Faegre attorney embraces global role

Angella “Angie” Castille has experience living in places that are on the cusp of change.

Just out of college, she left the United States to settle in Berlin, where during the early 1980s she studied law at the Freie Universitat Berlin. Artists and free spirits flourished in the city that not only was divided into eastern and western parts by a wall but also still bore the scars left from World War II.

As a corporate attorney building her practice in Indiana for what is now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Castille was put on the team charged with opening the firm’s first office in China during the late 1990s. The country was just opening to foreign investments and Shanghai, where Faegre’s office was eventually located, was just beginning to build itself into the modern city it is today.

Now Castille is again in a place where change is happening. She has recently become the board chair of Lex Mundi, a network of more than 150 independent law firms serving companies around the globe. She will lead the organization just as the world is tentatively emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The year ahead is going to be an interesting year,” Castille said. “It will be transitional, but I do think many of the lessons we learned this past year will continue forward.”

Castille is a founding member and champion of Lex Mundi.

The basic idea behind the organization is to connect law firms around the world so they can continue to represent their clients across multiple countries and jurisdictions. Lawyers can call upon their Lex Mundi colleagues when they have a client who needs help establishing an operation or acquiring a company in a geographic location where they are not licensed to practice.

Looking at her year ahead as chair, Castille said she is focused on the attorneys and their clients. She emphasized that clients are the reason law firms exist. The businesses and other entities who rely on the Lex Mundi network for legal help must be given resources and attention so they can be successful.

In addition, Castille said she is excited about Lex Mundi’s new initiative, LM WINS, which is promoting diversity and inclusion across the profession. She acknowledged such efforts are common in the United States, but undertaking such a task on a global scale is difficult.

“In the way we approach these initiatives, I think it’s important to make sure that the legal community and our legal members are reaching out to women and minorities around the world,” Castille said. “I think that will truly be game-changing.”

Lex Mundi officials say Castille will be a dynamic leader.

Cross-border experience

Castille’s “wealth of expertise” is rooted in the time she spent living abroad.

When she joined Faegre Drinker’s Elkhart office near the start of her career, Castille brought international experience to her growing corporate law practice. She had studied law in Germany before finishing her J.D. at Notre Dame Law School, so, as the firm’s clients started expanding into the markets that were opening around the world, she was naturally called upon to answer their questions about cross-border transactions.

Then Faegre partner Mike Maine, now retired, approached Castille about joining the team to open the firm’s first office in China. She half-jokingly replied that she spoke German, not Mandarin, but, as she remembered, Maine was a former Marine who did not readily take “no” for an answer.

In 1999 and for the next five or six years, Castille began making regular trips to China, where she would stay for two to three weeks at a time. She arrived when the cobblestone streets were still being built by hammer-welding laborers and was able to witness the transformation brought by free markets.

“I think I recognized early on sort of the inherently global nature of commercial law. We can open borders. We can also open and develop countries and make the standard of living in many different countries better because of doing more trade with more countries,” Castille said. “That is something that was eye-opening to me and something I’ve seen firsthand.”

Castille will be making probably mostly virtual visits to foreign countries during her tenure leading the Lex Mundi board as she checks in and connects with the many member firms. From her time overseas, she learned the importance of understanding and fitting into the culture. She also remains struck by seeing the determination people had to work hard to make their communities better and their generosity to help their neighbors.

As COVID-19 was strengthening its grip on the world, Castille said she saw that grit and collaborative spirit emerge among the Lex Mundi law firms. They came together to create content to post on the Lex Mundi website, enabling companies to find and access for free the information they needed to navigate the challenging times.

“It was really responsive to what everybody was facing, and that gives me great hope,” Castille said. “I really feel like the world has learned a valuable lesson this past year and a half, so there’s really good cause for hope going forward. We’re fortunate here in this country and we need to remember we’re part of a global community.”•