“Here’s to the next decade!” – 10 years with Ginevra Gatrell

I joined gunnercooke as a partner in 2013, a decade ago. At that time gunnercooke looked rather different and was smaller than it is today; I was a senior associate at a large multi-national law firm and had previously worked in London for 7 years at a Magic Circle law firm. Something about gunnercooke, and meeting Darryl and Sarah, made me want to join. And I have never looked back. The positivity, drive, ambition and success of gunnercooke stands it apart from other law firms. I am proud and delighted to be one small part of it.

My approach over 10 years has been to build up a wide variety of clients from scratch and to work with them and keep a long relationship with them. I am a pensions law specialist and the area in which we practice can be extremely technical due to legislation, regulation and governance of pension schemes. But it can also be highly commercial when supporting corporate transactions, restructuring involving significant pension schemes, and consulting with employees on pension scheme changes. I couldn’t have done this without the positivity and trust between gunnercooke lawyers. I live in Sheffield, and at first thought I may have to move back to London, Leeds or Manchester. But I now know that location is irrelevant.

Looking back, of course, joining gunnercooke 10 years ago was daunting in some respects, but none of my initial fears transpired into reality! Hard work, reliance on my previous experience, and viewing clients as critical colleagues has led to building up many clients and contacts, and a practice that for me is rewarding and personally satisfying. I work closely with many gunnercooke corporate and employment partners and have my own clients in the industry, such as pension trustee boards and pension scheme sponsoring employers. I also work for other UK law firms that do not have pensions lawyers in-house. gunnercooke enables this working pattern to flourish.

I am delighted to mention that since I joined in 2013 we now have a strong team of nine pensions lawyers. This has been crucially important as we share ideas, guidance and advice. The buzz of working with other gunnercooke lawyers, all working in the same way, creates success.

Due to the gunnercooke structure and working model, it has always been easy to carve out personal time to spend with family, to travel, for hobbies such as local triathlons, 10k races and interior decorating, and to volunteer in governance roles at local schools. I am sure this would not have been possible if I had stayed put 10 years ago.

I’m proud to have spent a decade of my 25 year legal career at gunnercooke. Here’s to the next decade!

To contact Ginevra, or read more about her practice, click here.

To join us, use the form below