Female Disruptors: Mollie Duckworth, Sarah Fortt and Jen Smith of Latham & Watkins On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
Sarah: Society still monitors the way women speak, and finds ways to curb women from speaking frankly. Any woman who chooses not to define herself according to the limited roles that society finds acceptable for women won’t make everyone happy, and that in itself is disruptive. We face an expectation to follow an unspoken rule of prioritizing others’ comfort and happiness rather than our own fulfillment. Men seen as “disruptive” enjoy a broader range of accepted behavior; conversely, women have a very narrow path, if the path exists at all, to balance disruption with societal expectations.
As part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mollie Duckworth, Sarah Fortt, and Jen Smith, Latham & Watkins LLP.
Mollie Duckworth, Local Chair of Latham’s Austin Corporate Department, regularly advises both public and private companies in connection with M&A transactions, and represents issuers and investment banks in public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities. She also advises corporations and master limited partnerships (MLPs) with respect to complex transactional matters, including compliance with federal securities laws, corporate governance, and day-to-day corporate counseling. Mollie has been recognized by leading industry publications for her practice work, including Chambers USA, Texas Super Lawyer Rising Stars, Lawdragon, and Law360.
Sarah Fortt, Global Co-Chair of Latham’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Practice, helps clients navigate potential risks and opportunities relating to climate change, human rights, and corporate culture. She advises public and private companies and their boards on ESG-related corporate governance, disclosure obligations, and regulatory requirements. In 2022, Sarah was named American Lawyer’s South Trailblazer and a Black Leader Worth Watching by Profiles in Diversity Journal.
Jen Smith advises private and public companies and private equity funds on a wide range of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and public and private investment deals. An experienced and versatile practitioner, she delivers trusted counsel to boards of directors, management teams, and private equity firms in connection with their key business, legal, and strategic issues over the life of the business. Jen has been recognized as one of the Top Women in Dealmaking by The Deal and as a Texas Trailblazer by Texas Lawyer for her outstanding work on securities matters as well as her pro bono work empowering women domestically and abroad.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Jen: By Austin standards, I’m practically homegrown — I attended the University of Texas at Austin for law school, knowing I wanted to be a deal lawyer. I also had an interest in tech, so Austin appealed to me as a market on the rise. Almost 20 years later, it’s still an exciting market on the rise, now with an even more robust collection of growth industries in addition to tech. Practicing in Austin, I’ve had the privilege to work with my clients on some of their highest strategic priorities, including their global M&A and capital raising transactions, all of which help fuel their hyper growth and the continued evolution of the market.
I came to Latham in 2021 as one of the founding partners of the Austin office because I believed it was the only firm that possessed the sophistication to meet both the current and future needs of the exploding Austin market. Our team knows the local market, focuses on being a partner in this community that we all love, and can provide the level of expertise that our clients need to act as true gamechangers. On top of that, I’m fortunate to be building something new with a group of people I respect, and who share my passion for empowering strong and diverse teams.
Mollie: I originally came to Austin close to thirty years ago for undergrad at UT, planning to become an architect. After switching majors several times in college, I ended up working as a recruiter for an enterprise software company in Austin during the tail end of the dotcom boom in the early 2000s, where my job was primarily focused on convincing future software developers to move to Austin. After the dotcom bubble burst, I decided to go to law school, thrilled to go back to UT. I knew I wanted to pursue a transactional practice and work on the most complex, sophisticated transactions that I could find, and that I wanted to stay in Austin. I heard over and over that I needed to move to a bigger city like Dallas or Houston to have a sophisticated corporate practice, but I just refused to accept that.
Looking back almost twenty years later, I’ve built a practice focused on complex securities offerings, representing public companies day-to-day on their most critical matters, and have led a number of multi-billion dollar M&A transactions. Along the way I have watched Austin become a city where there is a tremendous need for corporate lawyers with this kind of experience. When I had the opportunity to help open a new office for Latham, which has such a strong reputation globally for being at the forefront of innovation in capital markets, M&A, and public company representation, I knew that it was the right time for Austin and for my practice to start a new chapter.
Sarah: I based my decision to live in Texas in equal parts between life and work. Latham is the only firm, in my opinion, that can take an Austin-based practice and elevate it to such global reach. My legal career naturally shifted towards ESG in response to client demands with respect to board oversight, corporate governance and disclosure considerations, but now my ESG practice involves all areas of ESG. I came to Latham because I wanted to build a sophisticated and global ESG practice, while remaining in this incredibly vibrant city.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Jen: Many of our clients disrupt how business models work, so as their legal partners, we play a significant role in those industry transformations. Yet across the hundreds of M&A, private equity, and venture capital deals I’ve participated in during my career, seeing women in lead roles still feels like too much of a rarity. I can count on one hand the number of deals I’ve done where the lead partner on both sides of the table was a woman. The three of us, as part of the Latham Austin leadership team, work every day to continue to disrupt the industry into what should be the norm.
