Photo: Shutterstock

Sasha Rosenthal-Larrea, partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Practice Area: Corporate.

Law school and year of graduation: Columbia Law School, 2010.

How long have you been at the firm? Eight years.

How long were you an associate at the Firm? Seven years.

Sasha Rosenthal-Larrea.

When did you make partner? 2019.

What was the biggest surprise you have experienced since becoming partner? I assumed that partners with established practices would be working more or less in silos, but that isn't the case at all. I haven't closed a single deal where I haven't collaborated with other partners in some way.

Describe how you feel about your career now that you've made partner. I feel like I'm just starting a new phase of my career, but it doesn't feel abrupt, since much of the same work has continued, even if my responsibilities have evolved. Now that I've built a strong skill set, I'm focusing on building my skills in practice management. My team is more dependent on me than when I was an associate, and I take that responsibility seriously.

What's the key to successful business development? Being a great lawyer means being someone whom your clients can rely on, someone whom they feel most comfortable having handle their most complex and important matters. A personal relationship often develops, but it won't be much help if there isn't excellent work to back it up.

What's been the biggest day-to-day change since becoming partner? The biggest change has been that, compared with my deal flow as an associate, as a partner I'm working on far more banking and capital markets matters at the same time, along with a new universe of business development responsibilities. How I spend my time on any given day is very different—I'm not logging the majority of my hours on just one or two deals anymore.

What's the best piece of advice you could give an associate who wants to make partner? As a young associate, whether your goal is to make partner or to practice at the highest level in-house or somewhere else, the way to become an excellent lawyer is to take ownership of your work as early as possible. Embrace your responsibility—always push yourself to produce thorough, careful, top-quality work, and always keep your specific client's objectives and constraints—the big picture—at the front of your mind. That's how you're going to learn most quickly and become an effective deal lawyer, which is ultimately what will impress and earn the trust of clients and, of course, the partners you work with.

Got a suggestion for a new partner to profile? Contact [email protected].