Paul Pascoe was a partner in private practice when he first came across Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby. Pascoe's firm Palmer Cowen acted for Edmonds and his company, The Unique Group.
It was a few late-night drinking sessions four-and-a-half years ago that changed the course of his life: "Noel got me drunk on three or four occasions and said, 'Come and get a proper job,'" Pascoe says.
He eventually succumbed and moved to Unique as group chief executive, joining the growing band of lawyers moving from private practice to a managerial role.
Pascoe says it was always his intention to move into business. "That is why I chose to go to a West End firm rather than a City firm. Smaller clients rely on their lawyers much more, so you get involved in the early stages of the deal. With more sophisticated clients the in-house team simply comes to you and says: 'I have done the deal, can you condense the paper work and make sure it is legally tight?'"
Pascoe now plays a key role in the running of the company. He constantly refers to "we" – that is, "Noel and myself"- when talking about the business operations.
Edmonds set up The Unique Group in the late 1980s as a means of retaining intellectual property rights as a presenter and performer. At the time it was common practice for entertainers in the US to do this, but Edmonds was the first person to do so in the UK. Since then other high profile names have followed suit, notably Chris Evans with Ginger Productions.
Pascoe says it makes sense. "In a notoriously fickle and insecure industry it is a means of creating greater control over your future. It is a way of ensuring that any ideas that you come up with belong to your £100,000 company with a plaque on the wall as opposed to the broadcaster."
Edmonds has reaped the benefits. Aside from making him very rich, the company has given him something to do following his decision to retire from the BBC.
According to Pascoe he was specifically brought on board to build up the company while Edmonds worked out his contract.
"My brief was to develop the businesses so that if at the end of Noel's contract with the BBC in March 2000, which seemed an awfully long time away, he wanted to stop being on the telly – and believe it or not that was the discussion we had at the time – then he could."
The Unique Group was one of Pascoe's key clients at Palmer Cowen. As the company grew in size so Pascoe did more and more work for the group. At the time that he left, Pascoe says that Unique's work was taking up 15-20% of his time and he was taking on a greater and greater management role.
When he joined the group there were two businesses up and running. The first, Unique Broadcasting, was established to capitalise on the deregulation of the independent radio industry. It now has 33 series in production including the Pepsi Chart Show, the Richard Allanson Show on Radio 2 and Pause for Thought on Radio 4. Founded 10 years ago, the Unique group is now only a minority shareholder in the company.
There was also an aviation business which was essentially set up for aircraft broking. Edmonds supplied helicopters for Live Aid through this. The bottom fell out of the market in the late 1980s and the business is now largely defunct. Under Pascoe the group has expanded. He says that there are now 18 or 19 separate businesses including the Unique Television Production Company, a Unique Special Events Company and a talent management agency – Unique Artists.
The company has 130 staff and is run from Kensington Village, Marylebone, Kidderminster and Edmonds' home in Devon.
Aside from the Unique subsidiaries, Pascoe has set up two separate corporate identities: the Engineering Design Business and a videoconferencing company VMC (Video Meeting Company.)
VMC is clearly close to Pascoe's heart. He enthuses about the benefits of communication by video screen and the cost savings that can be made from conducting meetings in the office rather than travelling across countries and continents.
His knowledge of the legal market came into play with the launch of a drive by VMC to break into the law firm market, which was reported by Legal Week in September.
Pascoe says that the benefits of international communication are becoming more and more obvious with increasing globalisation. "It is a little-known fact that communication by video is already very prevalent. The top 1,000 businesses in Europe all have video communications."
He says that he is surprised at how well the notoriously conservative legal market has responded. Since June, VMC already has a take up of three or four dozen firms.
As a lawyer in a management role, Pascoe says that very little of his time is spent in pure legal work. When he started with Unique, Pascoe says there was very much a small company mentality with everyone "rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in". Now that the company is bigger, most of his time is spent in management and developing the business.
On the legal front, Pascoe has to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to grow the business units. He does not subscribe to the idea that all contracts and deals require complex legal documentation.
He tries to keep the transaction as simple as possible. Pascoe says that he closes most contracts with a simple two or three-page letter. A case in point is a recent deal with the comedy club Jongleurs to produce their television and radio programming over the next three years. This deal was concluded in a one-and-a-half page letter .
"It is my knowledge of the law that allows me to quickly knock up the letter that covers most of the basics," he says. "This undoubtedly enables me to save costs."
Where work is outsourced, Pascoe instructs his old firm Palmer Cowen for general contract work and some litigation, and Stewarts in Lincoln's Inn for other litigation and property work.
He recently brought in Berwin Leighton to advise on a large corporate deal, which involved stock market issues. He says that, while he is sure that Palmer Cowen could have done it, he felt more comfortable instructing a firm that deals with the issues on a day-to-day basis as its core competency.
Pascoe does not have an in-house legal team and says he cannot foresee a situation where he would bring lawyers on board. He is happy to continue instructing outside advisers where a transaction merits it.
As the company grows in size it is inevitable that external firms will be brought in more often.
This week another firm, Denton Hall, has been instructed to advise on the legal implications of Edmonds' split from the BBC. Pascoe says that Michael Ridley from Dentons advises one of the production companies and he has clearly been impressed by the work.
Pascoe says Edmonds has been treated unfairly by the BBC. But his commitment to the entertainer does not extend to watching Mr Blobby.
While he professes a huge respect for Edmonds' "appetite for frothy, light entertainment", he says that he is the first to admit that he is not the sort of person who would naturally switch on Edmonds' programmes if he is at home on a Saturday evening.
But he says he has no regrets about changing to his new role. "Within a few months of leaving private practice I wondered how I could ever have enjoyed it. My role is now so different. There is a greater sense of freedom and the ability to make an impact."