Tell us about your background and your route into Linklaters?

I grew up on a farm and everyone in my family is a farmer. Working on a farm is hard work and you spend a lot of time working on your own. I was always intrigued by the buzz of The City. I went to university to study English, but I always had law at the back of my mind. I came to Linklaters on a vacation scheme during my third year and loved it. It was a great experience and I got exposure to life in a large City institution. I thought "this is it for me"! It has been a great journey ever since; the opportunities here are tremendous and they keep growing over time.

Can you give us an overview of your career so far and what opportunities you've had at Linklaters?

One of the reasons I chose Linklaters was the fact that it was an international firm, and it gave opportunities to travel. I've been incredibly lucky - I spent six months on secondment as a trainee, two years in Hong Kong SAR as a managing associate, also spending time in Singapore and working throughout Asia. I've been lucky to travel and do deals all over the world, also in Europe, Africa and in the Middle East. Linklaters has delivered everything I hoped for and I would encourage anyone to take these opportunities when they come. You meet amazing people and learn a huge amount. I left Linklaters for a couple of years to try my hand at working in an investment bank – it was a good experience but it helped me to realise what is so special about working here.

What would you say has been the most exciting or interesting deal you've worked on during your time at Linklaters?

Too many! I change my mind on this often. It's always exciting working on deals that end up on the front page of the Financial Times. When I was a junior associate, I worked on a rights issue for one of the world’s largest banks, which was the largest ever UK capital raise and was carried out in complete secrecy even from most of the partners in my group. That was really cool. I've worked on IPOs for incredible companies and done some really difficult restructuring transactions that have saved companies from the brink. These are the ones that always stand out but the incredible thing here is the variety of the work we do.