Best brains in...

Mid-market private equity and venture investment, portfolio matters and divestment work. I am a member of the ICAEW's corporate finance faculty technical committee and regularly present and write about matters of interest to private equity and venture investors.

What is the highlight of your career so far?

Advising a particular company on various investment rounds (which together exceed £45 million raised) involved in the development of novel oncology therapeutic candidates. It continues to be very rewarding to be involved with this venture.

Most challenging job you have ever done?

This would probably be our instruction to act for 3i on the £160 million secondary buy-out of Hayley Conference Centres Limited. Although commercial negotiation of the transaction took place over several months, for various reasons, the legal process was compressed into a very short period indeed. We overcame significant legal, tax and practical obstacles to ensure the transaction completed as required.

What about outside the UK?

Although the majority of our mid-market transactions are almost exclusively UK based, a lot of our venture work is international. For example, in a recent life science investment matter, we acted for a syndicate of eight investors, with members of that syndicate in Australia, Japan, Denmark and the US.

What is your top tip for great client service?

Be passionate about your clients and their transactions. Availability, quality advice and rapid deal execution then become second nature.

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

All our clients operate in a competitive environment. Many of our mid-market private equity investors are successful in creating investment opportunities, in part, because of their commitment to complete the transaction within a fairly short time scale. We focus on excellent deal execution, supporting our clients' commitment to the transaction delivery. Enabling a client to complete a transaction within only a couple of weeks really helps that investor secure further investment opportunities. We also try to generate introductions and opportunities for our clients whenever and wherever possible.

What is your single greatest contribution to Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility?

In addition to acting for life science and med-tech investors and companies whose purpose is to create novel therapeutic solutions to proven clinical need, I have been involved in several (possibly foolish) sporting endeavours. These include running the London Marathon and cycling to Barcelona (not during the same year!). Quite apart from the cramp and blisters, this has raised over £10,000 for various charities.