GC Influencers
Most Influential GCs - Global-wide
Heather Mitchell of The Carlyle Group
Heather Mitchell serves as general counsel for investments at The Carlyle Group, overseeing the investment firm’s team of a dozen lawyers who advise on a broad spectrum of transactional matters and wider operational and regulatory issues affecting both it and its portfolio businesses, no mean feat when working for a global investor with USD216 billion of assets under management across over 300 investment vehicles. The legal team’s transactional capabilities are well-attested, notably demonstrated last year when advising on the firm’s joint EUR10.1 billion acquisition alongside CIC of AzkoNobel’s speciality chemicals division, with Mitchell’s policy of embedding legal professionals within transactional teams serving to strengthen the legal departments expertise and commerciality across the entire investment life-cycle. Market insiders describe Mitchell as a “delight to work with,” with once source noting: “She’s impressive all-round and the most well-rounded general counsel I’ve come across. She’s an incredibly good technical lawyer and very good commercially.” Mitchell joined Carlyle from Akin Gump in 2002, having also worked in house at Kaiser Group, and was appointed general counsel for Europe in 2005 and to her current role in 2015.