Best brains in ...?

International M&A, AIM fundraisings (either IPOs or secondary fundraisings) and public takeovers.

Highlight of your career so far?

Acting for civil engineering group Hyder Consulting in connection with its flotation on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange via a reverse takeover of Firth Holdings PLC in 2001. For me, the transaction was tremendously satisfying, both from the point of view of being technically challenging but also of being a great Wragge & Co success story. Andy Lawton-Smith had originally acted for the executive management of Hyder Consulting on its buy-out from an American group and introduced me to the company when it started planning its IPO. Subsequently, we have advised on a number of acquisitions and share issues for Hyder Consulting and advise it across a wide range of disciplines.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

Acting for fully-listed automotive parts manufacturer Pressac PLC in connection with various simultaneous matters, including the (successful) disposal of its communications division via a competitive auction, the (unsuccessful) disposal of its electronics division via another competitive auction, liaising with its lending bank syndicate and advising in connection with a hostile shareholders' general meeting requisitioned by a strategic investor.

What about outside the UK?

The majority of the M&A transactions I advise on are for overseas company clients. I have completed recent acquisitions or disposals for Inverness Medical Innovations (USA), Konecranes (Finland) and PartnerTech AB (Sweden). I travel overseas regularly on business, especially in France and the Nordic region.

What's your definition of going the extra mile?

I'd say that the easiest definition is not just answering the questions the client puts to you, but thinking up the questions he/she ought to be asking and answering those as well! In certain types of transaction - particularly IPO's and public takeovers - the client has often never been involved in such a transaction before and may never be again in their working life. I regard an important part of my role is educating them on what is involved in the transaction, what the functions of each party are and where they fit in.

Dedication to client care? Prove it!

All our major clients are invited to participate in regular client service reviews, conducted by an independent partner. But one Swedish client of mine could hardly believe it when I said that I'd like our reviewer to fly out to sit down with him in his office in Sweden.

When directors at one FTSE quoted client confided in me that they did not think their existing broker had the capacity to provide them with heavyweight corporate finance advice, I set up a series of beauty parades for them with three merchant banks and helped to steer the client and the banks through the selection process.

When the group general counsel of another FTSE quoted client phoned me up one afternoon to say that a key member of their in-house contracts team had gone on emergency sick leave for three months, I worked with fellow partners to identify a secondee and get back to the client with a financial proposal within 48 hours.

Best example of a creative legal solution?

I founded Wragge & Co's Company Secretarial Service, designed to be a centre of excellence for the incorporation of new corporate vehicles for clients, the maintenance of their statutory records and for preparing minutes of directors' and shareholders' meetings for corporate transactions. The Company Secretarial team includes chartered company secretaries and advises clients on their company secretarial practices and supplements the resources of in-house company secretarial teams by providing added resource as and when needed.

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

As I act for overseas headquartered clients who are setting up business in the UK for the first time, I've gone out of my way to put them in touch with other relevant advisers and to give them access to our office facilities when visiting the UK on fact-finding missions.

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

I once took part with colleagues in the 3 Peaks Challenge for Sense. The event entailed climbing Ben Nevis (still snow-covered), Scafell Pike (where it lashed with rain) and Snowdon (where the mist descended) all within 24 hours!

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

'Peers expressed their respect for Julian Henwood's work in leading the AIM group within the wider corporate group...' - Chambers UK