Winston & Strawn partner Denmon Sigler is used to the question: How did a harpist become an oil and gas attorney?
Despite its frequency, the query continues to surprise Sigler, and she counters with her own question: Aren’t musicians, other artists and lawyers required to be creative?
Well … yes.
She acknowledges, however, that she owes her career “path” mostly to serendipity.
“I enjoyed playing in ensembles,” Sigler says. “I did not enjoy teaching.”
To be a successful and independent musician, she needed to play professionally – and to teach. So she looked around for a vocation that required creativity and the ability to communicate. In law school, she decided she could help the arts with her law degree.
Flash forward. Sigler is South Texas College of Law’s class valedictorian with an irresistible offer to practice energy law at Baker Botts in Houston.
Another forward spin of 15 years to November 2013 and she joins Winston & Strawn as an energy partner.
Her experience in U.S. and international energy transactions is substantial.
For example, she worked on a joint venture for a new polymers facility in Taiwan for client Kraton Performance Polymers.
She’s worked on a number of oil and gas asset sales and purchases for Carrizo Oil & Gas.
For numerous clients she has undertaken complex commercial supply arrangements, integrated share site and shared facilities arrangements, various transportation and logistics contracts and more.
Yet she’s never forgotten her roots in the arts, serving on the board of directors of Mercury, a non-profit performing arts organization, and on the advisory board for the Blaffer Art Museum.
Sigler also volunteers for the Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts.
“I understand and anticipate the issues that impact artists,” she says.
Emily Church, director of development for Blaffer Art Museum, agrees that having a board member who offers both arts and legal expertise is a plus in helping to “widen the Blaffer family.” The best part: There’s no learning curve.
“From the beginning, Denmon has been an enthusiastic and dedicated board member,” Church says. “She has adopted a leadership role on the board’s education committee, and she serves as an active advocate for and ambassador to the museum.”
Sigler says her performance background has helped with her legal clients as well as her pro bono legal work. She enjoys the problem solving and creative writing – in addition to technical writing – that deal-making requires.
“Studying music instills an amazing work ethic. Practice makes perfect,” she says. “A performance career gets you comfortable in front of a crowd. You have confidence when you walk into a room.”
She notes that artists and attorneys alike have been impacted by marketplace changes.
Often, she says she has the same conversations about intellectual property law with artists and her legal clients. The Internet, she adds, has made it “a lot easier to get into trouble.”
But that’s another story.