Professional Women Power: Nothing works without teamwork

published on 5. September 2023

In the context of our career blog “professional women power”, female colleagues introduce themselves,

talk about their career paths and day to day work at Rödl & Partner.

In this way, we would like to raise awareness of women as well as motivate female applicants and colleagues

to bravely pursue their individual career paths at Rödl & Partner.

"My managers give me the confidence and freedom to shape my role

to fit my personal situation at the time. "

NADINE SCHUG

Nadine Schug is a lawyer and is responsible for insolvency law advice in the Commercial Law team in Nuremberg. She has a daughter (3) and has reduced her working hours to 70%.

Nadine, how did your professional career start more than 10 years ago and how did you get to where you are currently?

I started my career in 2012 in an insolvency administrator's office in Nuremberg. There, I assisted insolvency proceedings at all stages of the proceedings. This ranged from the continuation of operations in preliminary insolvency proceedings to the preparation and drafting of expert opinions and reports to the identification, examination and assertion of claims for the insolvency estate. In spring 2015, I then switched to consulting at Rödl & Partner and have since been part of Horst Grätz's commercial law team in Nuremberg. There, as a team member of Patrick Satzinger's Corporate M&A sub-team, I am responsible for insolvency law advice. I specialize in advising companies in the context of distressed M&A transactions, supporting clients in the transaction process and conducting contract negotiations. In addition, I advise companies in crisis and assist clients in reorganization, restructuring or in the preparation of an insolvency petition. Furthermore, I deal with issues concerning directors' liability, avoidance in insolvency and other special problems under insolvency law. In addition, I also advise companies outside of a crisis on restructuring and M&A transactions.

Nadine, how do you reconcile your work at Rödl & Partner and your family?

It works surprisingly well. Before I started after my parental leave, I thought for a very long time about how I would organize my return. I enjoy every minute with my daughter, so it was very important to me that we could spend some time together every day after daycare. But it was also very important to me that I could continue to be a mandate manager in my job and manage projects on my own. It was clear to me that I would not be happy with the role as a mere support worker. To achieve a balance between the two, I reduced my working hours to 70%, spread over five days. With a good organization and structure and some flexibility, it is possible to fulfill both wishes. Of course, sometimes full-day appointments, appointments lasting several days or evening events are part of the job. But that can be solved well with the support of my husband and family.

Of course, there are also days and weeks when things are burning on both fronts (child sick and project escalation are magically attracted to each other), and then I sometimes ask myself what I was actually thinking. But these phases also pass and overall the combination of child and job works great and I have a good feeling about it.

What is the biggest challenge and is there a secret recipe?

The biggest challenge was myself. I'm actually a perfectionist and I don't like asking for help. I had to learn quickly that it doesn't work that way anymore. In the meantime, I have come to terms with the fact that not everything can always run perfectly and that some things (e.g. the household or the sports program) have to fall by the wayside. I also now tend to ask family for support or a teammate to fill in on a project if I can't find a solution. Ultimately, though, none of this would work so well without the many great teams around me. Without teamwork, nothing works. All team members are considerate of my time availability and if a late afternoon or evening appointment is required, I am first asked if and when I can arrange it in terms of the care situation. That is worth a lot. In addition, I know that someone from the team would always support me or stand in for me at short notice if it were necessary in a project. Just having that in mind - even without actually having to call on it - helps a lot. In addition, my managers (Patrick Satzinger and Horst Grätz) give me the trust and freedom to shape my role to suit my personal situation.

And the most important team is, of course, "Team Schug". My daughter, my husband and I are a well-coordinated team, which makes a lot of things easier. In addition, we have the luxury that the family is always happy to support us and someone is usually available at short notice if I need care for my daughter.

Thank you Nadine for the valuable insights and experiences. A great example of how to balance work and family life.