Greenwich invited me in - the University showed interest and enthusiasm in me as a lawyer wanting to study for an MBA. I came out of Greenwich as one of the first MBA-trained lawyers in the UK.
Memories of Greenwich
What I remember most was the excitement and initial bewilderment studying concepts that I had never come across before - whether it was about general management, financial management, accounting or even my favourite - strategic marketing - it was quite fascinating. There were of course the long evenings spent at the pub behind Meridian House with my cohort - it was hard going but a lot of fun.
I wanted to study for an MBA and there were not many universities that offered the flexibility that I wanted as a young lawyer - to be able to juggle the demands of private practice and undertake an MBA at the same time.
I had never been to business school and I fell in love with the ethos of management and development. I would say to current students, take time to enjoy university life. Greenwich is much more cosmopolitan now than it was in my time there and the quality of university life is considerably more varied. I have studied at a number of institutions and the library at Greenwich is comparatively better equipped than most. Make use of it. I found the library to be of immeasurable value to me when I undertook my doctoral studies many years after I left Greenwich.
Life after Greenwich
I studied Law and International Relations at Cambridge and after Greenwich I was appointed Practice Manager at my law firm and later managing partner. Much later I went on to obtain a doctorate in management and law. My work has taken me all over the world leading the negotiations of transactional agreements with most of the world's leading banks. I wrote my first book in 2018, what is now one of the leading books on financial services regulation and the GDPR and I have worked as a General Counsel now for many years in the financial services industry. In January 2021 , my second entry in the list in recent years. I work for a UK Bank that has just obtained a full banking licence from the PRA and I lead the legal team. It has been a very busy career, but I am clear that at Greenwich I fell in love with business and management - in particular the importance of strategic management for organisations regardless of their size.
