What would you be doing if you weren’t in this profession?

Something to do with property – buying, selling, renovating or decorating, or a combination of all four! My capacity to watch programs such as Grand Designs, Your Home Made Perfect and anything with George Clark in it is truly endless. Slightly different but Selling Sunset is a firm favourite, too.

What’s the strangest, most exciting thing you have done in your career?

Not strange, necessarily, but for me moving to Guernsey from the UK in 2016, at 1 year PQE, was very exciting, not to mention challenging. The move meant familiarizing myself with a new legal landscape, in which while the principles were often familiar local case law, legislation, convention and practice was not. For example, it is sometimes necessary to consult old French texts on matters of Norman customary law, which is not something I ever had to do in the UK! Since moving to the Island I have worked on all manner of cases for all manner of clients based all over the world, not only in Guernsey and Jersey but also in Russia, Hong Kong, the US and the Middle East (to name a few). Not knowing where the next instruction is going to come from is generally very exciting.

What is the easiest/hardest aspect of your job?

It's a cliché but the easiest aspect of my job is the people involved, whether colleagues, clients or intermediaries. The hardest part is fitting everything in. I love meeting people and helping with local events in the legal and wider business industry, which generally means there is almost always something to be done of an evening. I'm involved at director/committee level with both the Young Business Group and the Guernsey International Legal Association – if any Guernsey based readers would like to know more about either organization please don't hesitate to get in touch!

If you could give one piece of advice to our FIRE Starters (nextgen) practitioners, what would it be?

Initiative and enthusiasm will get you far.

What do you think will be the most significant trend in your practice over the next 12 months?

As the support made available to businesses through the pandemic starts to dry up I do think we'll see an increase in administrations and insolvencies. Sadly, I also suspect there are individuals who will have seen the past few years as an opportunity to take advantage of the vulnerable and/or the measures enacted to facilitate remote working for example for their won dishonest gains, as a result of which we may see increased activity in the fraud and asset recovery space.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I'm originally from South Wales. As Welsh people are generally known to be able to carry a tune, I would love to be able to sing. That I'm tone-deaf feels like I'm letting the nation down.

What is the one thing you could not live without?

Carbs, specifically cheese, pasta and bread.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?

Lin Manuel Miranda.

What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

See above – a few from Hamilton for sure, as well as from the likes of the Killers and Kings of Leon (I graduated in the late noughties) and, given the Welsh connection, the Stereophonics and Tom Jones, naturally.  

What does the perfect weekend look like?

If in Guernsey, drinks Friday night, a cliff run or a game of squash Saturday morning, dinner out Saturday night followed by the papers, brunch and a beach trip on Sunday – generally lots of eating and drinking!

Looking forward to 2022, what are you most looking forward to?

Life (hopefully) returning to normal – no more masks or social distancing and finally being able to travel freely.

This interview was first published in ThoughtLeaders4 Fire Magazine, 'FIRE Starters edition'- Issue 8.

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