Pitch Best Young M&A Lawyer 2021: Elise Boehmer, Simmons & Simmons
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Company: Simmons & Simmons
Job Description: Associate Corporate M&A
Age: 27
What are the specialties of this talent?
We would like to nominate our colleague Elise Boehmer, associate with Simmons & Simmons for the Young M&A Talent of the year 2021. Elise is truly one of the most talented, no-nonsense and pleasant corporate M&A lawyers to work with. Elise does not only look at the legal aspects of corporate law in a transaction. She immerses herself in all workstreams including employment law, the tax as well as the financial aspects of a transaction. She analyses developments in the sector and the organisational structure andculture. This holistic approach enables her to create a clear picture for the client of all risks and opportunities. Bas Glas, Partner of Gilde Equity Management about Elise: “Elise is sharp, knowledgeable, comes quickly to the point, keeps oversight, is attentive to our way of working while not afraid to challenge, already has a keen eye for sensitivities in process situations without losing focus on the heart of the matter. ”Elise is curious, has a massive drive to be the best, but is modest whilst putting the best result for the client first. In a relatively short period of time she has become a great asset in our Corporate M&A team. Elise is knowledgeable, highly focused, well-organized, likes to manage, actively thinks along and is not afraid to challenge whoever in the team. She is very approachable and easy to get along with for everybody and always collaborative. Impediments are not a showstopper for Elise, but a challenge she takes on to find an alternative solution.
How does the talent distinguish itself from its peers?
Elise always goes for the best result. She is intrinsically motivated to get the most out of herself and her team. She owes this attitude to her golfing top sport experience in the past. She was a member of the Dutch youth selection and reached the top of both the national and European levels. This experience has taught her to be very disciplined, goal-oriented and to always strive for the best quality. This is now reflected in her way of working as a corporate M&A lawyer. She is used to working individually but also in a team at the top, knows the pitfalls and has learned to go for success, but also knows how to deal with setbacks.
What impact does the talent have within the organization?
Elise leads, bonds and acts as an example for our junior lawyers, and not just in Amsterdam but also on an international level. An example of the latter is that she is Chair of the international Private Equity associates group at Simmons & Simmons, where our associates share best practice, discuss legal and sector know how, develop cross-border collaboration and initiate business development activities. She has a keen interest in people and business operation models, one of the reasons she recently joinedour works council as deputy chair. Furthermore, she is responsible for the recruitment of all internships and junior associates in the corporate M&A team. With her genuine interest
in people, she not only pays attention to the recruitment of new employees, but also keeps in regular contact in the period thereafter to see if they have settled in well. Evidence that she also finds team spirit highly important, and shows her management skills.
What impact does the talent have outside the organization?
Elise is a young ambassador of the firm and for the Corporate M&A team with a specific focus on private equity. Since recent she is actively involved in the Young M&A Community. She has developed and set up a Private Equity Legal Academy for one of our clients. The target group for this academy are starters and mid-associates. The objective of the academy is to educate them the legal aspects of a transaction in the private equity sector. Topics range from legal strategies to shareholders agreements and corporate compliance. In the last three years she was already involved in 31 deals including transactions for Visma, Gilde, Biscuit International and Bridgestone.
To what extent does the talent make the difference to clients?
We have questioned some clients why Elise stands out from the crowd. Hervé Breffort from Biscuit International stated the following: “In my capacity as Group CFO of a private equity backed company with a strong M&A and Operations agenda in the Netherlands, I have had the opportunity (pleasure) of working with Elise on frequent and various occasions in the past three years, which allowed me to observe her legal (and soft) skills in areas as diverse as M&A, corporate law, labour law, litigation law, etc. Throughout that time, I have found that she was always courteous and cooperative, and that when trusted with a task there is no second guessing it will be analyzed in time, thoroughly and delivered with clear and actionable answers. I have always found her tobe a very efficient first point of contact and a thorough analyst of the topics at stake. She has a very positive attitude, reacts quickly and has developed an effective and efficient symbiotic relationship with Simmons & Simmons Partner Leo Verhoeff which ensures she can anticipate his questions, reactions, decisions and offer quick actionable advice and save precious time in time-constrained deals. Her answers and analysis are always straight to the point and accurate, free from the unnecessary details. She clearly stands out amongst her peer legal associates I am encountering every year. This statement proves that Elise is a pragmatic lawyer, who does not lose herself in the wonders of academic and legal discussions but aims to get the best result for her client. The objective of the client is her objective as well. She will challenge her clients on sensitive and difficult topics to be very well prepared for strategic negotiations and deal execution. She can easily adapt her communication and management style to different personalities and types of businesses.
Why does the talent deserve this nomination?
Elise is a great colleague and a highly skilled corporate M&A practitioner, and that is not only considered so by the Simmons & Simmons team, but also by our clients. As a personality she is much appreciated by many. Her PA, junior and medior associates and partners who she is working with, marketing colleagues or whomever you will question they will all praise Elise on her no-nonsense attitude, collaborative mindset, modesty and go-for-gold mentality. Besides these soft skills her managerial and legal competencies are very well developed and are very promising for the future.
