For Emma de Carle, becoming involved in the dynamic and changing private equity sector at the beginning of its recent cycle of activity, has helped give her an edge in this evolving area of law.
Emma, a new Freehills partner with a focus on private equity transactions and leveraged finance, started with Freehills as a graduate. After a standard rotation, she spent a year in the Funds Management team (now part of the Corporate group) before joining the Banking team where her focus on private equity and leveraged finance involves both a bank and private equity house perspective.
‘Having decided fairly early on in the Australian cycle of private equity that it was an area I was interested in, it’s been really satisfying that over the past five years I have had some involvement in a lot of deals and have had the opportunity to get a good understanding of the market in that area,’ says Emma.
Apart from the liveliness of the private area space, it is also the diversity of the sector that has held Emma’s interest and enthusiasm over the past years. With exposure to a broad range of clients operating in many different areas, Emma’s work has seen her involved on deals with private equity clients from a number of industries such as retail and manufacturing.
‘It’s interesting to learn about the different parts of business areas and how people put together their business strategies,’ Emma says.
A six month secondment in 2004 working at UBS as in-house leverage finance counsel also provided Emma with an interesting and important experience, giving her the opportunity to see how the business operated internally. As a part of her role involved briefing other external law firms, this gave Emma an invaluable insight into how other law firms delivered services and what worked well for the client. With her experience to date—including her stint at UBS—Emma believes there are a number of attributes that make a good commercial lawyer.
‘Strong technical skills are a given. What is important is an understanding of where our clients want to end up and understanding the types of transactions that they’re involved in, so that we can give them commercial advice and they can act quickly.
‘There is a risk in transactions, particularly acquisitions, of getting bogged down and presenting to the client a whole pile of potential problems and risks. I think part of our job is distilling down which of those myriad of risks and problems are the ones they really should be thinking about before embarking on a major transaction. They understand that any transaction is going to have risks inherent in it, but we need to help them focus on what the important legal risks are from their perspective,’ Emma explains.
Joining the Freehills partnership is a great achievement for Emma, and one that has given her a ‘feeling of great personal satisfaction’. And it is not only the type of work Emma is involved in, but also the people she works with and the quality of work that they produce that has contributed to her many years spent with the firm.
‘Freehills has changed quite a lot but there’s also much that fundamentally stays the same which I have really enjoyed, such as striving for excellence in the service that we provide to clients. This is both from a legal expertise perspective but also in helping clients get the commercial outcomes they want from transactions.
‘I also really enjoy working with my team and I have established strong and happy relationships at Freehills, and that’s one of the main reasons I’ve continued to enjoy working here—the team is a supportive and encouraging environment,’ says Emma.
As a partner, Emma points out that her role now is to continue to do ‘more of the same’, while taking the opportunity to build a team and work on deepening her market and client focus and understanding.
‘I think that is the way that I can become a better partner and a better lawyer for our clients, and that’s what I am aiming to do,’ she says.
When not focusing on private equity transactions, reading up on her markets of interest and honing her knowledge of the commercial drivers behind the big transactions, Emma relaxes with her friends and family and also enjoys getting in some time in the kitchen for a bit of cooking.
Emma's professional biography is available by clicking here.
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