I married an academic, so one of us had to be able to support the family – law seemed like a good profession.

Legal education back then taught us nothing about dealing with clients – it was six months of learning by rote. What was excellent was the training. I worked at Shearman & Sterling in New York, then did my articles at Herbert Smith.

As an observant Jew, I had to ask for some leeway, such as leaving early on the Sabbath. I was confident I could make it work. Although the firms were quite reluctant at first, it really was no problem. I often covered times other people didn’t want to work.

At that time we were much less specialised. One handled the client’s file – the property, employment, IP, company law issues – whatever was entailed. It gave me a breadth of legal experience that’s been useful.

I never took a career decision without consulting Lawrence Collins. He’s a real lawyer’s lawyer. He’s had such a distinguished legal career – from solicitor to the Supreme Court. He’s phenomenally intelligent, funny, good company and a fabulous dancer.

Setting up Garretts was the sort of chance you get once in a lifetime. On day one there was no computer, no phone, and the managing partner was ill. I was told we had to open on 6 July and was asked if I could do it. I had four young children at the time. A challenge.

The day I became an equity partner in Andersens was one of my proudest moments. If Andersens had lasted we would have had the first truly global law firm.

As a commissioner at the Commission for Racial Equality I was involved in taking forward really important cases that gave us a more proactive stance. Race relations issues lost some of their profile when the CRE was absorbed into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.

If law firms and legal departments really want to be more diverse, they need to become much better at seeing beyond three As at A-level and a 2:1 from a Russell Group university. Too few make any effort to spot innate talent.

I thought I would stay six months as general counsel at T-Mobile, but I was there for seven years. The day I arrived they told me the company was up for sale. Deutsche Telekom took it over, and the deal with Virgin Mobile followed. I sat on the board of Virgin Mobile.

Many law firm partners who move in-house have trouble seeing the commercial view. At T-Mobile I spotted there was a gap in the market and my next step was to became a consultant advising legal departments.