After graduating from the
Katherine held a number of positions within the
As well as being a technology lawyer, marketing expert, and all around world traveller,
These days the right place for Katherine is a small legal practice involving herself and her business partner, with office locations in
Her impressive client base includes multinational corporations, technology start ups and venture capitalists, while her international focus has made her a natural choice for foreign businesses looking to expand or raise finance in the
The
In her final year of studying Philosophy at
"I actually became a lawyer by accident," Katherine smiles. "I took a job as a marketing manager with a company which imported Belgian chocolates into the
"I run about 10km at least twice during the week and then again at weekends. It's an ideal life and really suits me. I actually live on the edge of a nature reserve - so I have a beautiful place to run right on my doorstep. How lucky is that?"
The files she received included what she describes as "reams of mind-numbing letters that appeared to be heading into a legal cul de sac; an endless litany of legal Q&As going nowhere. There were literally hundreds and hundreds of legal letters but nothing ever really seemed to be moving on the case and Jo was paying this lawyer Ł60 a week, which was a lot in those days".
Katherine started writing letters to the other side's solicitors as though they were from Jo. After four years of going nowhere, it took less than two months to work out and document what in Katherine's opinion was a fair and reasonable solution for both parties. Since this "fair and reasonable solution" was not accepted by the other side's solicitors, Katherine needed to apply for a court hearing and find (a) a jobbing barrister to appear in court to represent the solution she had proposed; and (b) a solicitor to act as a postbox to instruct that barrister (because public access barristers were not a thing in the
Katherine's first husband had just got his dream job as an education adviser for
Divorce Law versus Commercial Law
Katherine soon realised that Divorce Law (the main reason she had decided to retrain as a lawyer) was not going to work as a long term career option. "I just wanted to knock these people's heads together," she recalls. "I listened to people in my office calling hell out of their soon to be former partner/ spouse with their children in the room with them. Can you imagine what that sort of thoughtless behaviour does to a child? After one particularly horrible meeting with a client who seemed utterly oblivious to their traumatised offspring, the lawyer I was working for must have seen the murderous look in my eye, and suggested I'd make more money and feel less vengeful towards my clients if I made the switch to commercial law."
Shortly afterwards, Katherine took a job as marketing assistant with Ingledew Botterell, the practice which was about to become the Newcastle firm in the new Eversheds national law practice, with the promise that if she helped with the marketing initiative to promote the Eversheds message, she could start her articles with them as soon as she had completed her academic legal studies. Katherine duly completed her articles with Eversheds and then moved to work at
Right place, right time
A few years later, armed with an excellent grounding in contract law and a boss who had stressed intellectual rigour and independent thought as the principal moral virtues, Katherine joined telecoms giant
"I always made it my business to understand the technology underlying new services and how those services would be delivered, because I knew that I could not give the right advice to my clients about what regulations would apply in which countries if I did not really understand how these novel services actually worked in practice. I started networking the old fashioned way, ringing up the British embassy in each country my clients wanted to do business in, making contacts with people and making sure that my clients had the right regulatory approvals for what they were proposing to do."
Telecoms and technology
After leaving to form her own practice, Katherine's work with telecoms and technology companies, brought her to the attention of venture capitalists and private equity professionals eager to do business in these new and emerging industry sectors. Soon some of those venture capitalists and angel investors asked Katherine to start acting for business clients across a wider range of industries because they realised before she did that the skills which make a good technology lawyer also translated well to other business sectors.
In 2010, Katherine was joined by her partner
"I started networking the old fashioned way, ringing up the British embassy in each country my clients wanted to do business in, making contacts with people and making sure that my clients had the right regulatory approvals for what they were proposing to do."
Katherine admits the structure of the business is ideal for her in terms of work/life balance. She can train lawyers in her office until they are experienced enough to work from home at least some of the time, and she has no commute to work. Katherine actively selects lawyers who want to work in a particular way. "They need to embrace the ideal of doing something different every day and not being scared to do careful research to find the right answer. I don't want lawyers who just want to do the same safe thing day after day. They also need to be comfortable with their own company. Some lawyers want to be in a busy office environment but we need to be honest that we don't offer that." Outside of work, Katherine likes to run. "I run about 10km at least twice during the week and then again at weekends. It's an ideal life and really suits me. I actually live on the edge of a nature reserve - so I have a beautiful place to run right on my doorstep. How lucky is that?"
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Mr
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