“I nearly died in Aberdeen as a trainee…”

What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?

Nearly dying in Aberdeen!

As a corporate trainee, I was involved in a major corporate acquisition transaction.  Following an all-nighter the day before completion, we discovered that a newly formed company had to be VAT registered at the Aberdeen VAT office (can’t remember exactly why it had to be in Aberdeen) before the deal could be signed.  Immediately, all eyes turned to me.  As the most junior person on the team, I was sent on the first plane in the morning, given the urgency.

Before sunrise I headed for the airport.

After boarding and finally getting some sleep on the plane, I woke up to the aircraft being blown violently around, only to find we were landing in gale force winds.  (I didn’t know, but Aberdeenshire is still in the record books for the highest ever recorded wind speed in the UK – of 142 mph in 1989.)  As we came to the ground, the wind turned the plane sideways.  One side of the plane bounced off the runway tarmac.  There was a loud crash at the back of the plane, as the pilot aborted the landing and took off at what felt like a 90 degrees angle to the ground.  I was pinned to the back of my seat, and my nails indented the armrest.  Passengers were screaming.

We ascended fast. As the plane levelled off, and in a pure RP British accent, the pilot announced “You might have noticed a bit of turbulence on our landing, I’ll just swing round and try that again!”

We landed the second time, and I bought a single malt (for medicinal purposes).

I’ve not been to Aberdeen since.  When I do go, I plan on travelling by train.

Tell us about a sliding doors moment when your career could have gone in an entirely different direction?

On qualification, I needed to decide between becoming a corporate lawyer or a competition lawyer.  It was a really tough decision, as I had done two corporate seats at SJ Berwin – and loved the transactional “get-it-done” mentality.  At the time, SJ Berwin was known for its corporate and Private equity teams, and I loved working with Ed Griffiths (now a colleague at DLA Piper).

In contrast, EU & competition law was much more research based and academic.

In the end, I was drawn to the variety that competition law had to offer.  The range of work was huge:  One day we could be doing transactional work in merger control or following the EU legislative process of a regulation being passed. Another day we would be in judicial review litigation or responding to a dawn raid. We were EU lawyers, corporate lawyers, litigators, regulatory lawyers and criminal defence counsel.

I guess corporate law may have been less impacted by Brexit.

As Edith Piaf might have said – I have no regrets (but do always wonder what would have happened to my career if I’d chosen the corporate path).

What’s the hardest question you’ve ever been asked at interview, and how did you answer?

There’s so many… Law firms do like asking hard questions.

The weirdest I was ever asked was “If you were a piece of fruit, which would you be? And why?”

In the end, I answered that I would probably be a banana due to its versatility.

• It’s awesome as a healthy option in smoothies… but you can also freeze it in melted chocolate and nuts for the unhealthy but tasty option (or even serve it in an ice-cream Sundae)!
• The unique softness means it can be eaten by the young, old and infirm (EU lawyers may recognise that I cribbed this from the United Brands “Bananas” judgment).
• It comes in its own biodegradable packaging – which also changes colour like a litmus test to demonstrate perfect ripeness.

When I’ve been the interviewer, I’ve never asked anyone that question and I’m not sold on how much you can really learn about anyone from it – but it certainly did put me on the spot.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?

You have to do what works for you and in the right way.  I chose an odd path. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend it (it’s definitely not for everyone), I have had fun on the way.

Tell us about ONE former colleague who you miss, and why? (It doesn’t have to be a lawyer)

May Tha-Hla does qualitative research analysis for major brands, and I spent a few months with her as a summer intern at Taylor Nelson Sofres, while at university.

It was one of my first exposures to a real office environment, and I learnt so much from her confidence, ways of working and supportiveness of her team. She also taught me all about office politics on day one.

They operated an open-plan office (very avant garde in the 90s), and she was not a fan. Teams were given an allocated space – separated by freestanding office screens (covered in green fuzz and metal thumb tacks). The background noise was awful, so May stuffed tissue paper in her ears to concentrate while working. Unhappy with the space we had, she would kick our screen every time she walked past. Over a year, she’d slowly expanded it to give everyone extra space and fit in another desk to grow the team!

She started new jobs by getting to the bottom of what her clients really wanted and needed and delivered on that.  Understanding the end-product and how it will commercially be used was important in devising the methodology and also delivering the results appropriately. Lawyers often advise without being told the commercial relevance of what they are doing, but since then I have always asked for this context. One of my tasks for May was running data analysis in statistical databases, which in those days meant coding and programming. That “technophile” background never left me, and is probably why I wasn’t scared to delve into AI despite being a lawyer.

As a law student, the exposure to commerce, marketing and statistics were astounding.  May is one of the best leaders I have worked with and many lawyers could learn from her (though I wouldn’t recommend putting tissue paper in your ears).