Agatha Mouillet is Redefining Global Business Development

By Daniel Foster

Monday was just another workday in sunny Los Angeles for Agatha Mouillet, which meant that she headed over to the offices of Horvitz & Levy, a star appellate law firm, one of the best in California. For three years now, Agatha has called LA home and after working as a brand representative at 3-2-1 Acting Studios and a role at Alliance Française as a French language and culture educator, she has settled in at the law firm as its business development manager.

Agatha has thrived in this new role, in part because she’s been able to apply her entire skill set in a new field. She started out in the sports industry, working for Decathlon in Paris, and later became marketing director for a luxury lighting brand in the French capital. Agatha’s career has been defined by transformation, the ability to learn on the fly and to adapt favorably.

She is also trilingual, being fully fluent in English, French, and Spanish.

“When I was studying in Paris, one of my professors would always tell us to repeat the line, ‘I want, I must, I can,'” recalls Agatha. “This reflects my mindset at a personal and professional level. I am determined, resilient, and self-motivated.” Another one of her favorite quotes is, ‘Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations.’ “This reflects my journey very well,” says Agatha. “It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been extremely rewarding.”

Settling in at H&L

Agatha joined Horvitz & Levy in February. The leading Californian appellate firm hired her to helm its marketing and growth strategy. Seven months in, her work has been transformational. Horvitz & Levy was already regarded as a leading appellate law firm. Its lawyers have been successful in representing their top-tier clients at the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. But to stay on top, one needs to be competitive. 

When Agatha arrived at the company, she embarked on several projects to make it just that.

First, she established business development plans for each attorney there. She also decided to undertake a redesign of its website and is now also working to implement a new customer relationship management system (CRM). This will help the firm maintain its relationships with current clients as well as efforts to bring in potential new ones. Working at Horvitz & Levy has introduced Agatha to a premier client list already packed with Fortune 500 companies.

Since joining the firm, Agatha has worked to raise the profile of individual attorneys specifically. Two female attorneys, Shane McKenzie and Lisa Perrochet, were named Top Women Lawyers in the Daily Journal. Agatha also helped arrange the ceremony for attorney David Ettinger when he was inducted into the California Lawyers Association’s Appellate Lawyer Hall of Fame this year. 

Horvitz & Levy has honored her by nominating her for the American Lawyer Industry Awards, to be held in New York in November. Agatha has also been recognized as a Globee Awards judge for her contributions to legal and business innovation.

A Solid Foundation

Agatha’s path to Horvitz & Levy was by her own admission unconventional. She holds a master’s degree from ISIT in Paris in intercultural management and translation, and obtained a second master’s in marketing and economics from ILEPS. She also has professional diplomas from both the Franco-Spanish and Franco-British Chambers of Commerce.

Early on in her career, Agatha also played an interesting role during the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where she worked as a mixed zone reporter at swimming and diving events. Her interviews with athletes produced many quotes which surfaced in major media coverage. She credits the experience with teaching her how to perform under pressure and to communicate clearly.

Before relocating to California, Agatha had a very interesting position at the University of Birmingham where she oversaw a group working on quantum sensing. She managed every aspect of the group’s operations and budgets, and helped it to liaise with the government as well as UK defense firms. She also had to navigate relationships with funders, like Innovate UK. All of this occurred during Brexit, making the work much more difficult and unpredictable. 

Despite these challenges, she managed to adapt and thrive, crediting them with making her a better manager.

“Rather than allowing different challenges to limit my trajectory, I’ve transformed each obstacle into a distinctive capability,” observes Agatha. “My international perspective isn’t just cultural awareness,” she says. “It’s the ability to understand how businesses function and grow across different borders and industries.”

She hopes to utilize her unique perspective to assist firms in expanding across international lines. By combining data-driven growth strategies with her own insights and cultural intelligence, she offers potential clients an effective and distinctive approach to global expansion.

“I have developed multilingual capabilities and cross-cultural business acumen that allows me to serve international clients and navigate complex global partnerships,” says Agatha. “My life path has given me an intuitive understanding of cultural nuances that is sometimes overlooked.”