Ronit Berkovich: partner at Weil Gotshal & Manges in New York

What led you to focus on cross-border restructuring and insolvency? 

It was a combination of my wonderful bankruptcy law professor Elizabeth Warren (now a US senator from Massachusetts) and the slowdown in the economy when I graduated from law school in 2001.

What is the most satisfying aspect of the practice? 

The variety of the work.

What has been the highlight of your career to date? 

It has to be working on the Chapter 11 filings of both Lehman Brothers and General Motors.

What was the most memorable case or project you’ve ever worked on and why? 

Lehman Brothers, because in the beginning it felt like the weight of the world economy was on our shoulders.

Where is the most interesting place your work has taken you? 

Australia.

What has been the greatest challenge you’ve faced in your career so far? 

Lehman Brothers.

If you could go back in time and give one piece of advice to yourself when you were starting out, what would it be? 

Don’t stress when it’s too slow because it will inevitably get busy, and don’t stress when it’s too busy because it will inevitably get slow.

What do you predict will be the hottest topics in cross-border insolvency and restructuring in the next five years? 

Oil & gas, competing regimes.

How are things different in cross-border restructuring and insolvency now to when you started practising?

More coordination between jurisdictions.

If you had not been a lawyer, what career would you have liked to pursue? 

Economist.

Tell us something about yourself that most people wouldn’t know. 

I’m a big baseball fan.

If you could have dinner and conversation with anybody – in history, or alive today – who would it be and why? 

Hillary Clinton – she has lived through so much both personally and career-wise.