Samantha McGonigle – General counsel, Hg
Year of qualification: 2003
Hogan Lovells, 2001-06
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, 2006-19
Farview Equity Partners, 2019-24
Paul Hastings, 2023-24
Hg, 2024-present
What do you most enjoy about working in PE?
Private equity is incredibly diverse and dynamic. Even within a very specialist firm like Hg, which focuses only on software and services businesses, the opportunity to engage with different business models and segments is excitingly broad.
Being a lawyer in the private equity industry also offers the opportunity to apply commercial judgement to complex legal problems and be at the cutting edge of market developments. I love the intellectual challenge and the adrenaline of getting a transaction done, but I also enjoy the opportunity to build relationships within our portfolio companies and support them as they grow their businesses.
Why did you decide to switch from private practice to in-house? And what are the biggest differences?
My career has been non-linear. Having been a partner in private practice before co-founding a growth equity investment firm, I then returned to being a partner in private practice before joining Hg – so I actually made the switch twice! I learnt that I thrive in a business environment which is fast-paced and where I can work closely and collaboratively with the other partners to deliver positive outcomes. Working within Hg not only allows me and my team members to be an integral part of the investment teams in a different way from external advisers, it also affords me the opportunity to be part of strategic decision-making at a firm level
You co-founded your own investment firm…what are the lessons you’ve taken from that to your role as GC at Hg?
Co-founding an investment firm was the single biggest learning curve of my career. I learnt the foundational building blocks of how a business generally, and an investment firm more specifically, operates. I also learnt not to be afraid of things that I hadn’t experienced before, or challenges that I was facing for the first time. I became adept at making judgement calls at pace on the best information available and iterating on decisions as fact patterns changed (particularly through Covid), which taught me to always expect the unexpected. Most importantly, I learnt the power of a good network and that if you invest in helping people and keeping in touch with them, the rewards far outweigh the effort of doing so.
What is the biggest challenge as a PE GC?
The biggest challenge of being the GC of a private equity firm is the pace and scale of change. The last 10 years have seen incredible evolution and growth in the private equity industry – Hg itself has transformed from a UK mid-market PE firm to a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses – and the next ten years have the potential to exceed that. A great GC is at the very heart of helping a private equity firm navigate that evolution and growth – whether in the deployment and return of capital or in assessing firm opportunity and risk.
Would you recommend a career as an in-house PE lawyer? Why?
Yes – for all of the reasons above! In the right firm with a highly collaborative and positive culture like Hg, it can be an incredibly stimulating and rewarding job.
