Name: Chris McGarry
Firm: White & Case
Role: Partner
Trained at: Norton Rose
Year qualified: 2004
What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?
Being seconded to the transactional department of a global corporation. I enjoyed the experience of working for an elite global organisation and the increased responsibility which came with the secondment.
I had also been weighing up transactional versus contentious and the secondment made me realise I preferred transactional work.
What is the wisest thing anyone ever said to you (and who said it)?
- “Named must your fear be, before banish it you can” Yoda.
- “The truth will set you free” John 8:32 (I learned what it meant thanks to working a 12-step program).
- “Trust your struggle” Moby.
Who (for better or worse) has been the most influential person in your career? Why?
It is a four-way tie:
- Maurice Allen for giving me the opportunity to develop my own practice;
- Ian Bagshaw for convincing me in less than five minutes to join White & Case and for his mentorship since then;
- David Thatch (my counterpart in New York) for helping me to develop the London practice so quickly and for his friendship and mentorship; and
- Dexter Dias QC whose book The Ten Types of Human and our subsequent collaboration inspired the idea to use new sustainable finance products to advance the humanitarian sustainable development goals (SDGs) alongside the environmental SDGs.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?
Be true to yourself and trust your struggle: if you have the technical skills and the origination skills, your opportunity will come. Once you have your opportunity, realise how lucky you are and constantly strive to improve while also making a positive difference in the world.
What’s your best friend from law school doing now?
He is also a partner at a global law firm.
