From an early age, I always wanted to be a lawyer – I loved the advocacy – and still do. Initially, I imagined I would be in congress or the senate, likely based in Washington, D.C. because I’m passionate about politics and law.

I grew up in Buffalo, New York, close to the Canadian border with Toronto as my big city, and I enjoyed all it had to offer culturally and otherwise.

My father was convinced that women would not get jobs outside teaching or nursing and insisted I did an undergraduate in one of those, but I was determined to go to law school and believed I could succeed.

Even as an undergraduate in Buffalo, I was chief justice of the college judicial system, so it was a natural choice to go to law school in Miami.

Times were very different; I was one of only 10 women in a class of 370 students in my year. In the 1970s, it was challenging for a woman to get into law school.

On graduating, I was recruited for my dream job in the honors program at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C..

I loved practicing law at the DOJ and being an advocate in the courtroom, first as a trial lawyer in the Frauds Section of the Civil Division at the US DOJ and then (as a fifth-year lawyer) becoming assistant director of commercial litigation in the Civil Division.

During my time at the DOJ, I served as Chair of the Federal Bar Young Lawyers and represented Federal and Military lawyers at the ABA Young Lawyers Division.

I also met a few lawyers from White & Case (teaching in the NITA programs and through the Bar) and was really impressed by their professionalism and talent so, when I was choosing a law firm for the next stage of my career, it seemed the perfect choice.

I joined White & Case in 1980 when Washington, D.C. was still a very small office with only nine lawyers. I was the 10th.

As someone who was interested in doing international work, my timing could not have been better.

Iran had just experienced a revolution in 1979 and the office was representing numerous U.S. claimants who had lost assets during the regime change (before the accords creating the Iran/U.S. Claims Tribunal were signed) and the U.S. claimants were attaching everything in Washington, D.C. from Iranian art on loan to the National Gallery to foreign military sales funds held in the Treasury.

My experience in the DOJ meant I was ideal for this type of work, and the team was very busy and delighted to welcome some ‘new blood’.

In those early years, there was not such a clear distinction between litigation and arbitration, and there were very few arbitration cases, so I just helped wherever I was needed.

I volunteered for any international cases I could find. It was during those years that I went to the Management Committee and made the suggestion that we set up an International Trade Group, because it was a dimension of international practice we were not involved in despite representing many sovereigns in debt restructuring and in financial matters. I could see the many disputes and related arbitrations we could be doing.

“The case that really shaped my career was the Amco Asia vs Indonesia arbitration in 1982.”

Ultimately, the Management Committee agreed, and I was the first head of the International Trade Group working with the governments of Turkey, Indonesia, and others, that our partners doing the financial work could introduce me to. Some seven years later, when I became President of The D.C. Bar in 1996, Walter Spak took over the group.

The case that really shaped my career was the Amco Asia vs Indonesia arbitration in 1982.

I began working on it with Charles Brower and David Branson during its first phase and was responsible for the damages case.

We represented Indonesia in the case, largely due to Jim Hurlock and his team’s great work on debt restructuring in the region.

The award was rendered in November 1984. It was not everything we’d hoped it would be and imposed damages on Indonesia for the revocation of claimants’ foreign investment license, but the tribunal failed to apply Indonesian foreign investment law, so I urged the Government of Indonesia to apply for annulment.

Even though I was relatively young, after Charles Brower left to sit as a judge on the Iran U.S. Claims Tribunal, Jim asked me to lead the work and I accepted.

It was only the second annulment proceeding at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Jim told me I would be supported in Jakarta by a smart young lawyer from Canada called Hugh Verrier.

We won the first annulment in May 1986 and even a second in 1992.

That victory was a landmark victory for the Firm. It was one of the earliest annulment decisions and, since then, I have been primarily working on international arbitration, with highlights including many significant international arbitrations for the Philippines, Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation (including the initial set-aside of the HVY (Yukos) vs Russian Federation Award for $50 billion) and some significant claimants cases for PSEG, Task Force Argentina (Italian bondholders against Argentina, settled for $1.3 billion), and OTMTI.

I’ve also worked on some significant trade cases for Turkey, Uzbekistan (uranium), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (crude oil) and Russia (uranium).