Mollie: I feel the same way — sometimes I feel disruptive just by continuing to show up. Although we’ve made progress in many ways, I still regularly find myself as the only woman in the room — not just that there isn’t equal representation, but that I’m literally the only woman — whether in a board meeting or business dinner or negotiation. This still surprises me even after practicing for close to twenty years. But Jen, Sarah, and I also disrupt by persisting, and by providing examples of partners and leaders who have thrived in the legal industry and are willing to fiercely advocate for other women. My goal is for the generations of lawyers that are coming behind us not to see women in leadership as disruptive at all — and to have more company around the table.
Our work with Latham’s Women Enriching Business (WEB) Committee underscores how seriously we take that responsibility. WEB’s core mission promotes the long-term success of women lawyers and executives — that includes not only lawyers within our firm, but our friends and clients as well. We provide programming, educational opportunities, and networking opportunities, all designed to build strong relationships, to amplify female voices and to provide real world tools to help women succeed in their careers. The really powerful thing about WEB is that it doesn’t revolve solely around recruiting or business development — our objective is to help women rise.
Sarah: From a practice perspective, I don’t think there’s any aspect of what I do that couldn’t be considered disruptive. With respect to my practice area, every day I look at prior events, current trends and developments, and then into my crystal ball using my judgment honed over years and broad expertise to envision what new developments, regulations, innovations, and world events will impact our clients and the ESG landscape.
But similar to what Jen and Mollie have said, having three women corporate partners in a space the size of our Austin office shows a level of innovation, especially in the Texas market. Personally, as a queer Black woman, a partner, and a practice group co-chair in Big Law, I embody disruption. With my presence I seek to be part of the correction of the prior biases, discrimination, and stereotypes that have shaped the legal industry for far too long.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
Mollie: We are all fortunate in that we’ve had so many mentors in different ways throughout our entire careers, whether its guidance from a practice standpoint, or managing work-life balance, or navigating office politics. I am a strong proponent that you need to find champions in your career who have your back and who you know you can count on when things get tough.
One mentor of mine that stands out is a woman who made partner when I was a brand new first-year associate. She set the tone from day one that we had a really strong, determined woman who didn’t take anything for granted, and who would use her voice to stand up for what she believed in. She would call people out when she saw behavior that was unfair or put women at a disadvantage. I naturally try to avoid conflict, which is probably why I didn’t become a litigator [laughs], but I learned so much by watching her fiercely advocate for those she believed in — including on my behalf years later when I was up for partner.
In many ways, I model my leadership style after the example she set, in terms of creating an environment where those that work with you know that you have their back, will speak up when you see injustices, and are willing to fight for them.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Jen: Our clients consistently innovate to disrupt their industries, so as their strategic partners, you might call us “agents of disruption.” [laughs] We work alongside our clients, helping to continue to position Austin as a major player on the world stage in tech and other high-growth industries. But we don’t plan to stop there. As Mollie and I often “joke,” we won’t settle for less than global domination.
Mollie: We definitely share a bold vision! Our Austin office spans capabilities across the business lifecycle, from early stage capital raising, to M&A and capital markets, and all the way to sophisticated corporate governance. Having Sarah, one of our ESG Co-Chairs, here in Austin also differentiates us, and Sarah’s level of expertise and thoughtfulness about these issues flies off the charts. I truly believe that we have a unique group and a unique offering here, and so I see our next step as getting our story out there, and using the experience we own across the board to help navigate our clients through their most critical matters.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Sarah: Society still monitors the way women speak, and finds ways to curb women from speaking frankly. Any woman who chooses not to define herself according to the limited roles that society finds acceptable for women won’t make everyone happy, and that in itself is disruptive. We face an expectation to follow an unspoken rule of prioritizing others’ comfort and happiness rather than our own fulfillment. Men seen as “disruptive” enjoy a broader range of accepted behavior; conversely, women have a very narrow path, if the path exists at all, to balance disruption with societal expectations.
The reality we face as partners, from my perspective, is that to meet our obligation to both effectively disrupt industries and make room for the women following behind us requires us to move certain aspects of the status quo out of our way.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Jen: I remember, even from early childhood, my dad constantly telling me, “When in doubt, bet on yourself.” I reflect on this sentiment all the time, and rely on it to make most of my decisions. But I also think about what I can do to empower my teammates and clients to bet on themselves as well. When we all share confidence in ourselves and each other, we put ourselves in a better position to strengthen our community and boldly move the status quo together.
Mollie: More a turn of phrase than a quote, but I liken our work here in Austin to “know your worth; show your worth.” All three of us joined Latham to connect the global platform and reach of the firm with this market that we’ve been a part of for so long. Our job now is to leverage the incredible value that comes from having a group of partners on the ground — and that didn’t move to Austin because of its growth. We’ve been here, we know the market inside and out, and have completed deals in this space for a long time. That’s a boon to our clients and to our firm. We know we possess a unique value, and now we get to provide that advantage to the businesses we partner with.
Sarah: As Nina Simone said, “You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served.” With all of the barriers women face in the industry, we get so focused on pulling up a seat at the table. Access has been the focus for so long. But we also must learn to recognize when a seat at the table isn’t worth what it would require, or isn’t worth who it would require us to become. That’s essentially one of the reasons I came to Latham — I chose to leave the table I was at and create a new table with incredible women like Mollie and Jen. And at our table, innovative, brilliant and compassionate people will always be welcome.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
