Penny Fine

Managing Director, CIT Northbridge

Biography:

Nicole Krol is a partner in Chapman and Cutler LLP’s Banking and Financial Services Department and represents banks and other financial institutions in a wide range of domestic and international financing transactions. Her experience includes structuring, negotiating, and documenting secured and unsecured credit facilities, primarily focusing on asset-based lending, merger and acquisition financings, leveraged finance, commercial lending and real estate finance transactions.

Nicole’s representative transactions include single- and multi-bank credit facilities, loan syndications, first lien/second lien structures, and cross-border secured lending transactions. Nicole also has extensive experience in private equity fund lending and subscription facility financing and has represented lenders in various loan restructuring and work- out transactions.

As a partner, Nicole has built her practice by focusing on her clients’ needs. She works hard to remain a step ahead of the competition and often deploys the firm’s knowledge management and practice innovation efforts in her practice, resulting in efficiencies that are passed along to her clients.

Nicole actively participates in Chapman and Cutler’s associate training and mentoring programs, helping the firm build another generation of high quality professionals. Outside of the firm, she is active in her community and various charitable organizations.

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

Early on in your career is the best time to cast a wide net, gain experience and meet a diverse group of people. Ask questions and seek out new opportunities. Make the effort to establish contacts not only at your firm, but across the industry. If you focus too narrowly on one subject or area of expertise, you miss the opportunity to learn and find your true passion. Take advantage of the fact that your peers expect you to know very little on day one and realize the broader your experience and network of contacts, the better you will be able to service your clients later on.

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

Law school focuses so much attention on legal thinking, writing and analysis. Although these elements are key to a successful legal career, I wish I had known early on the importance of relationship building in our industry. Over the years I have learned that in our industry your reputation precedes you in everything you do – being someone that is professional, patient, thoughtful and pleasant to work with matters just as much as what you know.

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

Mentoring has played a key role in my career. Although I have had many mentors, both formal and informal, two particular women come to mind as helping pave the path for my career. The first was a senior associate when I started at Chapman. She took me under her wing and helped me get a wide range of experience, while assisting with the most basic of questions and always offering a helping hand. To this day, we remain a team and she is always the first person I go to when I need to bounce ideas off a colleague. The second was a senior partner when I started at Chapman. She introduced me to her clients early on and made me an integral partner of her team. She also had a unique approach to marketing in our male-driven industry – she focused most on keeping in contact with the women she met along the way and following them from institution to institution. Although she has since retired, I continue to employ her women-focused marketing strategy and the many other skills she taught me over the years. I call out these two individuals to highlight that you can be a mentor at all stages of your career. Whether you are the most junior or most senior person at your institution, there is always someone learning from you and looking for your advice.

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

Although our industry has good success with recruiting talent, retaining talent is often a challenge. Much of this stems from the fact that the most talented individuals need a balance of exciting and challenging opportunities, room for advancement, smart and kind-hearted colleagues and a supportive work environment that keeps them invested in our industry. To succeed in retaining talent, we need to give young employees challenging opportunities and client contact early on. We need to make them an integral part of the team from day one and keep them involved in company initiatives, affinity groups and industry- wide opportunities.