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alyson.allen@ropesgray.com

I am a partner, practicing in the Debt Finance Group of the Corporate Department and in the Bankruptcy and Business Restructuring Department. I started at Ropes & Gray as a summer associate in 1987, and returned to the firm in 1989 after clerking for a year. I interviewed at Ropes & Gray in the spring of 1987 rather than during the fall hiring season because I had just returned from serving in the Peace Corps. I had gone to Botswana, Africa after two years of law school and, now back, was looking for a summer job before completing my 3L year. I had heard of Ropes & Gray, of course, and thought they might not view the Peace Corps as the ideal preparation for working in a big corporate law firm. I was pleasantly surprised.

Through my years at the firm, which have included taking a year’s “sabbatical” to study theology at Berkeley when I was a fourth year associate, I have always felt judged solely by my intellect and my ability to interact effectively with clients, colleagues and adversaries. I have felt free to be creative with my practice, and confident that if I wanted to try something new, I would be able to do so and would have many experts around to advise me.

When I started at Ropes & Gray, I practiced in the bankruptcy area, working on large corporate restructurings. I worked not only on bankruptcy pleadings, plans and disclosure statements, but also on the straight corporate documentation for the debtors’ post–bankruptcy life. As a mid–level associate I remember encountering, and negotiating with, a different partner from the large New York firm that served as debtors’ counsel for each document I drafted — one for the indenture, another for the warrant agreement, another for the shareholders’ agreement, another for the credit agreement. I also remembered that many of the partners at that other law firm didn’t even know one another, or anything about the transaction but their own narrow area. I was glad to be part of a different model.

When I was a senior associate, I started doing debt finance work. Again I benefited from the willingness of the partners I worked with to have me try different things and to teach me. I now concentrate my practice on debt work, and head the Mezzanine Subgroup of the Debt Finance Group.

I am also a member of the Women’s Forum, and organize the Women’s Forum Book and Movie Discussion Group. Both men and women participate in our monthly meetings, which we audio/video link among our various offices. We have participants in Boston, New York and San Francisco — so far.

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