So I started this post 12 long days ago - 12 long days full of working 15 to 16 hours back to back, in which I lost track of the days, culminating in pulling an all-nighter on the last night before signing, and then hopping on a morning flight back to Hong Kong as the deal was announced and news reports started blaring. This trip to Sydney was the longest continued business trip I have ever taken (I extended my hotel reservation three times) and the painful part was that, as we were trawling through endless drafts and negotiation sessions, we really had no visibility of "the end."
At the beginning of this trip, I was still optimistic and full of energy. When one of the partners of our local firm told me that she had pulled an all-nighter back in the day when she was pregnant with her first baby, I had privately thought, "Dear God, please don't let that happen to me!" and so of course, it had.
I was 27.5 weeks pregnant when I left, I'm back and now 29.5 weeks today. I really don't know where my September has gone!
I took the Sunday night flight down on September 11 and arrived to Sydney's gorgeous blue skies, low to no humidity, and sunshine filled days. Unlike last time, I had an hour between checking into the hotel and then gathering for meetings. I used this time to shower, then immediately headed down Pitt St. in the Central Business District to finally see the Rocks, the Quay and the Sydney Bridge during daylight. It actually wasn't anything that special, but it felt nice to walk around and see and capture some postcard snapshots of this city. I had a feeling I wasn't going to have a chance to do much more than this once the meetings started kicking off, and I was right.
View from my hotel room this time:
Martin Place. I was in Sydney for their gay pride parade and the marathon, neither of which I saw or heard.
The museum of art:
The modern museum of art right next door:
Here I am with 28 week belly, profile of the Sydney opera house in the background!
and then the Sydney bridge
A few more shots along the way before I trudged back to my meetings...
From them on, it was just a non-stop blur of meetings and drafting sessions. An entire team of lawyers basically set up shop in the local counsels' offices, and never left. Every morning emails started pouring in at around 7 or 8 am, and things didn't usually pause until well into the night. There were three sets of counsel on our side, two sets of counsel on the other side, investment banks for each side, and a whole slew of business/commercial and strategic teams from each side. It was incredibly intense, and to further exacerbate matters, my team was tiny - just three people, with a mid-level associate who was only able to help for a portion of the days.
There was no rest on the weekend, either, as we trooped into the offices on Saturday and Sunday at a disgustingly early 7:30 am to rush to review and turn drafts before a 1 pm meeting. I honestly would be hard pressed to tell you exactly what I did, where I went, who I spoke to, or what I ate, on any of those days. In fact, at one point, I started confusing what happened on my last trip to Australia with this one. The whole thing had a bit of a nightmarish monotony to it. While treading through it, it was just a matter of pushing through it all, so I think I was just blocking out all other thoughts as a matter of adrenaline and sheer survival. Now, upon reflection, it all feels pretty ghastly.
It's a huge deal though. It's probably the first time that I had, for certain moments, the command of a room of at least 15 people, including the heads of strategy and investment at some of the largest institutions in the world. I would venture to guess that I was the youngest person in the room, or at least generously outweighed by an average of a decade for the majority of the time. Often I was the only minority. I was one of a handful of women at any time (4 or 5 on the opposite side, the only one on my side) during the negotiation sessions. I was definitely the only one 7 months pregnant!! So those statistics are pretty intimidating, and daunting, and as Michael was pointing out to me, a pretty incredible feat on my part.
Interestingly, all but one of the females on this entire deal was a lawyer, and I have pretty consistently found this to be the case on my deals. I was sitting in on one business planning meeting where I startled to realize that in a room of nearly 14 people I was the only woman and the only minority. I was also one of only two lawyers in that meeting. We still have so far to go.
At the beginning of this trip, I was still optimistic and full of energy. When one of the partners of our local firm told me that she had pulled an all-nighter back in the day when she was pregnant with her first baby, I had privately thought, "Dear God, please don't let that happen to me!" and so of course, it had.
I was 27.5 weeks pregnant when I left, I'm back and now 29.5 weeks today. I really don't know where my September has gone!
I took the Sunday night flight down on September 11 and arrived to Sydney's gorgeous blue skies, low to no humidity, and sunshine filled days. Unlike last time, I had an hour between checking into the hotel and then gathering for meetings. I used this time to shower, then immediately headed down Pitt St. in the Central Business District to finally see the Rocks, the Quay and the Sydney Bridge during daylight. It actually wasn't anything that special, but it felt nice to walk around and see and capture some postcard snapshots of this city. I had a feeling I wasn't going to have a chance to do much more than this once the meetings started kicking off, and I was right.
View from my hotel room this time:
There was no rest on the weekend, either, as we trooped into the offices on Saturday and Sunday at a disgustingly early 7:30 am to rush to review and turn drafts before a 1 pm meeting. I honestly would be hard pressed to tell you exactly what I did, where I went, who I spoke to, or what I ate, on any of those days. In fact, at one point, I started confusing what happened on my last trip to Australia with this one. The whole thing had a bit of a nightmarish monotony to it. While treading through it, it was just a matter of pushing through it all, so I think I was just blocking out all other thoughts as a matter of adrenaline and sheer survival. Now, upon reflection, it all feels pretty ghastly.
It's a huge deal though. It's probably the first time that I had, for certain moments, the command of a room of at least 15 people, including the heads of strategy and investment at some of the largest institutions in the world. I would venture to guess that I was the youngest person in the room, or at least generously outweighed by an average of a decade for the majority of the time. Often I was the only minority. I was one of a handful of women at any time (4 or 5 on the opposite side, the only one on my side) during the negotiation sessions. I was definitely the only one 7 months pregnant!! So those statistics are pretty intimidating, and daunting, and as Michael was pointing out to me, a pretty incredible feat on my part.
Interestingly, all but one of the females on this entire deal was a lawyer, and I have pretty consistently found this to be the case on my deals. I was sitting in on one business planning meeting where I startled to realize that in a room of nearly 14 people I was the only woman and the only minority. I was also one of only two lawyers in that meeting. We still have so far to go.
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