Best brains in ...

Business process outsourcing, systems integration and software licensing. But perhaps more important though, good common sense, commercial advice and sound judgment.

Highlight of your career so far?

Being nearly 20 years qualified, there are just too many highlights to select one, but I have had a real buzz from the work that I am currently doing in the retail and telecoms sectors. We are growing our client base in these sectors rapidly and doing some really interesting work, particularly ERP implementation. This is an exciting time in the IT sector with the advent of virtualization, cloud services and open source. It will be interesting to see how these sectors move to embrace these developments.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

As someone who specialises in high-value, complex contracts, they are all challenging! The outsourcing, BPO and system integration agreements I do require a degree of "partnership" between suppliers and contractors to be successful and I think to capture that in an innovative and workable way is always a big challenge.

What about outside the UK?

We are currently involved in a number of off-shore, outsourcing and BPO's and of course because we work for so many global companies we often provide legal advice across a number of jurisdictions.

What's your top tip for great client service?

Working long hours to deliver a great client service is a given, for me it is all about taking the time to understand a client's business so that the advice you give is relevant and delivered in the right way.

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

I see this as very much part of our day job in the IT team - being so immersed in the IT sector and how it operates means we know what can be achieved for our clients and sometimes equally important, what can't be achieved!

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

'Sally is great with people', I wish my children felt the same!