This article first appeared in issue 17 of of ThoughtLeaders4 FIRE magazine: FIRE International Vilamoura Edition: 2024
Imagine you no longer have to work. How would you spend your weekdays?
I think I'd struggle not to be involved in the law in some form even if I didn’t need to work. I could certainly see myself lecturing for a few days a week if I weren’t in private practice. Apart from that, I'd be spending some time lounging on a beach in Barbados!
What do you see as the most important thing about your job?
I think what's most important is being able to skilfully navigate clients through their legal challenges and trying to get the best possible outcome for them.
What is the most significant trend in your practice today?
It's difficult to identify the most significant trend when you have a pretty broad commercial practice, but what has been very noticeable is that we haven’t seen the avalanche of insolvency matters that we had anticipated would come about as a result of the pandemic. There seems to be a slightly greater trend towards restructurings rather than liquidations.
What motivates you most about your work?
I think the intellectual challenge and stimulation that comes with an insolvency and corporate disputes practice is most interesting.
What skill do you wish you would have learned earlier in your career?
I find it rather difficult to pinpoint any one particular skill that I wish I learned earlier, as I think that we are all works in progress as we continue to progress in our respective careers.
If you could do someone else’s job for a day, who would it be and what is the job?
I've always found aviation to be absolutely fascinating so I wouldn’t mind being a pilot for a large airline for a day.
What cause are you most passionate about?
For me, my family's welfare is of utmost importance. I can't say that there is anything that I'm more passionate about than that.
What is something people may not know about you?
I'm a huge cricket fan so in an ideal world (if my skills had matched my enthusiasm!) I'd have been a professional cricketer rather than a lawyer.
What does the perfect weekend look like?
I love cricket and ultimately people are what make life most fulfilling, so the perfect weekend for me is spent with close friends or family, enjoying a riveting cricket match.
Dead or alive, which three people would you most like to have a dinner party with, and why?
a) Barack Obama – I'd love to pick his brains about
his personal and political development and eventual rise to become
America's first Black president.
b) Sir Vivian Richards – huge cricket fan (as you might have
gathered by now) and he is one of the best to ever play the
game.
c) Lord Denning – that might be quite an interesting chat
about the law.