When I was nine years old, an elderly relative told me I should consider being a lawyer because I was an argumentative brat. On that flimsy basis I studied law with German law. For my first year, I hated the subject – everything had come easily to me at school but this new thing required a lot of effort. I nearly gave up. At some point I had one of those moments that still makes me wince, but that nevertheless shaped my life. I was sitting on the floor of my room alone, pre-loading on vodka and listening to Pink Floyd’s Time when I had a moment of white panic that I was going to achieve nothing with my life. I ended up learning that the surest way to start to enjoy something is to get good at it, which is usually the reward of a tonne of hard work. I ended up loving my law degree.
When I joined Allen & Overy, I discovered that I adored the puzzle of understanding, structuring,and negotiating derivatives transactions. It was a total nerd bonanza, and it was perfect for me. During this time, as a junior associate, I squiffily wrote an email to a girl I was dating telling her how much I liked her and… well you get the idea. I put my BlackBerry into my pocket but forgot to lock the keypad. While it was in my pocket, I somehow pressed the combination of buttons to forward my amorous email to ‘A&O New York (all)’. I checked my BlackBerry the next morning and my blood ran cold. I was certain my career was going to end with an article picking over my lovestruck sweet nothings.
