Company: Herbert Smith Freehills
Title: Solicitor
Age: 26
Myra Beal’s work in the venture capital space has been important to her practice group’s overall strategy regarding the pipeline of future venture capital, private equity and IPO work. The Herbert Smith Freehill’s (HSF) team acted on six of the 10 biggest capital raises of 2018 and Beal played a key role in a number of these transactions. She has also been working to productise and streamline the legal work in early stage venture capital transactions through automation. She supports the start-up community and, in particular, female founders through the firm’s partnerships with Tech Ready Women and SheStarts. Beal is passionate about building a culture of innovation within HSF and established the HSF ‘Reverse Mentoring Program’ in which junior solicitors, with experience and skills in technology and innovation, are paired with partners and senior leadership for mentorship. She also started a group and community within HSF called the ‘Design Thinking and Legal Tech Group’ that helps to build and leverage the innovation and technology skills of junior lawyers. Beal was a finalist at the 2019 Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards – Innovator of the Year and is the winner of the Financial Times Innovation in Law Award (Innovation in Managing and Developing Talent).
