The new regional office head of Weightmans Leicester reminisces over 90s' legal TV & wishes for an end to the obsession with time-recording
Richard Osborn, real estate partner in Weightmans Leicester office, has taken over the role of regional office head in Leicester.
What was your route into the profession?
While my legal career has for the most part been interesting and exciting, my route into the profession probably was not! Having had an interest in the law when I was growing up, I followed the well-trod route of a law degree (at Leicester University) and then studied for my LPC at De Montfort University. Having enjoyed my time so much in Leicester as a student, I was then looking for a quality commercial law firm in Leicester that could offer a training contract and was lucky to secure that with Edge & Ellison, who have been through various identity changes over the last 20 years and are now Squire Patton Boggs.
What has been your biggest career challenge so far?
Other than coping with the various identity changes at Edge & Ellison during my time there, I think the greatest challenge, and also one of my most interesting projects, was working in the real estate team acting for MG Rover in 2003/2004 during the sale and leaseback of the Longbridge site to the property developer, St Modwen and to the then-Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands. As well as being a complex deal, it had to be completed to a tight timescale (involving a number of all-night sessions—thankfully rare for a property lawyer) and also was hugely sensitive given the operational issues around Longbridge and political sensitivities given the number of jobs and livelihoods at stake at the site.
Which person within the legal profession inspires you most?
This is a difficult one as there are so many lawyers who are doing and have done inspirational things within our wider profession. Looking at historic inspirational lawyers, Lord Denning presided over numerous historic legal judgments that are still good law today and was probably the greatest law-making judge of the 20th century. In the present day, away from the commercial arena, Clive Stafford Smith has done so much to highlight the area of civil rights and the death penalty in the USA.
If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you choose as an alternate career?
With a love of both playing (guitar and clarinet) and listening to all genres of music, as well the as occasional karaoke performance, my alternate career would have to be in music. While I am not hugely talented musically and therefore would definitely not be able to make a career out of playing music, I have always liked the idea of owning and running a record shop, so perhaps that is something to consider now that vinyl is having such a revival!
Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?
It has to be Ally McBeal, the most entertaining legal programme of the late 1990s. What lawyer would not want to work at Cage & Fish with the unisex restrooms?!? Otherwise, as I was a trainee at the same time that This Life was on air in 1996 and 1997, I could relate to most of the characters and situations in those two seminal series. It was the definitive statement on twentysomething life in mid-1990s “Cool Britannia”.
What change would you make to the profession?
Although I am not sure that there are many realistic alternatives, I am not sure that any lawyer likes the obsession with time-recording and the chargeable hour. In real estate, most of our instructions are on a fixed fee basis anyway, so the time spent is mainly only relevant to the profitability (or otherwise) of the instruction. However, I think it is probably a necessary-evil of the profession.
How do you relax?
Other than playing guitar and clarinet and also spending time with family and friends, I do enjoy skiing and playing tennis and golf, although whether my golf is relaxing is highly debatable.
Nominations for the Halsbury Legal Awards 2015, in association with NLJ, are now open. Visit the site to view all the categories and enter online. #Halsbury2015
