Tushara Weerasooriya

Partner, McMillan LLP

40 Under 40 Category: Legal Services

Biography:

Tushara is a partner in McMillan’s Restructuring group.  She is a passionate advocate who is known for crafting timely, creative and practical solutions for her clients. After practicing law at McMillan for eight years, Tushara took a brief sabbatical in 2013 to travel, following which she undertook a year-long engagement as in-house derivatives counsel at a prominent financial institution. Tushara rejoined McMillan at the end of 2015 energized and excited to return to the restructuring practice. Her practice involves all aspects of insolvency law including reorganizations, bankruptcies, distressed M&A, and lending. Tushara is also an active promoter of diversity initiatives and a dedicated advocate for the advancement of women and visible minorities in the legal field.

What is the best professional advice you have been given and how have you implemented it?

The best piece of professional advice that I have received is to ask for the things that you want - whether that is asking to be part of an interesting file, asking for a promotion, or even just asking for an introduction to a client or a coffee with a mentor.  Of course, you have to be prepared to get a “no” or, at best, a “maybe” in response.  But, I still think that it is a worthwhile exercise because it forces you to really think about the things you want for your career.  I spent my early years in practice working very hard, but without any real direction because I hadn’t bothered to stop and think about where I wanted to go. When I returned to McMillan in 2015, I was determined to be more pro-active.  I was interested in expanding my practice beyond Canada and the U.S. and trying to cultivate relationships with Asian and South Asian clients and firms.  I reached out to some of my more senior colleagues in that space with some pretty basic questions about how to get involved.  This led to an opportunity to co-head the firm’s India desk and then, eventually, led to an invitation to become part of the firm’s delegation to the International Bar Association and the International Pacific Bar Association. 

How did you wind up in the industry? We know most kids don’t say “I want to be in commercial finance when I grow up.”

It was quite serendipitous.  I’m not sure that I had even heard of “commercial finance” when I started law school.  I have a science degree and always assumed that I would practice in an area that had a connection to science, like patent law.  But, I was lucky to join McMillan as a summer law student and I just happened to spend my summer working with some fantastic finance and bankruptcy lawyers.  I found the work exciting, complicated and challenging and something just clicked for me.  

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started your career?

Your working life is probably going to be 30 to 40 years long (maybe even longer!), so pace yourself.  It’s cliché to say it, but it really is a marathon and not a sprint.  I wish that I had known that when I first started my career.  In fairness, someone probably did tell me, but I just refused to believe them.  Sometimes experience is the only way to learn some lessons.  If I had appreciated that lesson in my early years of practice, I think that I would have probably enjoyed my downtime more, instead of worrying and stressing about the lack of work.  I would definitely have used all of my vacation time.  Most of all, I think I would have been better at making the time to take care of myself – whether that meant spending more time with family and friends, remembering to eat better and exercise more, pursuing hobbies and interests, or just taking a random day off.