Miles
Geffin
MilesGeffin
(1982-1987) beganhis career as ageneralist family
lawyer. After brieflywriting for a legal journal henowworks
in the familydepartment atMishcondeReya, specialising in
issues facingdomestic and international families
hy family law?
It all started one Thursday afternoon
in the spring of 1987. David Andrews was
opining on the conflict between Shylock’s
reliance on the strict letter of the law and
Portia’s paean to equity, compassion and
mercy. In a flash I recognised that the
legal regulation of the family occupies an
alluring middle ground that embraces both
the law beloved of the moneylender and
fairness favoured by the heiress. A glittering
career as a family lawyer beckoned.
On reflection,
Concordia
isn’t the place
for personal historical revisionism. The
truth is rather more humdrum. We read
Henry IV Part II that year and anyway
Twelve Angry Men, not The Merchant of
Venice, led me to a career in the law.
Having expected to start my training
contract with a West End firm of media
lawyers in October 1992, Black Wednesday
intervened and I was asked to defer for
12 months. Rather than temp for a year,
I phoned around and took a training
contract with a local two partner law firm.
Unfortunately, their offices were awful,
the money was terrible and the training
hopeless. The upside was that I was
responsible for a couple of cabinets full of
client files that covered the entire range
of work that used to be dealt with by high
street generalist solicitors: property, crime,
personal injury, probate, general litigation
and family issues.
Although it was interesting acting for
an alleged terrorist (he wasn’t, and was
acquitted) and for a shopkeeper accused
of indecently assaulting his staff (he had,
and was duly convicted), the cases that
W
I most enjoyed dealing with involved
family disputes.
I got the bug after I acted for a chap who
had come to see me to obtain an injunction
restraining his cohabitee. She had, he told
me, defenestrated their children’s hamster
and goldfish and then set alight his
clothes in the back garden of their house.
During the proceedings that ensued she
repeatedly alleged that he had a Matisse
hanging in their bedroom and various
other masterpieces displayed elsewhere in
the house. It later transpired that she was
mostly telling the truth. The thing was, the
paintings were actually forgeries and my
erstwhile client ended up being sent to
prison for various related offences.
I realised that I had found my forte and,
soon after I qualified, I decided to take
a position in the family department of
a provincial law firmwhere I thought I
might be exposed to a more conventional
experience as a newly qualified solicitor.
Over the course of the next five years I
received an excellent training from some
very wise solicitors.
In late 1999 I joined a firm in Islington to
head their family department. Along with
a couple of assistants we built an eclectic
caseload. As well as acting for wealthy
residents of Islington’s leafy squares, we
also ran a legal aid practice meeting the
rather different legal needs of the borough’s
less well-heeled residents.
A couple of years later I was invited to
join the partnership, and jointly head the
family department, of a firm in Hampstead.
In the years that followed I acted for a
number of musicians, entrepreneurs and
sportspeople and was involved in one or
two fairly important family law cases.
I even acted for a couple of OMTs, one
of whom had been a prompter when I was
in the Fourth Form and had reported me to
Mr Mash for smoking a cigarette at Pinner
Station. This led to one of the first of a
number of run-ins with “Dobber” during
my pretty modest MTS career.
In 2007, following a short career
break, during which I briefly became the
deputy editor of a legal journal, I joined
my current firm, Mishcon de Reya. I
now look after the professional training
and development requirements of my
partners and the assistants in the family
department. I also get involved in exotic,
complicated or unusual cases here and
overseas, often in the appellate courts,
sometimes even achieving a modicum of
success for my clients.
As I approach 21 years of lawyering, I
occasionally wonder whether I’d do it all
over again. On balance I think I would,
although if I was 18 now I’d think very
carefully before pursuing a career in the
law. Competition for pupillages at the
Bar has always been ridiculously fierce
and it’s become the same for training
contracts. The law schools churn out far
more graduates than the profession can
accommodate, and it shows. Some trainees
are often far better qualified than the
partners who supervise them. My advice to
an MTS Sixth Former considering a career
as a lawyer? Don’t study law at university
(it’s dull) and learn to communicate with
economy (lawyers are no longer paid by
the word).
Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
