The work-life quiz: James Blendis
Pianist in a piano bar called Gershwins.
What was your first-ever job?
Pianist in a piano bar called Gershwins.
What was your worst experience as a trainee?
Anything involving a data room.
Where's the best place to go if you want to find out what's really going on in the office?
Local pub for egg and chips.
What time do you usually leave the office?
6pm to 6.30pm.
What do you do at weekends?
Follow my wife and two daughters around.
What's your favourite restaurant?
Any good sushi place.
If you weren't a lawyer what would you have been?
A second-rate jazz pianist.
Who's your hero and why?
Martin Jol, because he has made being a Spurs supporter less of an embarrassment.
What's the best thing about your job?
The variety, learning how a big business works (and the big office).
What's the toughest thing about your job?
Finding sufficient career progression to keep the best lawyers.
What car do you drive?
Mini.
What book are you currently reading?
Nothing. I only read on holiday.
What's on your CD player at the moment?
Easy-to-learn German.
What's your favourite children's book?
Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. Farmer Brown negotiates with his cows who type their demands for electric blankets until duck steps in as a neutral party.
What's the most exciting deal/case you've worked on and why?
The Virgin Mobile deal, because I got to visit Richard Branson's house.
If you were stranded on a desert island what two luxury items would you take?
A 42-inch plasma screen TV and a Sky Sports satellite dish.
What's the longest you've worked without sleep?
I worked pretty long hours on a Uefa sponsorship deal in Geneva once, but nothing too terrible. I was in bed by 4am I think.
If a movie was being made about your life, which actor would play you and why?
The gardener from Desperate Housewives. My wife wishes I looked like him.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
Jo from The Apprentice.
Company: T-Mobile UK
Position: Legal director and company secretary
Lives: Muswell Hill, London
Educated: Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Work history:
1997: Qualified, specialising in IP and IT
1998: Joined T-Mobile
2004: Appointed legal director and company secretary
