Posted on

‘Co-founding an investment firm was the biggest learning curve of my career’ – Hg GC Samantha McGonigle

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.

Go to the Private Equity Elite contents.

Posted on

Slaughter and May matches magic circle peers with NQ pay hike to £150k

Slaughter and May office

Slaughter and May has raised pay for newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers to £150,000, bringing the firm to parity with its Magic Circle peers.

The firm was slated to review its pay rates in November, but has brought the review forward, with the new rate effective from 1 September.

The increase means that Slaughters no longer trails Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells, which both announced raises to £135,000 for their NQs in June. Continue reading “Slaughter and May matches magic circle peers with NQ pay hike to £150k”

Posted on

On sure footing – offshore leaders see reasons for optimism

In the offshore world as elsewhere, tough economic conditions made 2022-23 a rough year. ‘With uncertainty in the global markets, high inflation, and high interest rates, there was a lack of certainty in some corporate areas where companies didn’t necessarily want to deploy their capital,’ says Bedell Cristin group managing partner Tim Pearce.

Appleby group managing partner Malcolm Moller echoes this: ‘The challenges posed by rising inflation, turbulent financial markets, and supply chain disruptions in 2023 highlighted the importance of resilience, flexibility, and proactive planning in navigating the complexities of the global business environment.’ Continue reading “On sure footing – offshore leaders see reasons for optimism”

Posted on

Life During Law: Freshfields’ London head Mark Sansom

I nearly drowned in a river in Wales when I was four. It had been raining a lot and the boulder my brother and I were standing on beside the river toppled into the water. I fell into the river and was held under by a waterfall. My mother, father and a passerby all dived in and managed to find me and bring me to the surface. I learnt to swim right after that and now I still swim several times a week and it’s an important part of my fitness. Continue reading “Life During Law: Freshfields’ London head Mark Sansom”

Posted on

Financial results 2023-24: early figures point to rosier picture for LB100 leaders

With results continuing to stream in, the initial picture is that the UK’s largest law firms are shrugging off the economic challenges of recent years.

Financial results season is once again in full swing, and the UK’s largest law firms have plenty of reasons to be cheerful, with healthy returns across the board. Continue reading “Financial results 2023-24: early figures point to rosier picture for LB100 leaders”

Posted on

Private equity, public competition – how US firms reshaped the UK PE hierarchy

data variation

Fifteen years of Legal 500 data offers big-picture view of Stateside elite’s relentless advance into London private equity arena

Of all the London legal markets to have been upended by competition from across the pond, private equity offers perhaps the strongest evidence of how US firms have made their mark in the City. Continue reading “Private equity, public competition – how US firms reshaped the UK PE hierarchy”

Posted on

Elite: The rise of the in-house lawyer in private capital

‘The industry has changed massively. When we started, we were working with single product mid-cap PE shops, and these have now developed into mega solo funds, handling tens of billions of dollars. We’re now working with listed clients and multi-product funds that not only have a PE business, but a credit and an infrastructure business,’ says Kirkland & Ellis London private equity partner David Higgins, on the huge changes in the private capital market.

As single strategy private equity funds have morphed into huge multi-asset private capital firms and alternative asset managers over the last 10-15 years, the role of the lawyers working with them has also changed beyond recognition. Continue reading “Elite: The rise of the in-house lawyer in private capital”

Posted on

‘I’ve called firms and asked why someone isn’t a partner yet’ – the female GCs shaking up PE

‘No-one should be under any illusion that the hours are fewer, or the work less demanding. You don’t have the luxury of working on just one thing; you’re juggling multiple deals, multiple fund formations and perhaps litigation,’ says Carlyle partner, chief risk officer, head of EMEA and global general counsel (GC) for Investments Heather Mitchell of the reality of succeeding in the notoriously tough, deal-driven world of private capital.

If anyone should know about juggling, it’s Mitchell, who currently holds not just one role at the $425bn AUM organisation but three – splitting her time between global GC and chief risk officer for the investment business, as well as overall head of Carlyle EMEA. Continue reading “‘I’ve called firms and asked why someone isn’t a partner yet’ – the female GCs shaking up PE”

Posted on

The Private Equity Elite: the top general counsel in PE

What does it take to run the legal team in one of the most profitable deal shops in the world? After months of discussions with private equity and leveraged finance partners at the leading law firms in London as well as a host of in-house lawyers, Legal Business has come up with the definitive list of the top London-based private equity GCs, with 24 making the grade.

Continue reading “The Private Equity Elite: the top general counsel in PE”

Posted on

Rising to the challenge – tough market rewards for firms with clearest focus

‘Challenging market conditions’ – a quick search of the LB news archives finds that phrase, or some variation of it, coming up time and time again over the years.

But while the legal industry has faced many challenges since the turn of the century, from the global financial crisis to Brexit, Covid and beyond, the good times have, in the main, outweighed the bad, with resourceful firms turning adversity into opportunity. Continue reading “Rising to the challenge – tough market rewards for firms with clearest focus”

Posted on

High achievers – private equity is changing; meet the elite GCs at the vanguard of the transformation

From dating apps to entertainment venues, airports to music collections, there’s almost no industry left untouched by the multitrillion-dollar private equity market.

And, with these secretive organisations continuing to diversify their business into new asset classes such as infrastructure and credit, it’s an industry that is not only still changing but also still growing. Continue reading “High achievers – private equity is changing; meet the elite GCs at the vanguard of the transformation”

Posted on

‘A PE firm is one of the most interesting places for an in-house lawyer’ – Cinven GC Babett Carrier

Babett Carrier – General counsel, Cinven

Shearman & Sterling, 1996-2012
Arma Partners, 2013-14
Cinven, 2015-present

I come from a family of lawyers. My father was a lawyer, my uncle was a judge, so there was maybe some bias. What I like about the law is that it is very analytical and it rewards logic. You are trained to analyse any issues in a systematic way. Continue reading “‘A PE firm is one of the most interesting places for an in-house lawyer’ – Cinven GC Babett Carrier”

Posted on

‘Private capital is a super creative industry’ – KKR Europe GC Susanna Berger

Susanna Berger – Managing director, general counsel for Europe, KKR & Co

Year of qualification: 2002
University of Chicago Law School, 1997-98
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, 2000-06
Avenue Capital Management, 2006-08
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, 2008
KKR & Co, 2009-present

I joined KKR 15 years ago. At that point the team consisted of about 40 people focused purely on private equity. Fast forward and there’s been a huge shift – today we are an alternative asset manager; we cover multiple asset classes including infrastructure, real estate and credit. Continue reading “‘Private capital is a super creative industry’ – KKR Europe GC Susanna Berger”