Karen Patton Seymour was interviewed by Reuters’ Jenna Greene on her career trajectory and how her experience has informed her understanding of what general counsels need from outside legal advice. Karen, who took a three-year break from S&C to serve as General Counsel of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., told Reuters that when she rejoined the Firm in May, she came back with new insight into the pressures that GCs face and how outside counsel can best assist. “I hadn’t appreciated how different (the GC job) would be in a day-to-day way,” she said. “There was a surprise every single day.” She added that she came to appreciate when senior outside counsel would proactively reach out about an issue on their radar that could be relevant to the company—but that it was also important for lawyers to be able to “boil things down and give a quick summary.”
Karen also talked about the importance of diversity, reflecting on her early career: “For a long part of my career, I was always the only woman in the room,” she said. Now that she has returned to S&C, she plans to renew her focus on mentoring young women starting their own professional lives.
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