Interview with: Gareth Brahams, Managing Partner

1) What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capability?

My best professional achievement was achieving a win for Alex Osipov in the Court of Appeal where I came up with a novel point of law which delivered a £2m victory for the client and changed and improved the law on whistleblowing in the process. Personally, I am proud to be a father to five children who all support Arsenal!

 

2) What do you do differently from your peers in the industry?

My favourite quote about me was that “no one works harder to get a result for their client.” I am highly competitive and that plays out in my relentless focus on winning disputes.

 

3) What advice would you give to your younger self?

Other than cycle a bit slower which might have caused me to avoid a life-threatening accident, I don’t so much have advice as gratitude to that ambitious young man who took risks – including choosing to face a serious risk of unemployment rather than take a role in another area of law that he found less interesting at the firm where he qualified. Yes, I made plenty of mistakes, but I would not tell my younger self not to make them – how would I have learned from them?

 

4) Can you give me a practical example of how you helped a client add value to the business?

I think some businesses can let the law drive poor business decisions rather than make the right business decisions even if that means taking some legal risk. I just had a client suggest they should put a whole pool of people at risk of redundancy even though only two of them will actually lose their role. I have suggested a different course that will be much less unsettling for all concerned.

 

5) Within your sector, what do you think will be the biggest challenge for clients over the next 12 months?

The adoption of the “non-financial misconduct” rules will formalise in the financial sector what has already to some extent become the case for many employees in regulated sectors including lawyers, that even relatively minor allegations of sexual misconduct cannot just be job-ending but career ending.