About

Susan L. Lees offers an almost unparalleled level of experience to her company Allstate, having been with the company for approximately 30 years straight after finishing law school, originally in a part time role alongside family commitments. She likens her formative years with the company as being akin to that of ‘an entry-level associate at a firm’, but through ‘lots of time working on transactions’ became the head of M&A which allowed her to establish a formidable reputation at the company as someone who could ‘get things done and who had a solid business mind’. This led to her rapid rise through the company’s ranks from the mid-2000s onwards, which led to taking over the general counsel role for the Life business in 2008, and the overall general counsel role in 2012. Her time with Allstate has borne a number of major highlights, with Lees recalling her first major transaction particularly fondly: ‘Allstate went public during the time I was establishing myself in the company and like any company going public needed to shed some underperforming businesses. This taught me a lot about operations, particularly how to get to get into details to identify liabilities, and the inner workings of business and identifying risk’. Alongside this, Lees fondly remembers her work on the setting up of new Allstate businesses, particularly the venture to establish a presence in the European market, which was eventually achieved with the opening of a business in Italy. Lees prizes a knowledge-based approach to legal matters, advising other in-house lawyers to accrue as much information about their respective companies as possible. ‘The number one piece of advice I would give to an aspiring in-house lawyer is to read and listen’, she explains. ‘I read everything I can about Allstate in the press, what analysts are saying and all of Allstate’s public filings. I also stay up to date on developments in our industry. I need to anticipate what’s coming so that business can be ahead of the curve and Allstate is well positioned whatever the issue is’.