Introducing Anne
Anne is a multi-lingual, New York qualified, senior international finance lawyer with more than 15 years of experience earned at leading law firms and institutions in New York, London and Moscow. Her extensive expertise includes international and comparative law; project finance; banking and lending; payments and fintech and she has a passion for human rights and how law can improve economic growth and development.
Can you describe your experience of working through Obelisk?
The team at Obelisk are very professional and the opportunities excellent – I was very pleased to get the experience with the British Business Bank.
What makes your expertise unique?
My expertise is unique in that I’ve always focused on finance with a human rights/economic development focus. I have been looking for opportunities that bring these aspects together which made the British Business Bank experience all the more meaningful.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of flexible working as a lawyer?
The opportunity to step in and get to know another organisation that you wouldn’t necessarily have the chance to do from within a long-term full-time role.
What’s the most challenging?
Getting up to speed quickly in a new role! The pressure you put on yourself to learn a new place and culture fast so that you’re adding the value you want to add.
What are your proudest professional and personal achievements so far?
I have had some great experiences including an early role with the US Embassy (USAID) in the 1990s working to reconstruct the economy of the former Soviet Union and establish the Russian capital markets in addition to which I later spent four years with the UNICTR prosecuting the Rwandan genocide.
For my proudest I would probably select my charity, Lex:lead, which works with the world’s least developed countries on how law can improve economic growth and development. This is how I came to Obelisk in the first place as its charitable arm runs the Next 100 Years Inspirational Women in Law awards that I won in 2020 (in the in-house counsel category) for my work with Lex:lead.
How do you find the right work/life balance?
I’m pretty passionate about everything I do – work hard and keep up your interests in other things!
What are your words of advice to other legal consultants?
Get to know the people where you work – it’s important to focus on delivering top-level results, but equally important to know how the team works and who the people are that you’re with.
How do you start and end your day?
With a good book! I am currently reading Reed Brody’s To Catch a Dictator – my UN boss got me in to the trial of exiled Chadian leader Hissene Habre in Senegal a few years ago so many of the scenes and scenarios are very vivid to me.
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
Empathy – many other people’s stories have inspired me and given me new goals along the way; to have an even deeper understanding of others’ stories is very enriching.
