Herbert Smith's corporate veteran on duff DIY skills and why ECM deals still get the heart pumping

Why did you become a lawyer? I took a circuitous path to law school, after a detour studying engineering at Berkeley. While in the PhD programme I realised that, A, I was competing with others who were more passionate about the subject and, B, a PhD in electrical engineering and work in the private sector afterwards require a great deal of manual skills and I've never been particularly good at DIY. My father and both grandfathers all studied law, so law school was a natural (though belated) choice. I haven't looked back since!

Who has been the biggest influence on your career? Jim Wickenden and Allen Hanen at Herbert Smith taught me a great deal about building a practice by dint of their fantastic talent, hard work and great mentoring skills. Also Randy Guynn at Davis Polk & Wardwell, who's a great lawyer and wonderful mentor.

What's your proudest professional moment? Successfully completing an initial public offering (IPO) is always a special moment to be celebrated with the client, particularly as you've typically gotten to know them well after working intensely together for a number of months.

…and worst day on the job? When, after putting heart and soul into acting for the banks on a massive proposed equity offering by a household name to fund an acquisition and after an extraordinary amount of work by our team, the seller rejected a proposed revision, which effectively terminated the deal. 

Aside from your own firm, which lawyer do you most admire and why? Ash Qureshi, who has a genius for managing transactions in a technically superb but also fun way; Julian Makin at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, who's an outstanding lawyer with great client skills; and Paul Kumleben at Davis Polk, for the terrific intellect and calm that he brings to transactions.

What advice would you give to young deal lawyers starting out? Find an area of law that you're passionate about – you'll be more successful and will enjoy it more.

What's the best part of your job? As an ECM lawyer I'm privileged to have a job where I work closely with clients in different countries and help them to raise capital. Many of these deals are transformational, enabling them to secure the future of their businesses, and sometimes helping them avoid bankruptcy and save thousands of jobs.

What most annoys you about the legal profession? Lawyers on ECM deals who act in an uncooperative fashion and who fail to understand that we're all working towards the same goal.

What's the worst corporate event you've ever attended? A corporate event in the Midlands in November was one of the low points – it didn't have a lot of charm and the weather didn't cooperate.

What is the daftest bit of corporate jargon you've heard (and did you smirk)? I worked on a deal where one of the principals asked for almost all significant matters on conference calls to be dealt with 'offline', which meant that little of substance was actually dealt with on the scheduled calls.

What will be the most significant market trend in terms of your practice area over the next 12 months? We're seeing increasing IPO activity, especially in the emerging markets. I'm happiest when doing deals, so hopefully this trend will continue.

Do you see yourself having a career outside law? Probably not, although I've always enjoyed teaching – I find it satisfying to reduce issues and concepts to their fundamental core in a way that makes them easy to understand and avoids unnecessarily complicating the subject.

What's your favourite item of clothing? It's tough to beat jeans at the weekend.

What's your favourite cheese? French cheeses, especially Roquefort, St Marcellin and perfectly ripened Crottin de Chavignol.

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