Life During Law: Robbie McLaren

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Life During Law: Robbie McLaren

University in my family was always something vocational. I hated science, so that was doctor and vet out the way. I did an accounting internship and found that just a bit dull. That really left law. That was basically it.

Studying law at university was awful. I enjoyed arts subjects at school, history and geography. I quickly realised that, when you’re studying at school, you’re rewarded for creativity. Studying law, you’re not. The first couple of years were just the building blocks of the legal system and it was very much – ‘this is what the rules are, you need to know them and apply them to the facts’. Overall, I’d give it a six out of ten, but the first two years were more like a three out of ten. Continue reading “Life During Law: Robbie McLaren”

Keystone Law: Our Little Book

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Keystone Law: Our Little Book

‘400 lawyers, 25 services, 19 sectors, one ethos.’ So says the mysteriously titled ‘Our Little Book’, which adorns the table in the meeting room greeting Legal Business after the short journey from Fleet Street to Keystone Law’s Chancery Lane office. The very idea of there being an office might raise eyebrows, given the firm’s reputation as a ‘virtual law firm’. The London location is the only physical space owned by the company and, with its abundance of meeting rooms and hot-desking spaces, is not designed to house everyone at once.

A lack of a conventional workspace is only the start. The firm breaks from tradition in all manner of ways, and yet has grown apace in recent years. Revenue rose 27% to £69.6m in the 2021/22 financial year, and scarcely a month passes without a flurry of new recruits announced. After several pandemic-hit years in which people from all walks of life reassessed their working habits, the model is viewed with a good deal less suspicion than it once was. Continue reading “Keystone Law: Our Little Book”

Life During Law: Sara Maccallum

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Life During Law: Sara Maccallum

Boodle Hatfield is 300 years old this year. Weʼve had a number of events celebrating this milestone, all leading up to a big party for everyone at the firm, which weʼre all looking forward to!

The legacy of the firm is as a trusted adviser to private clients, starting out as a sort of in-house steward to the Grosvenor family, and we want to build on the success of the past 300 years as we are merely the custodians of the Boodle Hatfield name. It may be a cliché, but the firm really is a family of people that are working together, and I hope that we can maintain that and build on it, even in this different working environment that we now find ourselves in. Continue reading “Life During Law: Sara Maccallum”

Life During Law: Jeff Twentyman

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Life During Law: Jeff Twentyman

I acquired through reading an interest in justice and the role law could play. One book I read in my late teens was influential. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by American journalist and author Peter Matthiessen. Written in 1983 about an individual who was part of the American Indian Movement called Leonard Peltier. He happens to still be in jail 45 years later, in what this book would tell you was a major miscarriage of justice. It profoundly affected me. The idea that law could be a force for good attracted me to the legal system.

I was predisposed to arguing. I found it interesting to pursue the right answer through discussing it with people. Constructive arguing rather than arguing in a teenager-y sort of way. I made the connection that actually the two things played into each other. I was possibly a little bit idealistic. Continue reading “Life During Law: Jeff Twentyman”

Deals perspectives: Sylvia Andriessen

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Deals perspectives: Sylvia Andriessen

In high school I got fascinated by courtrooms, the idea of standing in front of a judge and arguing! I’ve always loved to play with language and debate. I wanted to be in private practice, that was my dream, thinking that I knew what that was, which of course, I didn’t! When you’re so young and idealistic, it was more conceptual, looking for justice, rather than understanding what you really want when you’re 15.

Continue reading “Deals perspectives: Sylvia Andriessen”

Deals perspectives: Samantha Thompson

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Deals perspectives: Samantha Thompson

I saw a seagull trying to drink a glass of red wine the other day. I was at the House of Lords for an event on ESG governance and standing on the balustrade of the terrace was a massive seagull sticking its beak into a glass of red. It knocked one glass into the Thames and then another. There are so many awful things going on in the world but this kind of thing keeps me amused!

Continue reading “Deals perspectives: Samantha Thompson”

Life During Law: Diala Minott

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Life During Law: Diala Minott

My mum is Syrian and my father’s Iraqi. I was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. I was influenced by the war in Lebanon and then the war in Iraq. Constantly moving and never having a place that you can call your own, but also fighting to be educated.

As a girl in Saudi Arabia, I had to dress up as a boy to go swimming and horse riding. All the things women weren’t allowed to do. When I became a teenager, I wasn’t allowed to any more. It was very obvious that I was not a boy and I found my world cut in half. Continue reading “Life During Law: Diala Minott”

Disputes perspectives: Bankim Thanki QC

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Disputes perspectives: Bankim Thanki QC

My father had been a lawyer in India and East Africa but wasn’t keen on me becoming a lawyer. It’s a bit of a standing joke but it’s true – every Indian parent wants their kid to become a doctor, whether or not you have any skillset in that direction! My dad was dead against the Bar in particular because it didn’t have a regular income attached. There was no family encouragement whatsoever. Continue reading “Disputes perspectives: Bankim Thanki QC”