“I can trace every one of my top seven client relationships to a relationship with one or more colleagues within the firm,” Mahvesh Qureshi said on the latest Drinks With The Deal podcast.

Qureshi, an M&A partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, a member of the firm’s global board and head of its Americas corporate and finance practice, discussed how her ability to adapt to different environments has been central to her career.

Her father worked for the World Bank, and the family moved frequently when she was a child. “By the age of 14,” Qureshi said, “I’d lived through a coup d’etat, an earthquake, a volcanic eruption and a military event. All of these led me to pivot in the moment, learn how to make friendships very quickly and connect with people from across the globe.”

She’s drawn on those skills in her career. Qureshi spent the summer after her second year in law school at Coudert Brothers LLP in New York, then began practice at Bingham Dana & Gould in Boston before moving with her husband, a dentist, to Washington. There she joined King & Spalding LLP before moving with a group of lawyers to Hogan & Hartson LLP, which became a global law firm after its 2010 merger with Lovells LLP.

Qureshi also discussed how being in law firm management has helped her relate better to clients and Hogan Lovells’ pending merger with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, which was announced in December.

Listen to the podcast with Mahvesh Qureshi below:

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