Best brains in ...

Capital structure work.

Highlight of your career so far?

Every job you get has to be a highlight. If you are not enjoying the job and feeling that you're achieving something extra for the client that the client might not achieve if he had instructed someone else then you shouldn't be doing the job in the first place.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

Being instructed on a scheme takeover less than 48 hours before the deadline for the bid was due to expire. You couldn't do things in the usual way: you had to think of a different way of approaching the documentation and of course the clock was ticking away.

What's your definition of going the extra mile... And when have you done it?

It is what we do as a firm on a daily basis. The work we do is by its nature complicated and difficult. You can't expect that the unexpected won't occur. You have to work on the basis that it will. Going the extra mile is in the job description.

How do you get under the skin of a client's business?

You can't escape commercial issues by saying you are just a lawyer and you can't escape from difficult legal questions by saying a client has got to take a commercial view. You have to know how to use the law so that your client obtains a commercial advantage. That can be something as simple as being one step ahead of the opposition in the drafting so that your client has a time advantage or giving solid legal advice on an issue so that your client has the confidence in holding out for a better deal.