Sir Alan Sugar, the renowned entrepreneur and former chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC, didn’t get to where he is today without employing the right people around him.

Sugar is currently starring in BBC2’s The Apprentice, offering the prize of a £100,000 job in his company to 14 desperately eager wannabe entrepreneurs. Although clearly a man with a nose for talent, it nevertheless helps to have a savvy right-hand man – or in this case, woman. Step forward Margaret Mountford, one of Sugar’s two key advisers in this tortuous selection process.

Mountford, Tulkinghorn has learnt, honed her skills as a corporate partner at Herbert Smith, where for more than 20 years she advised Sugar. And no doubt got to grips with the equally tortuous selection processes employed by law firms.