I’ve been 27 years at Freshfields. I’m not sure where the time has gone.
It’s International Women’s Day on Friday [8 March]. Thinking about my career in that context, when I was starting out, the biggest issue for me was that I was from Liverpool.
A big draw of Freshfields was that it was an international firm. Coming from my background, that was very exciting. I spent time in Hong Kong as a trainee and went back as an associate. I met my husband in Hong Kong and I dragged him back with me. We’ve been married for 21 years.
As a trainee in Hong Kong, you belong to a certain scene. All the trainees hang out together. Ollie, my husband, because he grew up there, introduced me to local Hong Kong. A very different side to the expat scene.
I was drawn to corporate law because it evolves and never feels static. The benefit of working in Hong Kong then was that you didn’t have the know-how support around you. It makes you self-sufficient. You have to think through a range of issues yourself.
It shocks me how much you can Google these days. The love of law and the research is so important. I try to encourage that in the younger lawyers. I always ask them: ‘Have you opened up the Act? Don’t rely on the standard form.’
My son is dyslexic. I was trying to teach him how to use a dictionary. He was resisting. He said: ‘I can go online. Wherever I am in the world, there is more chance of having access to the internet than there is of being able to find a dictionary.’ That’s probably true. It’s a bit like my gran not being able to use a calculator.
When I started, I would often go into a meeting and be the only woman in the room. Gender balance is much better now.
Barry O’Brien said: ‘There’s no way they’ll do it!’ Twenty minutes later, a banker rushed in shouting: ‘They’re bidding back for us!’
People meet a lot less face to face than they used to. I find it a real shame that people prefer conference calls or sending emails back and forth. I’m always reminding junior lawyers to meet the advisers. It’s a lot harder to make an impression remotely.
There is a lot more sector specialism than there used to be and I have benefitted from that. Clients want lawyers to know everything about their particular sector. It is so important to the client.
I’m a people person and I love being part of a team. I like meeting clients, the people on the other side and I enjoy the negotiation.
I love the intense part at the end of a deal where everyone is pulling together to get it done. I get a lot of adrenaline from that. I love seeing the machine humming. I’m not sure if it’s to do with pain threshold or short-term memory, but you have to get over the pain [of deals] quickly. I am good at only remembering the good things.
Most memorable deal? The split of MFI retail from Howdens. It was a very, very intense transaction. It was important to the overall survival of the company. We advised what became Howdens. The business was sold to a turnaround retail outfit. I was a junior partner and remember the pressure to get that done, the weight of responsibility.
Some transactions have crazy timelines. I once said to a client: ‘There is absolutely no way we can do the deal so quickly.’ The client said: ‘No, Claire, pause. Think about what you need to get it done.’ It was multi-jurisdictional, so everybody needed to be in London and the client had to be with me all the time. It was the only way. That taught me an important lesson in terms of turning the question around. The whole thing was bonkers, but we got there.
My first public deal was a hostile takeover. In those days, you were not so restricted about what you could say about the other side. You could all go to town! We were acting for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries. The chairman of Marston’s rejected the offer and 24 hours later we came out with all the documents. It was so punchy. We waited for the defence, talked about the different possibilities: one of them was the Pac-Man defence, where the target turns the table and goes for you. The senior client partner, Barry O’Brien, said: ‘There’s no way they’ll do it!’ Twenty minutes later, a banker rushed into the room, shouting: ‘They’re bidding back for us!’ It was the first time it had been done in the UK. It came down to which management team the shareholders preferred and it was ours.
To be a good lawyer, you have to focus on the points that matter. Clients see through all the point scoring. You also need to follow the money in terms of the contract.
You have to have your own style. I’m the relationship partner for big clients and sometimes you have to have difficult conversations. Being empathetic in bad news – the humanity is sometimes overlooked.
My best trait is my positivity. I’m naturally enthusiastic. My worst trait? I’ve got so many… [laughs]! It’s not always realising that everyone else is not necessarily feeling the same way.
Inspirations? Ruth Markland: she was the head of the Asia practice. She was one of the people who made me think about my career. Barry O’Brien is a complete star. He allowed me to do the most interesting deals and gave me access to his clients. It gave me space to develop. Philip Richards: he’s now the GC of Rio Tinto. He was more senior, but we worked on a lot of the relationships together. That taught me a lot about how you empower junior partners by sharing relationships.
My mother was widowed at a young age. She had four of us to bring up. She looked adversity in the eye and told it where to get off.
Outside of law, my greatest inspiration was my mother. She was widowed at a young age. My father died in a car accident. She didn’t know where the cheque book was. She had four of us to bring up. She looked adversity in the eye and told it where to get off. She always said we could achieve anything we wanted – she had incredible belief in us.
When I made partner, my mother said: [adopts Scouse accent] ‘Good, could you stop working so hard now?’ She thought it was the end, not the beginning – didn’t get that it meant more work.
My elder sister is a barrister on the north-west circuit. Specialises in family law. Some of the cases she gets involved in I couldn’t have got anywhere close – I would find it all too difficult.
My second sister left school at 16 and was the chief executive of Virgin Holidays. She’s so dynamic – goes at 150 miles an hour. My brother is a very successful entrepreneur. He set up Rentalcars.com and sold it to private equity. We are all career focused, which is not that surprising given our background. Our mother always said: ‘You need a career. Don’t rely on anyone else. Plough your own furrow.’
With hiring, you have to be careful it doesn’t get too box-ticking. Some of the most interesting people started off doing something other than law. [Freshfields partner] Jennifer Bethlehem used to be an A&E nurse. If things get intense on deals, she says: ‘Nobody’s dying here!’
My secret love is reading. Even if I work till two in the morning, I still make time to read. I like historic novels – anything with a twist. My husband feeds my reading habit – he goes out and finds books for me. Having said that, the last book I read was a Nordic noir – one of those dark thrillers where everyone gets killed.
I love Tarantino. Films with stylised violence where everyone dies but it’s done in such a beautiful way. Also David Lynch – Twin Peaks.
My football team is Liverpool – I’m a red. Some people are surprised I’m into football. Liverpool gives you a great love of football and music.
My father was a blue (Everton). If he’d lived, I might have been one too. My mother was a red and she took us to matches. My brother and I spend time together going to football. I was disappointed my children aren’t interested. At least my godson is passionate about football.
Work is a pie-eating contest. If you win, the prize is more pies. If you do well, you will be given more work. It’s judging whether others are in the same zone when you go in and say: ‘Oh great! Another hostile takeover!’
nathalie.tidman@elegalease.co.uk
Claire Wills is London managing partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer