What was your first ever job?
Shop assistant in a school uniform outfitters.
What was your worst experience as a trainee?
Being sent unbriefed and without papers to court to represent a commercial client on a driving offence, with no idea of procedure or what I was meant to do.
Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office?
Out with my secretary Nancy.
What time do you usually leave the office?
It depends on the evening’s arrangements and, inevitably, client requirements.
What do you do at weekends?
Get lots of fresh air and sport with my boys in the country.
What’s your favourite restaurant?
The Pfahl in the Eiffel mountains, near the Nürburgring.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you have been?
A motoring journalist.
Who was your mentor or role model?
Tony Smith, the most insightful and perceptive lawyer I’ve ever met, who gave me a tough time in training, but we went on to become firm friends.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Quality work, quality environment – and my Blackberry.
What’s the toughest thing about your job?
Counsel’s diary.
What’s your biggest work/career mistake and what did you learn from it?
Being persuaded against my better judgment to let a client give evidence – of course, the judge hated him.
What car(s) do you drive?
Having grown out of Porsches (it won’t last) I’ve just got a classic Alfa Romeo for historic rallies. A Fiat Multipla swallows mountain bikes, embarrasses my boys and makes friends laugh.
What book are you currently reading?
Bloody Foreigners by Robert Winder.
What’s on your CD player at the moment?
Call off the Search by Katie Melua.
What’s your favourite children’s book?
The Observer’s Book of Automobiles, circa 1966.
