I spent 36 years as a corporate lawyer, the last 16 with Ashfords LLP where I held various management roles including Managing Partner of the Plymouth and Bristol offices, Risk Management Partner, and Director of Marketing. Before that, I was a partner at two other regional firms.

As a corporate lawyer, I led cross-disciplinary teams on complex transactions for major private and public sector clients. I specialized in corporate governance and compliance, particularly at the intersection of public and private sectors, and in the powers, duties, and responsibilities of members, officers, directors, and trustees.

After leaving practice, I was asked by Jomati Consultants to research the challenges of partner retirement in law firms. That research led to an introduction to the founders of Milestones, and I've been working with them since 2015. The work combines my experience in professional services firms with research into career transitions - particularly for senior professionals who are facing the question of what comes next.

I've held non-executive director, chair, and trustee roles with charities and civil society organisations for over 30 years. These include ten years as Chair of Trustees at Bridge Support, where I learned the difference between governance oversight and operational involvement - and when each is needed.

My approach to all of this work is shaped by three things: finding the gaps (what's not there is often more important than what is), insisting on clear explanation (I'd always prefer "I don't know" to a guess), and believing that lessons are always learned.

I wrote this to my son some years ago:

"Looking back over some 36 years of corporate law, I am struck less by the successes – of which there were a number – as by the disappointments. To some extent it is the latter that have defined my working life as a lawyer. And yet they have also allowed me to develop, to adjust, to grow: and so, in a strange way, they have been responsible for the successes."

That's still how I see it.

Education: MA Modern History, Christ Church, Oxford | Law Society Examinations