Firm: Ince & Co
Position: Business development partner
Name:
David Steward
Firm: Ince & Co
Position: Business development partner
Lives: Near Cambridge
Education: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Work history:
1980-82: Articled at Ince & Co
1988: Appointed to partnership
What was your first-ever job?
Tanning hides in Suffolk.
What was your worst experience as a trainee?
On my first day in the City, being told by a senior partner the truth about my only suit – a brown tweed number from Grimwade’s in Ipswich.
Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office?
What is really going on in the office?
What time do you usually leave the office?
Somehow never early or late enough to beat the gridlock at Gallions Reach.
What do you do at weekends?
Quality time with my daughter. Quality drinking time with my sons in the university holidays.
What’s your favourite restaurant?
Pizza Express Jazz Club in Dean Street. Never mind the food.
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you have been?
Much more interesting at parties.
Who was your mentor/role model?
John Coltrane. I like to think he was as good at general average claims as I am at playing the tenor.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Ince’s people. No contest.
What’s the toughest thing about your job?
The law. But after 26 years I’m getting the hang of it.
What’s your biggest work/career mistake and what did you learn from it?
As an articled clerk omitting to copy the reverse of a key document, leading to a hiatus in a Court of Appeal hearing. I learnt always to copy the reverse of documents.
What car do you drive?
Lexus Sport Cross, 1972 Lotus Elan Sprint drop-head convertible – social class A, middle-aged, divorced, male esteem seeker.
What book are you currently reading?
I’m struggling with my new washing machine manual most nights.
What’s on your CD player at the moment?
Bill Evans’ Waltz for Debby and a couple of empty wine bottles.
What’s your favourite children’s book?
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
What’s the most exciting deal/case you’ve worked on and why?
A rig loss, fortunately with no injury or loss of life. It was re-enacted for the BBC’s 999 programme, and I got to meet a man with the title ‘Director of the North Sea’.
If you were stranded on a desert island what two luxury items would you take?
Two iPods.
What’s the worst partner conference location you’ve attended?
All our conferences were held in our former offices. Fortunately, we’ve moved.
What’s the longest you’ve worked without sleep?
Twelve hours. I’m a litigator. We don’t do all-nighters.
If a movie was being made about your life, which actor would play you and why?
I know this one. A barmaid in Korea once told me I looked like a film star – Mr Bean.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
Any country and western singer.
