Cooley M&A group co-chair Jamie Leigh represented Uber Technologies Inc. in its joint venture with Yandex, the “Google of Russia” and operator of Yandex.Taxi, to create a ride-hailing business in Russia and the surrounding region in a deal valued at $3.4 billion.

She also provided hostile takeover defense for Medivation Inc. in an unsolicited bid by Sanofi. The company and Leigh ultimately ran a strategic process and reached a deal to be acquired by Pfizer for $14 billion. Leigh recently told The Recorder about her love of joint ventures and keeping it real with clients.

What were your professional highlights of the past year? What made that deal or those deals stand out? I loved our work for Uber in the Yandex joint venture. Every time you do a joint venture, you get to be creative and make a combined business actually run in the real world, not just in theory.

I also love the strategic hiring we are doing here at team Cooley.  Building the bench with community-minded professionals is an honor.

Which clients do you have the longest relationships with? How far back do those relationships go? You know i can't answer that as an M&A lawyer … but I love Qatalyst, Uber, Workday, Amazon, Docusign, New Relic. … You get the drift.

What do you think clients come back to you for—what can they get from you that they don't get from someone else? I'm real. And I work to make people feel comfortable. Clients are people first and foremost—I want them to walk away from a deal or phone call with the experience of an adviser who is real, honest and practical.

I also like to keep a good sense of humor. None of this is so serious that we can't enjoy one another—even if we are across the table on different sides. You will never see me sell fear. I always sell strength and collaboration.

What's more important in the current market and why: Offering bespoke services or being efficient? Knowing the difference between the two and when to use or blend them.

Outside your partners, who is another corporate lawyer you admire and why? Dan Neff at Wachtell has been an incredible mentor to me—he is wise and calm and always answers my call when I have a hard question or a crazy idea. And I always love showing up opposite Mike Ringler at Wilson—that's a smart dude.

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Cooley M&A group co-chair Jamie Leigh represented Uber Technologies Inc. in its joint venture with Yandex, the “Google of Russia” and operator of Yandex.Taxi, to create a ride-hailing business in Russia and the surrounding region in a deal valued at $3.4 billion.

She also provided hostile takeover defense for Medivation Inc. in an unsolicited bid by Sanofi. The company and Leigh ultimately ran a strategic process and reached a deal to be acquired by Pfizer for $14 billion. Leigh recently told The Recorder about her love of joint ventures and keeping it real with clients.

What were your professional highlights of the past year? What made that deal or those deals stand out? I loved our work for Uber in the Yandex joint venture. Every time you do a joint venture, you get to be creative and make a combined business actually run in the real world, not just in theory.

I also love the strategic hiring we are doing here at team Cooley.  Building the bench with community-minded professionals is an honor.

Which clients do you have the longest relationships with? How far back do those relationships go? You know i can't answer that as an M&A lawyer … but I love Qatalyst, Uber, Workday, Amazon, Docusign, New Relic. … You get the drift.

What do you think clients come back to you for—what can they get from you that they don't get from someone else? I'm real. And I work to make people feel comfortable. Clients are people first and foremost—I want them to walk away from a deal or phone call with the experience of an adviser who is real, honest and practical.

I also like to keep a good sense of humor. None of this is so serious that we can't enjoy one another—even if we are across the table on different sides. You will never see me sell fear. I always sell strength and collaboration.

What's more important in the current market and why: Offering bespoke services or being efficient? Knowing the difference between the two and when to use or blend them.

Outside your partners, who is another corporate lawyer you admire and why? Dan Neff at Wachtell has been an incredible mentor to me—he is wise and calm and always answers my call when I have a hard question or a crazy idea. And I always love showing up opposite Mike Ringler at Wilson—that's a smart dude.