What has been the most exciting aspect of your legal career?

What has been the most exciting aspect of your legal career?

Andrew Phillips (Lord) gives expert video advice on: What first interested you in politics?; How did you begin your political career?; If you could have chosen any other career what would it have been? and more...

Both the clients and the people I've worked with in it. The huge advantage I've had is that I started in general practice here in Sudbury with my dad in his small country practice. And in a way, I've never had better years, because you're in the middle of the community, you act for everybody - rich and poor, fat and thin - the whole, across the board. But then I set up on my own, as I say, in London. I'd had principally a charity law practice, which is rather odd, but also had done a lot of commercial work, defamation, all sorts. I'm a generalist by nature, I think. I've had wonderful clients. If you set up on your own, nobody comes to you by reputation, because you haven't got one. So I've had this luxury of acting virtually all my life for people I've wanted to act for, and wanted me to act for them. The second advantage has been that I've been able to select my own staff. The secretary's as important as the solicitors, and that's been fantastic. I have an endless curiosity about people, and electing staff is something I carried on long after I went into the House of Lords. It's the one thing I hung onto. And so it has been a great, great life.