I read European Union Law at Warwick University, and also Lille University in France. I joined Herbert Smith in 1995 as a trainee. The third seat of my training contract was out in our Brussels office where I was in the EU competition group. That really inspired my love of EU competition law and I qualified into that group. I spent a further nine years out in our Brussels office and I’m now back in London once again, based in our EU competition group. I’ve been a partner since 2004 and I’m also the firm's deputy graduate recruitment partner.
Our culture
Well obviously we’ve all got one goal and that’s to give the client the advice that they need and also to think outside of the box and give them commercial pragmatic advice. What I like about Herbert Smith is that we end up putting together the teams comprising very different individuals, different personalities but with one common goal. We work together very well as a team to deliver that on each occasion. That for me is what makes Herbert Smith different.
Training and development
Here I think that people invest hugely in careers and I think I’m an example of that. I joined as a trainee in 1995 and I’ve worked for different periods of time both in our Brussels and London offices. Throughout my time as a trainee and as an associate I went on a number of different training courses both learning about the law but also learning those softer skills such as presentation skills, appraisal skills and interviewing skills.
Flexible working
We do our best to accommodate any request for flexible working and I am in fact an example of that. I am a partner and I work four and a half days a week. What that means in practice is that I try to take Wednesday afternoon off each week. I have two young children and that breaks up the week for both myself and for my children. But we also need to provide a service for clients and so the way that my arrangement works is that if a client does want to meet with me on a Wednesday afternoon I will switch my afternoon with my children to another day to ensure that I maintain that balance between my home life and my work life.