The new director of litigation funding at Harbour Litigation Funding reveals his legal inspirations
International disputes expert and former BHP Billiton group legal lead Matthew Knowles has joined Harbour Litigation Funding as a director of litigation funding.
What was your route into the profession?
Almost as traditional as it comes. My parents were both solicitors, I read law and did vacation placements while at university, one of which fortunately led to a training contract.
What has been your biggest career challenge so far?
Someone saying “I am not sure this is your bag but can we have 10 minutes?” on a 19th December, as there was a threat to injunct the sale of a business. That led to a Christmas spent co-ordinating advice, keeping senior management and investment bankers calm, and putting in place a document preservation exercise across three continents from a laptop in Cumbria while suffering from the traditional holiday stomach bug. Finding "The Best Gelato in Vancouver" during a January mediation was only a partial compensation (although it was very good ice cream).
Which person within the legal profession inspires you most?
My parents were and are truly inspirational and I have been lucky enough to learn from leaders such as Chris Style and Michael Bennett at Linklaters and Neil Miller and Joe Tirado at Norton Rose, as well as others at all levels too numerous to mention, but my old boss at BHP Billiton, Damian Lovell, stands out as a lawyer and a mentor.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you choose as an alternate career?
I might have been a professional sportsman with a bit more luck with injuries and a bit more hard work and it would have been great to have had some artistic talent, but never mind. As it is, I am very fortunate to have had an interesting and varied career within the law, so far encompassing private practice, dealing with a broad variety of subject-matters, in-house working across and learning about a great range of issues and jurisdictions, and now as a third party litigation funder, continuing with case risk analysis and helping to establish the architecture of a claim, but then taking something of a step back so that the claim can proceed appropriately.
Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?
Two: Daniel Kaffee and Mr Jaggers.
What change would you make to the profession?
Quite often I am asked: “would you recommend a career in the law?” My response is usually that the person considering his or her career should explore the enormous range of areas of and roles within the law and decide if they think that a particular area and role would genuinely interest them. I would very much like to see a greater understanding of that range of areas and roles and the very different but real value those roles can bring to society, paramount among them the maintenance of the rule of law. If that does not come from the profession, it is unlikely to come from anyone else.
How do you relax?
I am not sure that relaxation is quite the term I would have chosen, but I spend most of my spare time with my three boys (9, 7 and 5) or trying to stave off middle-aged spread by participating (competing would be putting it a bit high) in triathlons.
