Name: Fiona Penhallurick
Organisation: Birmingham Airport
Role: General Counsel and Company Secretary
Based: Birmingham
Trained at: Pinsent & Co (Now Pinsent Masons)
Year qualified: 1992
What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?
Learning by observing from one of the most intelligent and generous men I have met that the interactions with EVERYONE in the organisation matter. Over 20 years later I am still greeted with affection by the receptionist and security guards in my old firm.
Also being involved in organising a fundraising event for RNIB which involved teach two partners how to kayak (with varying degrees of success).
What is the thing in your professional career that has terrified you or taken you out of your comfort zone the most?
The last couple of years have been extremely challenging with various matters. However, the six months I spent as an MD having to close a business was a particular challenge. I was really proud of what we were able to accomplish and how we were able to conduct ourselves, the decisions we made and the opportunities we left open for the future for the parent company. I am still in a WhatsApp group with most of the people them I made redundant and speak regularly to some of them.
What is the wisest thing anyone ever said to you (and who said it)?
Get a mentor (lots of people) and as my long time friend and mentor –“always be the best version of you, everyone else is taken. “
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?
Be curious, ask questions. Take every opportunity to get to understand the business from every angle and perspective you can. It is more fun when you get to drive around the airfield, go to the air traffic tower and see behind the scenes in the airport and helps you understand the impact of your decisions better.
Also – apply the 24 hour rule before you send an email that you think may not be well received. The edits you apply 24 hours later, which sometime are just the press delete, are never wasted.
What’s your best friend from law school doing now?
I had two best friends and housemates, one is a director of a property investment company and the other is a shipping partner in a City law firm.
