Most amusing moment of your career so far?

There are so many! But recently – being told by a US lawyer that it was common knowledge that under international law, US law took precedence over Dutch law. Also attending a meeting with a German counter-party and forgetting, after explaining apologetically that none of our team at the meeting spoke German, that my trainee was fluent in the language. We enjoyed the benefit of some very useful commentary between the members of the counter-party to which they thought we were oblivious!

Most challenging job you've ever done?

As a junior solicitor, acting for a US industrial distribution fund on its acquisition of a well-known and very successful UK industrial developer. I was managing a due diligence process that entailed an obsessive level of detail in relation to over 30 active development sites – managing all of the information was like herding cats with a feather!

What about outside the UK?

Doing a deal for a data centre operator in Amsterdam opposite two of the world's leading oil companies in combined meetings and still holding our own despite being seriously outnumbered.

What's your top tip for client care?

Talk to your clients and contacts even if you don't have a specific reason to do so. That's when you really get to understand them and their business.

And what's your best example of great client service?

A client once gave me power of attorney to sign a deal we were doing in Madrid, the terms of which (we thought) were agreed – right down to the 't's having been crossed and the 'i's dotted. As the client boarded his 24-hour flight to Sydney, his instructions were to 'get the deal signed', with a reminder that I had no remit to change the deal. I was planning on a 30 minute signing meeting starting at 9.30am but entered the meeting room only to be faced with a posse of representatives from the counter-party and a number of lawyers that had been specially flown in from a Chicago firm. They were there to renegotiate the terms of the deal! I was there until 6am the following morning, but came out with the deal signed and not a single change made.

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

I've been chair of the NSPCC's Birmingham Business Group for a few years and only recently stood down to become a committee member. It's been great to be part of such an enthusiastic group raising money in sometimes, quite frankly, daft ways to help fund the terrific work done by the NSPCC. Last year we helped to organise the first ever NSPCC Two Cities Conker Championship in London and Birmingham, which raised over £40,000 and set the World Record for the greatest number of simultaneously-played conker matches!

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

Chambers UK described me as 'thorough' and 'great fun to work with'. The two sound mutually exclusive to me, so I only hope that they are true!