S&C Women Leading the Way – Alison Ressler

But it’s not the size or number of Alison’s deals that clients value the most⁠—it’s the quality of her work and her leadership skills. The head of corporate legal for Barclays noted, “Alison runs her deals like a great conductor leading an orchestra.” A client, posting on The Best Lawyers in America website, praised Alison as “a dynamo. She has great technical and transaction management skills, a wealth of experience, [is] highly respected, and [sees] the forest for the trees.”

In addition to her active practice, Alison has sat on Sullivan & Cromwell’s management committee since 2003⁠—the first female and first non-New York partner to become one of the committee’s ten appointees. A partner in the Firm’s Los Angeles office, she also is responsible for the Firm’s practice in California, as well as serving as co-head of the Firm’s Private Equity Group.

While she has tackled responsibilities that would keep any lawyer busy, Alison’s commitment to work/life balance is commendable. Alison and her husband, Richard, have three daughters and a son. Alison also serves on the board of Brown University as vice chancellor and as co-chair of the Dean’s Council of Columbia Law School. S&C partner Tracy Richelle High expresses the esteem in which Alison is held by S&C colleagues and friends: “She finds time for all of it. She doesn’t make work or family take a back seat; she is an extraordinarily talented and respected lawyer as well as a mother. She shows through example that you do not have to choose one over the other. You can be both.”