Ben works closely with the Talent Acquisition & Delivery function to uncover and engage legal professionals across various industries, mapping talent for multinational organisations.
In this instalment of ‘Life in the Day’, Ben shares his average day, interests, and hobbies.
What is your daily morning routine?
Prolonged warfare with the alarm, a battle of attrition that the alarm always wins. Finally, I succumb to defeat and its terms of surrender; to get up and start the day.
What is your Laurence Simons office like?
The home working desk that I had custom-made. The desk can be raised and lowered and I have 2 screens so I can feel like a hacker from a 90's movie!
How did you come to be an Associate at Laurence Simons?
I worked with LS previously before the management buyout and knew a number of the management and employees from those previous years. I received a call to ask if I was interested in rejoining. The mix of compassionate leadership and experts in their fields creates a great environment to be a part of, so I said yes!
What does your role encompass?
Just before joining LS, I had recently had a neurodivergent diagnosis, so I was very aware that my own way of working is different from others. LS and, in particular, Samantha Knowles were brilliant at recognising this and creating a custom approach for me. They saw my potential but realised my neurodivergence can create challenges in approaches to work, so helped me build a position within the company that plays to my strengths and reduces the areas I find challenging. My role encompasses elements of candidate outreach, data management and ad hoc projects that require more in-depth research.
What projects are you currently working on?
Recently I have jumped into some interesting research around DE&I topics on law firms and their consolidation. Constantly running in the background is a project around reaching out to old candidates to re-engage with those contacts. Keeping in touch with our candidates is crucial to maintaining the relationships LS has had over multiple years.
Who do you work most closely with?
The Business Support Team has lots of interaction with the data management side of things, so there is lots of engagement there.
What do you enjoy about your work?
Catching up with old contacts is great fun, senior lawyers always have such interesting nuances to share about their area of law. I love the ability to retain these bits of information and share them with the next person I’m speaking to. It’s this expertise I love being a part of and matching it to our clients.
How do you socialise with the team?
GIFs in MS teams mostly, who needs a long sentence explaining your feelings when an animal-themed GIF is more accurate? Remote work life.
How do you spend time out of work, and what are your main hobbies and passions?
I’ve discovered the peace and relaxation I get from green spaces, and so my garden has become a consumer of my free time. Constant weeding, pruning and watering is always needed. I will get it to my perfect piece of Xen eventually. It is my Yin to the work stress Yang.
What are you currently looking forward to?
Lunch.
Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
Ipswich is a town in Suffolk, a county in Eastern England. Set on the River Orwell, its waterfront is lined with cafes, galleries, shops, and the 19th-century Old Custom House, which recalls the city’s maritime history.
What are your favourite places in the city?
There is a great park that has some lovely wooded hills. In flat Suffolk, hills are a luxury. Also, growing up in the countryside, I would roam fields and ditches for hours, so being able to get back to fully green areas always brings me joy.
Do you have any recommendations?
When you don’t have all the facts, try to give people the most generous reason you can for their behaviour. Annoyingly slow driver? Maybe it’s a mum with a birthday cake in the back. This mindset will gradually make you less reactive, more compassionate and more forgiving of your own bad days.
For Ipswich? There’s a giant mammoth model in the local museum.