Horwich Farrelly's chairman & the recent winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award at the 2018 British Insurance Awards talks to NLJ
What was your route in to the profession?
I had worked with Ronan McCann and Horwich Farrelly when they were defendant lawyers for LV= General Insurance, where I was CEO. After retiring from LV=, Ronan asked if I would be interested in joining Horwich Farrelly as chairman. I knew that we shared the same culture and values and I was therefore very happy to accept; and two years later it’s a case of ‘so far, so good’!
What has been your biggest career challenge to date?
The hardest time for me was when Churchill Insurance (where I was managing director) was taken over by Royal Bank of Scotland. It was not always the most pleasant culture to work in, so I left when I could and took many of the best people with me to LV=. If you have the right culture and the right people everything else is easy.
Which person in the legal profession inspires you most?
Rachel Small, who is the Group Company Secretary at LV=. She is a great role model for women in the legal profession with an incisive mind and a gift for exercising unfailingly expert judgment.
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you choose as an alternative career?
Erm...insurance!
Who’s your favourite fictional lawyer?
Billy Bob Thornton in the series Goliath. He’s positioned as the underdog, but eventually comes out on top through his ability to think differently and by sticking to his principles.
What change would you make to the profession?
I would review how the profession is regulated so that unscrupulous businesses hiding behind the cloak of the legal profession are expelled from it. I’m not an advocate of regulation for the sake of it but it seems to me that the Solicitors Regulation Authority is grossly under-funded.
How do you relax?
The usual stuff... family, friends, travel and wine.
