Hot 100 career quiz: PCB Byrne senior partner Anthony Riem

What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?

Back in the 1980s I was a trainee (then we were called articled clerks) at Woodham Smith. It was a leading intellectual property firm and as trainees one of our jobs was to scour the shelves of supermarkets looking for products that our clients believed infringed their intellectual property rights. We would then phone in infringing products, using “mobile“ phones which were then the size and weight of a brick, with limited battery life and variable reception. Some things do not change!

One product was Jif squeezy lemons which became the leading case on passing off. It was an exceptional case to work on and I am reminded of it every time I see a Jif squeezy lemon because in his judgment, Lord Bridge made clear that he found it abhorrent if our client was to succeed in dismissing the respondents’ appeal, as to do so would give our client a monopoly in plastic shaped lemon juice containers. However, he felt compelled to dismiss the appeal, owing to the evidence we had collated which showed that buyers of lemon shaped containers assumed them to be Jif, irrespective of however they were labelled.

What is the wisest thing anyone ever said to you (and who said it)?

That is difficult as over the years, I have been told a number of things. They range from being told at school about the need to listen before speaking (because I clearly didn’t do that); the need to surround yourself with people who are brighter than you who have different but complementary skill sets and to give them their head; and the need to communicate clearly what you want and never be afraid of asking questions. Perhaps the wisest thing I was told is that it is not what you ask, but how you ask it.

Who (for better or worse) has been the most influential person in your career? Why?

While my mother worked at the Citizens Advice Bureau for most of her working life, she had always wanted to be a lawyer. She gradually drip fed me the idea of being a lawyer while I tried a variety of jobs in insurance and banking. She also introduced me to my first job in the law as a runner in in a criminal legal aid practice in South London. That was the start of my career as I then ended up doing a law degree while working as a paralegal at that firm in the holidays.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?

Most importantly, being a lawyer is vocation. It is all-demanding, particularly when dealing with asset recovery work where you work on short time deadlines in numerous countries across multiple time zones leaving no stone unturned. So I would say, you need to love what you do (otherwise you will resent all the late hours and disrupted weekends), have fun doing it and try and encourage everyone around you to do so as well.

What’s your best friend from law school doing now?

He is no longer practising law, having given up many years ago, which perhaps is not the best advert!