Lionel
Curry
Lionel Curry
(1966-1971) has worked as a commercial
property lawyer for 35 years having successfully set up his
own firm in 1981. He looks back at how he entered the
profession and recalls some of the highlights of his career
t seems really strange looking
back to have had such a clear idea
of the career path I wanted to pursue
from such an early age at MTS but
with hindsight, modern trends give
everybody far more flexibility and
opportunity to succeed than then.
My interest in becoming a lawyer was
sparked by a chance meeting whilst on
holi-day in Italy with my parents, with
Michael Sherrard QC who at that time was
possibly the leading silk of his day and in
whose chambers Tony Blair was one day
to be a pupil. I left MTS at the end of the
Autumn Term of 1970, hopeful that my
interview at Exeter College, Oxford would
secure me a place to read law. But that was
not to be the case and I had to settle for
UCL, which many would say now was not
in any way second best if you look at the
current university league tables, but seemed
disappointing at the time when I had set my
hopes on Oxford.
After UCL I was fortunate to find articles,
without too much difficulty, in a then well
known city firm, Titmuss Sainer andWebb
now called Decherts, not because of my
academic record but because of published
correspondence in a well known publication
which one of the partners had read.
At the end of my articles and after staying
on for a short time it became apparent to me
that the City was not an environment best
suited to my personality and after a short
stint as an assistant solicitor with a very
I
small firm near Wembley I applied for a job
in an old established local firm, Mills Curry
and Gaskell – not a relation – where I was
interviewed by BryanWells, a partner in the
firm. There was no internet in those days
so no way of looking up any useful
information about him but his tie was
extremely familiar to me and I will never
know to this day whether I got the job
because of my glowing CV or the fact that
he was an OMT!
After two very happy years I felt ready to
set up in practice on my own inMarch 1981
and the practice – now called Curry Popeck
– consists of five partners with a total head
count of nearly 20 people and offices in the
West End, Harrow and Pinner and associate
offices in Paris and Berlin, covering most
of the specialities for the high net worth
private client.
Why Berlin you may ask? Because back
in 1990 my career path as a commercial
property lawyer took a very unusual turn
as a result of a conversation I had with a
lady who enquired as to what I knew about
restitution of Nazi confiscated property
from Jews in former East Germany as her
father had been the orthopaedic surgeon
to the German Kaiser and she believed
that he had owned a hospital in what was
East Berlin.
This led to a number of years commuting
between London and Berlin and the
privilege of being responsible for returning
property to the rightful owners or in most
cases their heirs. Ironically the lady who
first spoke to me about this was not a
successful claimant as her father only had
consulting rooms in the hospital.
Reflecting on what I have learnt over
the last 35 years, there is not a day that
passes when I do not learn something new,
that whilst as a profession we do not get a
second chance to make a first impression
one has to have an open mind about the
impression given to you and, whilst ability
is paramount, without accessibility the
client will find it almost impossible to have
confidence in his or her lawyer.
A few years ago I was introduced to a very
modest and cultured international client. He
was by then retired and at the end of our first
meeting, when he toldme he wantedme to
act for him I asked him for hismobile number
to be able to contact him. Most mobile
numbers are 11 digits but his local number
was only 5. Not wishing to be intrusive I
asked him if he wouldmind tellingme why
he had such a number, towhich he responded
that a number of years ago he had been the
chairman of a then very successful Finnish
mobile phonemanufacturer.
So 35 years after qualifying did I make
the right career choice?With 32 years at the
same firmand hopefully another 25 to go, has
that not been restricting? Absolutely not, as
over the last 32 years I have been able to vary
my speciality and so that decision at the age
of 14 to become a lawyer was right, even if it
was not in the direction I first envisaged at
that meeting in Italy over 45 years ago.
Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
