Name: Angela Yotov nee Coutinho
Organisation: Close Brothers Group
Role: Group General Counsel
Trained at: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Year qualified: 2004
What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?
Being sent to Paris to deliver a large envelope containing the paperwork to start a high profile corporate bid. The partner who headed the practice jokingly said that if I lost it, I shouldn’t bother coming back. I wasn’t entirely convinced he was kidding… I didn’t let the envelope out of my sight for a moment and even avoided indulging in the business class champagne on the flight in case it side-lined me from my mission!
What is the wisest thing anyone ever said to you (and who said it)?
During a group discussion about imposter syndrome, Kay Scorch, who was leading the session, said “You can’t be an imposter if you are being yourself” – wise words!
Who (for better or worse) has been the most influential person in your career? Why?
We are the sum of our experiences and interactions with the people who cross our paths. There have been a number of people at different stages of my career who have had a significant influence on it.
My husband has been hugely influential in being 100 per cent supportive of me, of my capability and of my potential. I am incredibly fortunate in that he is a true partner in raising our family and he does the majority of the heavy lifting in relation to childcare, which allows me to do my role.
Observing others has been important in framing what good and bad look like and what I aspire to.
Positive influence: Presley Warner, who was my partner at Freshfields when I was a trainee and is now at Sullivan and Cromwell, made a real impact. He no doubt won’t remember this, but it made a real impression on me – he didn’t throw me under a bus when I was a trainee and made a mistake on one of his deals. He took the hit on an all parties conference call with a cast of thousands rather than scape-goating me. When I thanked him, he said that wasn’t necessary as the buck stopped with him. It was a very valuable lesson early on in how to lead.
Negative influence: Someone who headed a team I was in ruled by fear and everyone was terrified of them. It gave me a real insight into the type of leader that I did not want to be.
Talking to others about their experiences has also been influential. My general counsel network has provided me with invaluable sounding boards and my mentoring relationships have been key. Both were instrumental reasons for me co-founding Mentorix with Charlotte Butterfield, a not for profit general counsel mentoring initiative to mentor the GCs of the future.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?
- Observe and learn from those you encounter and talk to counterparts and mentors/more senior colleagues/stakeholders about their leadership style. Work out what you like and whether it resonates with you, your personality and leadership approach. Learn from the good leaders as well as from those who aren’t doing it well.
- Self-reflect on what you enjoy and are good at and find out what being a GC entails in different sizes of company and those at different stages of maturity. Ask yourself – do you want to do that job, would you enjoy it and do you think you would be good at it? If so, carry out a gap analysis and work out what you can do to get you there as well as how to do it.
- Prioritise your people.
- Develop your network.
- Embrace uncertainty, change and not having every answer.
- Learn from your mistakes and never make the same mistakes twice.
What’s your best friend from law school doing now?
She’s a private practice lawyer balancing the challenges of being ambitious and juggling family life.
