There are many inspirational and influential women in the legal industry these days and we recently had a chance to meet with and interview Gudrun Stangl Lutz, partner & COO of Schoenherr. We met in a local café in Vienna, Café Korb, which is right across from the Schoenherr offices, just off from Stephanplatz.
Can you please tell our readers a little bit about your background?
I have been with Schoenherr my entire professional career. My role at the firm has grown and changed over the years. From associate to attorney, to partner and managing partner of one of the firm’s international offices, and on to my present role as Schoenherr’s Chief Operating Officer. Besides steering the group’s day-to-day business support operations, I continue my practice as an M&A transactional lawyer. Starting with an undergraduate law degree from the law school at the University of Graz, I went on to attain a LL.M. degree at the University of Chicago law school, and I am currently working on a MBA degree here in Vienna.
Why did you choose this particular legal path?
I always wanted to be a lawyer – it gives you a solid basis to address a wide range of interesting professional challenges; also, I wanted the option to work in an international arena. Schoenherr, one of the leading corporate law firms in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe, offers that arena. Our clients belong to the most prominent corporates active in Austria and CEE and the matters and deals we advise on are interesting, varied, challenging and often very high profile.
Knowing what you know now, would you make any changes to your career path if you could?
No, I wouldn’t change anything. My career hasn’t entirely taken the exact path that I may have sketched out for it, although that divergence has happened in the best possible way. Everything has progressed perfectly from when I started to where I am now. After attaining my degree, passing the bar exam and reaching this stage of my career, I think it’s good to always think in advance in terms of what you want to do and where you want to go. One piece of advice would be not to do your LL.M. too early in your career. Why? Your LL.M. is only worth the money when you know where you want to go, what you want to do and most importantly, where you want to end up. If you pursue a LL.M. immediately after getting your law degree, you will not have enough experience or a sufficiently deep concept of which field you want to be in, let alone where you want to end up in terms of your career going forward.
Another tip for younger colleagues: identify your strengths and interests and work hard on developing your skills in those areas. But also be clear about those areas that you might not be as strong in and make a special effort to improve yourself in them. Be willing to try new things and keep your mind and your ears open to learn from the expertise, knowledge and lawyering skills that the more-experienced lawyers on your team have.
You are a Partner at Schoenherr and the firm’s COO. What does this role entail for you and what kind of challenges does it pose?
Every interesting position is associated with challenges. Speaking about my new role as the firm’s first-ever chief operating officer, I see two main challenges 1) being responsible for five business units, which have a broad range of needs and expectations and 2) steering and coordinating business support services for our lawyers. Ensuring that these services are better integrated makes for an improved working atmosphere within the firm. I am looking to bring all of them up to the same high level, as one cannot function without the other. Another challenge is staying ahead of peers and the market. We are always looking at more innovative ways to do so. Regarding the market, we are addressing how to produce and sell legal advice and at the same time meeting client’s constantly developing business challenges. On the HR angle, it is imperative for us to continue to be attractive for new talent, as well as to be able to retain those gifted lawyers. One thing is for sure though: the most convincing manner to achieve this is to continue to be a profitable firm.
You’ve recently built up a great training system for associates and attorneys. Tell us more about this.
The Schoenherr Academy has been in place for quite a number of years. What is new is that we modified the Academy’s content schedule to better meet our client’s, the firm’s and our lawyers’ needs in this constantly changing market environment. Being an exceptional lawyer demands not only an excellent knowledge of the law, but also a cocktail of different skills and competences that should be developed as early as possible in a lawyer’s career. The Schoenherr Academy consists of three pillars, which are (a) the starter kit (on “boarding” the firm), (b) the training weekend, and (c) practice group-specific trainings. Each training is designed to equip Schoenherr lawyers with a wide range of skills, such as negotiation techniques, practical psychology, communication skills, economic expertise, business insights, and creative thinking, to name just a few. The Academy is proud to have an increased level of equity partner participation alongside with specialized external trainers on particular subjects. At this year’s training weekend in Vienna, we will host around 100-110 lawyers. It will be great fun.
What were your first few months like? Looking back, what would you recommend as crucial first steps when in a new company?
As an associate? It was challenging, indeed. Everything is new and incredibly fast moving. My advice is to look to your team’s more-experienced lawyers as a great source of experience and insights about the law and lawyering. Also, I would say crucial points when starting in a new environment are, make sure you get yourself acquainted with the structures, get your face out there, and get in contact with as many people as you can. Make yourself known, be outgoing, approachable, let them know your background, help others to help you and, lastly, have a sociable perspective. Be open, have an interest in getting to know more about different cultures, languages, religions, worldviews, etc. Diversity is a key aspect, especially at Schoenherr.
In a more general sense, what do you think can be done to make the law profession less of a “boys’ club” and encourage more women to take up the legal cause?
I think this is being done by step-by-step. It’s true that female equity partners are still scarce. But this is not a phenomenon restricted to a particular firm or country. On the other hand, the overwhelming male-to-female ratio at the equity partner level by no means indicates that the practice of law is more of a male-dominated industry than any other. At Schoenherr, the female-to-male lawyers ratio is about 60/40. If our firm had a male-dominated attitude, I do not think I would have committed almost 14 years of my professional career within the firm. At Schoenherr, decisions have always been taken on a factual base.
Finally, if you could go back 15 years to when you were still in university and give yourself a bit of advice, what would you tell yourself?
I made all the right choices from day one and I’ve done really well. I would tell anybody they should go abroad as an undergraduate as often as possible, learn languages, take on internships during the summer months that are legal-specific in order to gain as much training and expertise as you can even before graduating. Most importantly, whilst doing all of this, make sure to have a lot of fun doing so too.
The Lutz File
Title: Partner and COO, Schoenherr
City: Vienna
Career track: 14 years at Schoenherr
Practice: M&A
Education: Law degree, University of Graz; LL.M. degree, University of Chicago law school. Currently working on a MBA.
