An associate at Greenberg Traurig, Hermansky has become an internationally recognized expert on the EB-5 visa, a highly specialized area of immigration law for international investors seeking permanent residence in the United States. She focuses her practice in structuring private equity raises for EB-5 investors who will make an investment into a U.S. project that creates jobs for U.S. workers.
In total, Hermansky has structured private equity deals totaling over USD $2 billion, with a total aggregate deal value of over $5 billion, by the age of 33. She also has led a team of more than 30 lawyers and paralegals to process thousands of EB-5 petitions for immigrant investors and their families, helping to grow GT’s EB-5 practice to the largest and most robust EB-5 practice in the United States.
What career path would you have pursued if you weren’t a lawyer?
I have an undergraduate degree in finance, so I would probably have worked for a financial services firm and eventually pursued work as a CFA. I still love finance, which intersects with my career daily when structuring immigration-related private equity offerings.
Name a mentor or someone you admire.
I would like to thank my closest mentor, Kate Kalmykov, at Greenberg Traurig. She has been a great mentor not only in terms of substantive law, but also the business of law.
What is the best advice you ever got?
“Try to leave your work at the door whenever possible.” This is really a challenge for lawyers, since we work many hours and are usually connected remotely to our work even if we are not in the office. This piece of advice always stuck with me, and no matter how difficult or stressful my day is, I try to leave all of it at the door for a better work-life balance when I leave the office.
In 50 words or less, what does the legal profession need to do to improve opportunities for women lawyers.
Law firms need to set clear plans to place women lawyers in firm leadership roles and have fair representation on committees, make sure that those women leaders are mentoring younger women lawyers at the firm, and give fair credit to women lawyers cultivating and maintaining clients. This benefits the whole firm. For example, Greenberg Traurig’s Women’s Initiative effectively fosters the success of women attorneys, strengthens the firm’s culture, contributes to the firm’s financial health, and better serves firm clients.
What’s the one piece of advice would you give someone when dealing with a crisis?
Always speak nicely, but with authority. I firmly believe that yelling at others is never the answer and that a problem is always better fixed if you try to keep a cool head. Others will want to collaborate to fix the issue if you can recognize the problem, and move forward calmly.