I am currently working with fabulous teams across our network of offices handling cutting edge issues in international arbitrations for the Russian Federation (on the Yukos set-aside/enforcement), Uzbekistan, contractors and shareholders on the Panama Canal Expansion Project and Saudi Aramco (on the IPO and various issues ), as well as leading our teams in a number of international disputes in the U.S. Courts and chairing our International Arbitration/Americas Group.

“To represent a country well you need to understand not just the legal aspects, but also the culture, people, politics and values, because all those things shape the decisions that will be made.”

I have always been interested in international/cross border work and travel, different cultures, different religions, and different communities.

To represent a country well you need to understand not just the legal aspects, but also the culture, people, politics and values, because all those things shape the decisions that will be made.

Of course, the Firm is a very different place from when I joined. When I became partner in 1984, there were only 250 lawyers and 62 partners.

Even more remarkably, there were only three women partners at the Firm, but 1984 was a landmark year because the Management Committee decided to make four women partners out of a class of seven, which more than doubled the number of women partners and was a big step forward.

I now teach a course on International Investment Arbitration and chair the LLM Program in International Arbitration at the University of Miami School of Law and – as in most law schools in the United States today – well over half the students are women.

There has been so much progress, but there is still a long way to go. When I had the privilege to serve as President of the ABA, I made several efforts to move us forward on those issues.

I would definitely recommend this career to my 16-year-old self. I have been to so many fascinating places, from Jakarta in the early days to mining complexes in the most remote areas of Uzbekistan and Russia. I find a great beauty in these places, the people and their lives, the cutting edge legal issues I have been privileged to argue are ever challenging, and the people I meet fascinating.

I remember representing Russia in the uranium dispute in the 1980s. I was sitting outside the office of the Minister of Atomic Energy in Moscow, looking up at all the portraits of previous ministers wondering how on earth I ended up here. That incredible variety has kept me fascinated over the years, as has the consistently great people I have been lucky enough to work with.

I love the travel, but at times it has been hard to balance it with family life. My husband Peter was an anti-trust partner at Milbank and then Morgan Lewis before he retired to teaching and pro bono work, and we have two sons, Alex and Daniel.

We spent a lot of time and effort as they were growing up to make sure that, if either of us needed to be away for work, one of us was at home with the boys.

Looking back, if there are any days I would love to live again, it would be the obvious ones like my wedding day and the arrival of my two sons and many points when they were growing up – just to savor those amazing moments.

However, in general, I have learned to stop looking in the rear view mirror.

Duane Wall gave me a brilliant piece of advice during my early career when I first missed out on winning a pitch that I felt we should have won.

He took me to one side and said ‘Carolyn, you cannot always win BUT it is how you pick yourself up, go forward and pitch for the next one that counts’ and I did, winning many others in the future.

If I could speak to anyone for one last time, it would be one of my great mentors, Justice Florentino (Toy) Feliciano who was chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on the Amco Asia Annulment Committee during the ADF vs U.S. Tribunal (NAFTA). He was also managing partner of SyCip, Salazar, Hernandez & Gatmaitan, one of the largest firms in Manilla.

He was a fabulous, kind person, an elegant thinker, and we often met or spoke to each other over the phone.

It was during one of those calls that he mentioned he was soon going for a big operation to have a heart valve replaced.

“If I were to give advice to my younger self about succeeding at the Firm, I would say that White & Case is all about excellence and, if you focus on being excellent in everything you do, the opportunities are limitless.”

Of course, I told him he would be fine and I was positive about it, but what I did not appreciate was that it would be the last time I would talk to him, because he died in surgery.

If I could have that time again, I would tell him how much I valued his friendship and all he had done for me. It never even crossed my mind that he was calling to say goodbye.

If I were to give advice to my younger self about succeeding at the Firm, I would say that White & Case is all about excellence and, if you focus on being excellent in everything you do, the opportunities are limitless.

I would also tell the younger Carolyn not to be afraid to ask questions and I would highlight the importance of nurturing relationships, both externally and with colleagues.

One of our best strengths as a firm is our people and I would tell her to respect everyone, because we all bring something different to the table, and the success of our practice requires a significant team effort, with many diverse talents working together for the success of our clients.