Nadine Strahl: Osborne Clarke
A bottle of perfume and a La Perla swimsuit
Osborne Clarke" />What was your first-ever job?
Working at Heffers in Cambridge on Saturdays.
What was your worst experience as a trainee?
Going to the High Court with the manager of a well-known punk band who was wearing a court jester’s jacket.
Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office?
The pub early on a Friday evening can be useful.
What time do you usually leave the office?
Somewhere between 7pm and 7.30pm.
What do you do at weekends?
Walk my dogs on Wimbledon Common, cook Sunday lunch and have regular doses of retail therapy.
What’s your favourite restaurant?
Quaglino’s in St James’s.
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you have been?
Something in business or an air hostess.
Who’s your hero and why?
Victoria Wood, for being impossibly funny.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The people I work with – both clients and colleagues.
What’s the toughest thing about your job?
Finding the right balance between working on client matters and my management responsibilities in order to do both well.
What’s your biggest work/career mistake?
Describing another lawyer as unprofessional – I had to answer to the senior partner on that one.
What car do you drive?
A Honda CR-V.
What book are you reading?
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks.
What’s on your iPod?
Queen, Neil Diamond and Amy Winehouse.
Favourite children’s book?
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
What’s the most exciting deal/case you’ve worked on?
Working for Eurostar on its move to St Pancras.
If you were stranded on a desert island, what two luxury items would you take?
A bottle of perfume and a La Perla swimsuit.
What’s the worst partner conference location you’ve attended and why?
A hotel somewhere near Thatcham Industrial Estate. It was soulless.
What’s the longest you’ve worked without sleep?
Thirty-six hours.
Who would play you in the movie of your life and why?
Meryl Streep. I’m told her character in The Devil Wears Prada has some similarities.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?
I can’t decide who would be worse between Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.
CV
Name: Nadine Strahl
Firm: Osborne Clarke
Title: Partner and practice group head, real estate
Lives: Wimbledon
Education:
1978-81: Law, London School of Economics
1981-82: College of Law, Lancaster Gate
Work history:
1982-84: Trainee, David Elton & Wineman
1984-88: Solicitor, David Elton
1988-89: Solicitor, Nicholson Graham & Jones
1989-99: Partner, Nicholson Graham & Jones
1999-2003: Partner, Osborne Clarke
2003-present: Real estate
practice group head
