Lawyer makes sure business is a pleasure

Feb 4 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

The Questionnaire

What car do you drive?

Mercedes SLK.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

This is a very hard call, I’m torn between Barn Asia, and Café 21 both Newcastle city centre, and both very regular haunts.

Who or what makes you laugh?

a) Ealing comedies.

b) A handful of North-East businessmen who regularly contribute to The Journal, and use photographs which are at least 15 years old.

What’s your favourite book?

Bleak House – notwithstanding its less than positive view of the law.

What was the last album you bought?

Amy Winehouse Back to Black.

What’s your ideal job, other than the one you’ve got?

Presenter – Ski Sunday; a different resort every weekend, working with sportsmen at the top of their field. What could be better?

If you had a talking parrot, what’s the first thing you would teach it to say?

“Today I’m going to bite the a*** of a bear”.

What’s your greatest fear?

Losing enthusiasm for what I am doing.

What’s the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

More career advice than business – don’t be afraid to try something new.

And the worst?

Again, career advice: “The law isn’t a career for women”.

What’s your poison?

Any good crisp Cabernet Sauvignon.

What newspapers do you read, other than The Journal?

Depends on the day of the week; FT, Telegraph, Times on a Tuesday for the legal supplement and The Racing Post on Saturday.

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

£30 – aged 17, working in Fenwick’s Toy Department.

How do you keep fit?

I have a clear conscience on this one; once a week with a trainer; fitness pilates, power yoga, skiing in the winter. In the summer, training for the Race for Life.

What’s your most irritating habit?

A refusal to read any instruction manual and then having to ask somebody to show me how to use the various gadgets in my life.

What’s your biggest extravagance?

Where to start? Clothes, restaurants, but especially art.

Which historical or fictional character do you most identify with or admire?

I’ll plump for a fictional character – Atticus Finch, the protagonist in “To Kill a Mockingbird” – a brave and courageous lawyer who took on a case no one else would touch at huge personal sacrifice. I’ve worked with real life lawyers like him in the International Human Rights work I’ve undertaken.

Which four famous people would you most like to dine with?

Kevin Spacey, who spoke at the Annual JP Morgan/ British American Annual Lecture last summer; Philip Lader (former US Ambassador and on the Advisory Board to BAP); Bill Clinton, and BAP Fellow Jeremy Paxman to keep the conversation flowing.

How would you like to be remembered?

Underneath it all, big hearted.