BLP banking firebrand Tamara Box on admirable qualities like business vision and fashion sense

Who has been the biggest influence on your career? My mother and my husband in equal measures: my mother taught me early, by example, to aim high and my husband has made all my attempts to "have it all" possible.

What's your proudest professional moment? Making partner (it was so nice to be young and naive).

…and worst day on the job? Preparing a closing memo in the office from the loo floor when I was violently ill.

Aside from your clients, which business figure do you most admire and why? Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. She combines two things I certainly admire: true business vision and great fashion sense!

What's the best book you've ever read on business? Why Women Mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of our Next Economic Revolution by Alison Maitland and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox.

What's the worst character trait of archetypal commercial lawyers? Without a doubt, arrogance! It seems to render them deaf!

Has the recession changed the face of the legal profession? Yes – most firms have felt it necessary to re-evaluate their business models and, of course, it has certainly made a number of lawyers re-evaluate their priorities in the face of job uncertainty.

To what extent do you think the legal profession needs to change over the next 20 years? It needs to change and it will – we are already seeing firms operating differently due to changing client demands. I would like to see us operate in a way that is more aligned with client expectations.

What most annoys you about the banking profession? Its youth! But seriously – the way they focus on only the short term that is so ingrained into the system.

What's your strongest card – technical wizardry or smooth client skills? Anyone who knows me will know it is hardly likely to be the former.

What's your motto? Always exceed expectations.

What's the worst corporate event you've ever attended? A football game. But I pretended it wasn't.

Most memorable deal you have worked on and why? An LBO of an Indonesian palm oil plantation; the bank's counsel, my client and I went for a hike up a volcano to celebrate the closing.

What will be the most significant market trend in terms of your practice area over the next 12 months? Finding new ways for clients to tap the capital markets that appeal to the new conservative investor ethic and still give access to the types of risks and assets that investors are seeking.

To what extent would you agree with the following statement: 'Ally McBeal was a crime against a) the legal profession, b) television, c) the public'? All of the above – 100%.

What's your favourite fictional representation of a lawyer and why? Miranda on Sex & the City – she's the archetypal NY lawyer, but she appears to get to shop, eat and party a lot more than I did when I worked in NY!

Do you see yourself as managing partner material? Of course. But I suspect I'm the only one…

What's your favourite cheese? Its a toss up between Mrs Bourne's Smoked Cheshire and Buxlow Paigle.

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