Julie Jones and David Stiepleman on Deals, Leadership, Mentoring and Team Building

Chair Julie Jones and Sixth Street co-president and co-founder David Stiepleman recorded a conversation for Sixth Street’s podcast “It’s Not Magic.”

Julie and David talked about the current legal environment, the importance of team building and steps that young attorneys can take to advance their own careers. As part of the conversation Julie discussed her own career, her path to becoming a private equity deal lawyer and how to build a personal brand as a young attorney.

Julie explained how she views leadership – both as firm chair, and with clients – telling David that, “My job isn't to be a lawyer – it’s to be a problem solver. That's something I've carried through almost every day of my career. As the head of the firm, it's about ‘how do I solve today's problems?’”

Julie also described how, as a summer associate, she thrived on the allure of corporate dealmaking. “I loved the pace of it. I loved the negotiating and counseling,” she said. “It's not like I was counseling in the boardroom or the C-suite when I was a summer, but I could see what partners were doing. It felt like the best combination of skills and flexibility.”

For young attorneys, getting noticed within a large law firm often means demonstrating both a keen interest in a particular area of the law and a willingness to learn everything about it. “Building a brand involves two things: It’s choosing an area of focus that you think you'd be good at, and that there'll be a need for,” Julie said. “Then it involves the elbow grease of dedicating yourself to knowing whatever that area is. There’s nothing like elbow grease to advance a career.”

Listen to the full episode.