What is your daily morning routine?
We work flexibly at Laurence Simons (LS) so my morning routine differs day-to-day based on where I am working, or what I have going on in and out of work! When I work from the London office, I commute in from Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, grab a coffee as I walk past St. Paul’s and try to remember to actually look at it, most days I forget to.
How did you come to be a Consultant at Laurence Simons?
I spent close to six years working for leading search firms, moving Associates between law firms in London, largely working with city law firms. I grew quite disenchanted with the repetition of the associate contingent recruitment world and made a conscious decision to try my hand at retained search. I joined Laurence Simons (LS) in the Summer of 2021, initially working on search execution but in Jan ’23 I was promoted to the Sales team, where my role is now focused on business development and winning search mandates.
What projects are you currently working on?
Currently we are advising on few projects. Specifically, a leading tech focused venture capital fund who are looking to appoint a dedicated funds lawyer in London, we’re dealing directly with their General Counsel. We’ve also recently closed two senior M&A searches in the UK and the US for an insurance brokerages, it is a newly formed dedicated M&A team so it has a really interesting ‘build’ angle to it. On the compliance side, we are advising on an international team build for a pharmaceuticals business who have recently made some exciting acquisitions.
Who do you work most closely with?
I work closely with Victoria Jackson, a Senior Director in the London office, we’ve done some really interesting work recently on Compliance team build-outs, across highly regulated environments, all around the world.
What do you enjoy about your work?
The diversity has always been the key for me in recruitment generally, even in private practice no two candidates are the same. This diversity is even more pronounced when working across sectors, regions and cultures.
How do you socialise with the team?
I am the appointed Social Secretary for LS and take the lead on planning events for the London team. We’ve had some fun evenings out, enjoying great food and drink. The Social Team has expanded and we have some more adventurous ideas percolating for later this year… apparently going to the pub isn’t exciting enough.
How do you spend time out of work, and what are your main hobbies and passions?
Outside of work I tend to have my sights set on some form of sporting goal, over the last few years that has been long course triathlon events, I completed IRONMAN Zurich in 2019, and last October, I did IRONMAN Barcelona. I also go into marathon swimming, I love endurance challenges and find it to be the best form of escapism; when you’re staring into the murky depths of a lake for hours on end, it is surprisingly peaceful.
Outside of training, I love eating and drinking, there is nothing more exciting for me than a food market in a European city, the combination of fresh seafood, wine bars, temperatures north of 25 degrees is my idea of heaven.
What are you currently looking forward to?
In a professional context, I’m looking forward to the next phase of LS’ growth and my own professional development in the Consultant role, it will be a steep learning curve and a challenge for me but I’m looking forward to it.
On a personal level, I’m looking forward to summer coming, moving house, travelling and hopefully deciding on the next sporting goal.
Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
Hitchin is a lovely market, commuter town, it’s fantastically located for London and really can’t complain about the commute. I’m also a bit of a country boy so I do really appreciate the ease with which I can be in the middle of nowhere quite quickly.
The best thing for me about Hitchin is the outdoor swimming pool, 50 meters of bliss, my spring/summer routine is to swim there as much as I can and when the weather is nice, you really can trick yourself into thinking you’re not in Hertfordshire.
What are your favourite places in the city?
I’ve been working and socialising in London for quite a few years now and one of the things I love is that there always seems to be somewhere you haven’t been. The places I always find myself going back to are the smaller, less known about pubs that are off the beaten track.
Do you have any recommendations?
St. John in Farringdon. It is a restaurant but you can also go there for a drink, do some reading on it before you go, quite interesting. Sweetings, the fish pie and a bottle of white burgundy, or Ye Olde Mitre, Farringdon.