“I was told a lawyer and a doctor would find it hard to have a relationship and careers”

What is your most vivid memory from being a trainee?

I’ll never forget an incident at one of my first trials while I was a trainee.  My client, who was bringing a personal injury claim, was being cross examined and things were not going well.  I was getting worried and at one point my client’s counsel, who was fairly junior himself at that stage, turned to me and said “This is a disaster!”  However we persevered and at the end of the case the judge commented that he had found my client to be a very impressive witness and it was clear that his evidence had won the case for us.

The barrister who had shared my pessimistic view was David Jay, now Mr Justice Jay, who went on to deal with the Leveson enquiry.  It taught me two important lessons.  The first is never to assume that a case is lost (or won!) until the judgment has been delivered and the second is that when a witness is telling the truth, not all their answers will be perfect, as the truth is often messy.

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

When I was five years qualified and working in London, my girlfriend and I decided to get married.  She was a junior doctor at the time and wasn’t keen on working in a large city so I started looking for positions outside London.  During my search I had a conversation with a colleague who was unaware that I was looking to move. He told me that previously he had worked for a firm called Howes Percival and had absolutely loved it there. Unfortunately he had had to return to London because his father had fallen ill. Two days later I received a call from a recruitment agent saying that Howes Percival wanted to interview me.

I remember being told by a partner at the time that it would be very challenging for two professionals to maintain their careers and relationship.  However, 27 years later I’m still working at Howes Percival, my wife is still working as a doctor, we have two boys, who are old enough to experience their own sliding doors moments, and we have that house in the country!

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

I attended an interview when I was looking for a training contract and despite having left with plenty of time to spare, I arrived five minutes late, after being delayed by heavy traffic. The first question that I was asked by the intimidating partner who interviewed me was “do you regard yourself as being an organised person?” I can’t remember my exact reply but having gained the impression that this was more of a comment than a question I kept it short!

I am pleased to say that the interview went more smoothly after this shaky start and to my surprise, they subsequently offered me the job.

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

I think the most important thing is to be passionate about your work.  As a lawyer, this means being interested in your clients’ plans and aspirations and enjoying helping them resolve their problems.  You have to demonstrate that you really care about them and are not simply providing advice.

In terms of my management role, I think it’s about recruiting talented people who share your firm’s vision and culture and then giving them the freedom and the support they need to fulfil their aspirations and develop the business. Hard work and resilience are both important and working hard is much easier if you enjoy your job.  You’re bound to make mistakes along the way but it is easier to live with these if you have acted with integrity and learnt from them. Finally, I think it is important to have what Joseph Bamford, the founder of JCB, described as a “sense of urgency about getting things done”.

Tell us about one former colleague who you miss and why?

Our former chair, Peter Bennett, had a significant impact on my early career at Howes Percival.  As anyone who knows Peter will attest, he is a larger than life character.  He is always full of enthusiasm and was incredibly ambitious for the business and everyone working there.  At a board meeting many years ago, it was proposed that we should undertake a series of community based projects during the year.  At that time I don’t believe that the phrase corporate social responsibility had even been invented and concerns were expressed that staff may not want to participate.

Peter, with his usual enthusiasm, swept these aside and said that we should go ahead and, of course, he was right.  The whole office wholeheartedly embraced the idea of helping our local community and they generously gave up their free time. Howes Percival is now in more locations but this commitment to helping our local communities is as important as ever to us and we’ve embedded it as one of the firms’ four main goals, a goal which we are only achieving because of the commitment of everyone at Howes Percival.