Jeremy Cape

Name: Jeremy Cape

Firm: SNR Denton

Title: Graduate recruitment partner

Department: Tax

University: Southampton

Degree subject: Law

Hobbies: Playing the piano, travelling to weird places

How long have you been a partner for? Two and a half years

Who/what inspired you to be lawyer? Rumpole

What things did you wish you knew before embarking on a legal career? That Rumpole was a fictional character

What does your typical day involve? Reading tax statutes

What are the most challenging aspects of your job?  Right now, learning all the section references for the new tax statutes.  For some reason I can remember how to play cheesy 1980s hit-parade tunes on the piano, but section numbers elude me

What has been the highlight of your legal career so far?  Becoming a partner at SNR Denton

What are the best aspects of your job?  It’s intellectually stimulating, I work with some really smart and decent people and it pays well

What are the worst aspects of your job?  Trying to motivate myself when it’s quiet, keeping up on tax cases and (sorry to repeat myself) those bloody new section numbers

What top tips would you give to students who want to break into the legal profession? Don’t start the LPC if you don’t have a training contract or a trust fund.  It’s an expensive and, if you don’t get a training contract, a useless qualification.  That’s not to say that you won’t get a training contract if you don’t have one when you embark on the LPC.  Just that it’s a high-risk strategy and one I couldn’t recommend.

What are the most common mistakes you’ve seen candidates making?  Spelling and grammar

How has the legal market changed since the days you were a trainee?  You could get a job as a trainee, and indeed an associate or partner, simply by being good at law.  Now you need to understand both your clients’ business and law as a business

What impact has the recession had on your firm?  On the positive side, we’re sharper, hungrier and leaner.  On the negative side, it’s sad that we weren’t able to retain as many trainees on qualification as I would have liked

What three words best describe your firm?  Seeing all sides

Where did you go for your last holiday?  China

What gadget/gizmo would you be lost without?  Would it be rude or romantic to say “my wife”?