NLJ PROFILE: Stephen Parkinson, Kingsley Napley

What was your route into the profession?

Competition with my brother.  He was the first ever person in our family to win a place at university to study law and his success caused me to look at law as a career for the first time. Then, having achieved better-than-expected A Levels, I decided not to take up my place to read humanities at Thames Polytechnic, took a year out and gained a place to study law at UCL. After university, I started at the Bar, but moved quite quickly into the Government Legal Service where I worked in a number of departments before joining Kingsley Napley in 2002 and re-qualifying as a solicitor.

What has been your biggest career challenge so far?

Representing Tony Blair, and superintending the preparation of all the No.10 and Cabinet Office witnesses during the Hutton Inquiry, which was established following the suicide of David Kelly. Controversy over the Iraq War was at its height at that time and there was enormous public interest in the inquiry.  To advise a serving Prime Minister and key figures in the government on giving evidence was a major challenge.

Which person within the legal profession inspires you most?

Sir David Napley.  He was such a brilliant lawyer because his perspective was so broad and his experience so wide-ranging which, in turn, meant that his judgment was impeccable. We don’t make lawyers like him anymore, because we have become so specialised.

If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you choose as an alternate career?

I would have been a supermarket manager.  In fact, I tried to join Sainsbury’s in 1974 but was turned down because I was too academic.  It is a pity that my interviewers did not check with my teachers on this point: they would have received a wholly different perspective. 

What change would you make to the profession?

I don’t think it is for me, given my age, colour and gender, to lecture the profession on diversity, but if I can make a difference at Kingsley Napley in my new role then great. I  want us to attract a richer and more varied mix of talent into our firm, and to give people from non-traditional backgrounds the confidence to apply to us.

How do you relax?

I started running a couple of years ago  and find it really enjoyable, but I do need a race to motivate me to train hard.