Work Life Quiz: Davina Garrod, Bingham McCutchen
What was your first-ever job? Lifeguard. I developed a quality tan.
Davina Garrod
What was your worst experience as a trainee?
Spending days at a smelly sewage farm in my first seat (environmental law).
Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office?
Talk to the smokers and trainees.
What time do you usually leave the office?
Any time between 6pm and 2am, depending upon whether I’m on a deal or case, have a conference call with the US or am off to a dinner.
What do you do at weekends?
Socialise, travel, read and exercise.
What’s your favourite restaurant?
The Cliff in Barbados.
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you have been?
Journalist or athlete.
What’s your favourite film?
Apocalypse Now.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Hey Mickey by Toni Basil.
Who’s your hero and why?
Kate Adie. She’s inspirational, intrepid and slightly bonkers.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The thrill of bringing in business and, most importantly, the people.
What’s the toughest thing about your job?
Its all-encompassing nature, but it’s paradoxical because I like that aspect when things are going well.
What’s your biggest work/ career mistake and what did you learn from it?
Ripping a client’s bracelet and having to reassemble it from the contents of a Hoover bag the next day. I learnt jewellery reassembly skills.
What car do you drive?
I’ve never owned a car. Living in Islington it would sit rusting all week.
What book are you currently reading?
Any Human Heart by William Boyd.
What’s your favourite children’s book?
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis.
What’s the most exciting deal/case you’ve worked on and why?
These days all deals are exciting, as are dynamic hedge fund clients.
If you were stranded on a desert island what two luxury items would you take?
My scuba gear and my husband, not necessarily in that order.
What’s the worst partner conference location you’ve attended and why?
Salt Lake City because is was dry, although we did manage to locate some vino relatively quickly.
What’s the longest you’ve worked without sleep?
Two days, advising a major US investment bank on a global energy trading deal.
If a movie was being made about your life, which actor would play you and why?
I’d audition George Clooney for about a fortnight before settling on an animated film. My avatar would be based on Sigourney Weaver. I loved her in the Alien films and she has great longevity.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?
Jabba the Hut, for obvious reasons.
Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself (in any order)
I lived with Terry Waite; reptiles were once delivered to me in the office; I’m on the Witness Protection Programme.
CV
Name: Davina Garrod
Firm: Bingham McCutchen
Title: EU competition/regulatory partner
Lives: Islington, London
Education:
1995-96: Law, College Of Law, Chester
Work history: 1997-99: Trainee, Simmons & Simmons, London and Brussels
1999-2000: Competition associate, Simmons
2000-02: Competition associate, Olswang
2002-06: Competition associate, McDermott Will & Emery, London and Washington DC
2006-10: Partner, McDermott
2010-present: Partner, Bingham
