Name: Amanda McGrady Morrison

Category: Law Firm: Women's Legal Awards

Firm/Company: Ropes & Gray

Title: Partner

Time in Position: Since 2009

What was your route to the top? 

My practice is focused on mergers and acquisitions, both for private equity and strategic investors. I enjoy the fast-paced nature of deals, which requires a variety of skills, including the ability to think critically, understand a client's needs and goals, develop creative solutions, negotiate effectively, and consider how developments in the law affect the structure of a deal. I have always enjoyed problem-solving, which is why I chose to attend law school and ultimately became a transactional lawyer. In particular, my experience as the most senior associate on the $11.5 billion leveraged buyout of SunGard Data Systems in 2005 cemented my desire to be an M&A attorney. At the time, the deal was the largest-ever technology buyout and the second-largest LBO; the deal offered the opportunity to work with seven private equity sponsors; and the deal required innovation, as we moved the market to a reverse breakup fee construct, thus limiting the exposure of private equity funds as buyers and charting the course for private equity deals that followed. Among other experiences, I credit my mentors at Ropes & Gray and my undergraduate background in liberal arts for honing the skills to take a complex set of issues, digest them and develop a recommended course of action for clients.

What keeps you up at night? 

What keeps me up at night are my clients' concerns—from deal-specific issues to macro-considerations that affect dealmaking, including the economy, trade wars and debt markets to regulatory factors such as antitrust scrutiny, CFIUS and data privacy and security. I recognize the imperative of providing exceptional legal work and understanding how a client will need to navigate particular issues, both internally and externally.

What is the best leadership advice you've given, or received, and why do you think it was effective?

Dare to begin or said another way, have a bias to action. As lawyers, we have a tendency to analyze every angle and seek to understand the end-state before embarking on efforts to achieve goals, effect change and improve an organization. As a leader of our firm's Women's Forum, I value the opportunity to brainstorm with our steering committee, seek the input of firm leaders and consider the best paths to recruit, retain and promote women to roles of leadership within the firm. With that input, the Women's Forum co-chairs and members work collectively to implement initiatives, such as our mentoring circles, ­entrepreneurial grant program and business development coaching program, to achieve those goals, even as we ­consider the resulting data points and potential improvements.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession?

I appreciate advice I received very early on from a mentor: she encouraged me to be curious, seek the kind of work that would engage me and, most of all, develop relationships. As a transactional lawyer, it is critical to build relationships and strong connections—both within the firm and with clients. While it is easy to focus on the task at hand and merely sit in one's office drafting, handling calls or responding to emails, successful attorneys are able to pair intellectual prowess—and work ethic—with relationships rooted in understanding and responding to a client's needs and goals.

What is the most valuable career advice anyone has ever given you?

Find the type of work that would engage me, develop an expertise in that area of the law and become a trusted adviser to clients through the development of relationships and application of my expertise. And do so while remaining authentic, valuing kindness and recognizing the importance of the team. M&A requires depth and breadth of expertise and excellence. Assembling an outstanding team is a prerequisite to the successful handling of any deal. I am fortunate to have exceptional colleagues—substantively and personally—with whom to work toward the common goal of providing excellent client service.