baker mckenzie, most of our clients who are international corporates, are american companies that had invested in france. and i was really busy. david: were there many women lawyers in france in those days? christine: no. no, no, no. one of the reasons actually i joined baker mckenzie was because the managing partner of the paris office was a woman. and she was then a role model for me. david: now, for those who don't know, baker mckenzie was for many years one of the largest law firms in the world. christine: it was one of the largest, yes. christine: and it was based in chicago. so at some point, how did you get to be the head of the entire firm? you are a woman, it is a male firm more or less. it -- you are from france. it is a chicago-based american firm. so how did you get elected to be the managing director of the entire firm and move to chicago? christine: again, i would love to think that it is pure merits and quality of the work i was doing. i think it's -- you know, it's interesting, actually. so i became managing partner in the paris office. and gradually i was doing a dece