Yvette Ostolaza (Miami, 1965) is the first woman, and the first Hispanic person, to lead one of the 20 largest law firms in the world. As head of Sidley Austin, a law firm with 160 years of history and 21 offices where the Obama couple worked, he contributed to the firm’s turnover exceeding $3.6 billion. Born to Cuban parents and Spanish grandparents, he says that being bilingual in English and Spanish has been something “very positive” in his career, a value that he has also passed on to his three children.
A specialist in litigation and commercial disputes, Ostolaza has a long list of professional recognitions. The review Forbes included her name among “America’s Top 200 Women Lawyers” and on its “50 Over 50” list, which highlights women who achieve their greatest professional impact after that age. She thanks her clients and colleagues for all the accolades, but when they ask which one she remembers most, she recalls the story of how she found out she was one of CNBC’s 2024 “Changemakers: Women Transforming Business”: “I was on affidavit and, without looking, I passed on the list that someone on my team had given me. Within an hour, my daughter called me to tell me she was with Taylor Swift and Naomi Osaka.
The Sidley manager, who advises many Spanish companies that have their activities and disputes in the United States, traveled to Madrid to participate in the LawAhead Center of the Faculty of Law of the IE, a meeting place of experts from the legal sector where the managing partners of large Spanish firms such as CMS, Cuatrecasas, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Garrigues, Pérez-Llorca, RocaJunyent, Sagardoy collaborate Abogados and Uría Menéndez. directors of Microsoft, Telefónica, Mapfre, Aena and CaixaBank.
Ask. How do you manage to balance running an office and practicing in court?
Answer. Continuing to represent clients is essential if you want to be the leader of a global firm. It’s all about them, so I want to stay close because we work in a customer-oriented industry.
Q. What does it take to be a good leader?
A. The first thing is to work incredibly hard. Nothing replaces hours of work. I tell young people just starting their careers that they need to work even harder than they did in law school to gain experience and become the best in their field. The second tip is to always be curious and think big. It’s not just about responding to what the customer asks; You need to answer what should concern you. Third, it is necessary to learn from older and younger people to know what you are missing or if something similar has already happened. And finally, you need to focus on serving customers, not yourself.
Q. How can a leader balance his personal and professional life?
A. The most important thing is to prioritize. When my children were little, I didn’t want to have regrets, so I had to make the right decisions. For example, if there was something important at school, I always put it on the calendar and blocked the date. On the other hand, during maternity leave, I tried to always stay up to date with my work because otherwise it would have been very difficult later. In retrospect, it would have been a mistake if I hadn’t done it that way.
Q. Is there real equality in law firms or is it still on paper?
A. More and more women are in management positions, but there is still no equal pay, although I think the work is being done in the right direction.
Q. What will the legal industry look like in the next 10 or 15 years?
A. There will be greater consolidation of law firms around the world. Mergers are increasingly common as companies seek to increase their geographic presence, expand their capabilities and achieve economies of scale. Customers increasingly want consistency in the service they receive: they want to be able to turn to one place, one global company. Another industry concern is whether certain types of tasks performed by lawyers can be replaced by artificial intelligence. We have been using IT systems in our work for a long time and the reality is that they will allow us to offer a better service.
Q. How do you see external investors entering the capital of law firms?
A. I know this is happening in Europe. In the US you can’t share benefits with someone who isn’t a lawyer, but I think that will eventually happen, just not at big firms. This has already happened in the medical sector, where regulations have been relaxed to allow more investment in technology and equipment. However, I believe it must be implemented carefully so that lawyers remain independent and continue to offer the best service to their clients.
Q. Will arbitration become a system for resolving commercial and investment disputes?
A. The more transactions and contracts, the greater the demand for arbitrage. It is a forum that both parties can trust.
Q. In Spain, a bill is being developed to transpose a European directive on collective actions with a view to obtaining compensation in the event of massive fraud. The United States has a long tradition in this area with the class actionWould American law be a good model to follow?
A. It is a very developed legislation and it is what protects everyone. Several principles must be respected: quantity, that is to say that there are a sufficient number of people concerned; and typicality, that everyone suffers more or less the same damage. And all are represented by a lawyer and coordinated so that it does not cost very much. There is also multidistrict litigation, which combines two or more cases with a common element and is coordinated before trial by a “highly prestigious” panel of federal judges. This panel chooses who will try the case next.
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