Mishcon de Reya corporate partner Dean Poster on his loveable banking contacts and why no-one likes a smart arse

Aside from your clients, which business figure do you most admire and why? Richard Branson – with entrepreneurial flair, an eye for a deal, creative marketing and consistent branding, he has maintained his position at the top of the business world and transformed more than one significant industry.

What's your motto? No-one likes a smart arse – a good measure of success is if you can get the deal done without upsetting anyone on the other side.

What's your proudest professional moment? Becoming the youngest equity partner at Coudert Brothers in a generation.

…and worst day on the job? Being served with papers at home at 5am from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett after resigning from Coudert Brothers and they realised that we were taking the entire London and Moscow offices with us. Coudert Brothers ceased business six months after we left.

Has the recession changed the face of the legal profession? Yes. Certain clients seem to have lost their sense of loyalty – deals are tendered and the cheapest triumphs. Winning one deal is no guarantee of a long and happy client relationship going forward… as one former partner always told me: "Loss leaders lead to losses."

What's your favourite fictional representation of a lawyer and why? Arnie Becker from LA Law – seeing him getting ready for work and driving there in the California sun in a Jaguar convertible made me think that law would be just as glamorous here in London – catching the tube to work at 7am on a cold, rainy London day made me accept that it wasn't going to be.

Most memorable deals you have worked on and why? The simultaneous privatisation of five Hungarian gas distribution companies in the mid-1990s for $460m (£286m), when I ran the deal as an associate and spent three months in Hungary. Also, the sale of Earls Court and Olympia in 2007 which was constantly in the media, after rumours that Chelsea Football Club was buying it as a replacement for Stamford Bridge. We ran the auction process with two buyers all the way to one hour before we signed the deal.

To what extent do you think the legal profession needs to change over the next 20 years? We will have to get smarter regarding value-added services, as more areas of law become commoditised and clients have access to all of the same source material that lawyers have. It is happening now.

What's the best business book you've read? When Professionals Have to Lead: A New Model for High Performance by Thomas J DeLong.

What most annoys you about the banking profession? Nothing – I love all my banking contacts!

What is the daftest bit of corporate jargon you've heard (and did you smirk)? I worked at US law firms for 17 years, and it always amused me when the business development 'executives' insisted on using the phrase 'additional service lines across geographies' – when everyone really knows it just means cross-selling.

What's the closest you have come to doing something other than law? Not close enough…

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'? Not at all.

What's your favourite cheese? Wensleydale.

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