up within the industry to ensure that they bring up younger members of the industry with them.  In recent years there has been an increased focus on mentoring and sponsorship which needs to continue to allow the best and the brightest in the industry to move onwards and upwards.  There is also the continuing role of training, both within firms and events that allow people to interact and exchange ideas which is essential for the future development of both individuals and the industry as a whole.