The Hot 100 career quiz: “Good things come to those who work their a%$! off”

What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?

I trained at Clifford Chance in London back before the GFC. It is difficult now to explain to my junior colleagues quite how far technology has progressed and the changes that have arisen to our day to day working practices. Can you imagine that I only had a blackberry (a blackberry!) for the first time when I was sent to Hong Kong in my third seat of my training contact? You couldn’t even access the web on it!

As a result, most of my memories from being a trainee are paper based – standing at a printer for hours preparing bundles, prepping huge closing meetings where my fellow trainees and I would spend an entire night tabbing documents for signature, or standing at the fax machine feeding in pages to exchange documents. The most vivid though is in fact two back-to-back memories – 6th July 2005 being in the work canteen and having a mass celebration as London won the 2012 Olympics (CC helped on the bid) and then the very next day being ordered away from the windows of the Canary Wharf tower we were in because it was the 7/7 bombings in London. High to very low.

What is the thing in your professional career that has terrified you or taken you out of your comfort zone the most?

I think anyone who answers this honestly will have a hundred examples of such moments over their career, and that is certainly true for me. Most recently of course is the Horizon IV Fundraise – which kicked off in December 2021 and progressed notwithstanding the Russian hostilities in Ukraine. We at Stephenson Harwood had advised Horizon on their GP-Led secondary in 2020 and know the team well – personally therefore there was a lot which was out of my comfort zone about hearing their day to day struggles throughout 2022.

Professionally of course it was also extremely challenging; for reasons bespoke to the mandate we had a deadline of September 30 2022 to reach a fund first closing – and it is a testament to the tenacity of Lenna and Horizon first and foremost, but also of the investors themselves, that we managed to document an agreement and confirm over $100m of investment into Ukraine notwithstanding the geopolitical context.

What is the wisest thing anyone ever said to you (and who said it)?

I have been very lucky to work with and train under so many excellent lawyers, many of whom I admire for their various strengths and who have each given me excellent advice along the way – but which I can’t regurgitate in any pithy form! That said, the best piece of advice I have been given is nothing to do with law but was a text sent to me by my good friend who had roped me into running the marathon with her: Good things come to those who work their a%$! off. And as life advice goes I think there is a lot to be said for it.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?

I am never really sure how useful or wanted advice from the top is. Especially given how different the workplace is to when I first started, and no doubt how different it will be again when those who are starting out now reach their goals. The only advice I ever give (equally unwanted!) is to my children, and it is simple:  work hard and be kind.

What’s your best friend from law school doing now?

I didn’t really have a best friend at law school – although I am still in touch with a group of them and they are all still lawyers in some shape or form. ‘Best’ legal friendships were forged in the fire of my training contract – one of whom was a bridesmaid at my wedding and now, all these years later, whose children are friends with mine. She is still a lawyer, but more importantly to our friendship, a fellow cinnamon bun addict and for this reason (amongst many others) I have no doubt we will be friends for life.