Spotlight Interview with David Baverstock
David Baverstock is one of Marriott Harrison’s newest corporate partners, having joined Marriott Harrison as a senior associate in 2021. Now running a practice predominately focused on M&A, we wanted to discuss his career and experience at Marriott Harrison to date.
Tell us about your route into the legal profession?
Post university I fell into a job in recruitment. It was lots of fun, but I always knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do long-term. When the financial crash of 2008 happened, it felt like a good time to retrain. I took my savings from recruitment and did the GDL/LPC. Naively, I hadn’t realised how competitive the process of getting a training contract would be and assumed I would walk into one. I took a full-time paralegal role doing home repossessions for lenders (which was awful) and I somehow worked around my full time LPC while sending training contract applications. This was a stressful time, and I was genuinely worried I would not get a training contract at a firm that would allow me to do the kind of work I was interested in. I only had two interviews for training contracts but thankfully got offered both and ended up training at a great firm that gave me loads of opportunities to get involved in matters and deal directly with clients.
Having trained and worked at another firm, how does Marriott Harrison compare in terms of work and culture?
I did almost 10 years at a larger firm before moving to Marriott Harrison. Both firms are superb, but Marriott Harrison is a genuinely entrepreneurial firm that partners with its clients to achieve results for them. I love this ethos. Marriott Harrison also has a democratic culture where everyone is encouraged to bring their ideas and energy and the opinions of all staff are considered.
As a relatively small firm, Marriott Harrison has a clear vision of what it is and what it does. Part of that is the large volume of work we do to support growth companies, from obtaining investment, dealing with employment, commercial and any disputes issues that arise along the way, and assisting with exits. All teams, not just corporate, are experienced in working with these kinds of clients and giving pragmatic, commercial advice so that when it comes to corporate transactions, all Marriott Harrison teams are attuned to the range of issues that can arise. It makes corporate transactions so much more efficient.
You have just been made a partner. How does this differ from being a senior associate?
Marriott Harrison isn’t a particularly hierarchical firm and as a senior associate I led transactions, managed junior associates, gave fee quotes etc. The firm is also cognisant that you are not a different person with a different skill set just because your email signature has changed. As a result, it hasn’t felt like a jump but more of a significant part of a natural progression.
Obviously, there is slightly more emphasis on business development, which as someone who really enjoys the technical legal work is a slight shift in priority but I’m enjoying the challenge. There is also considerably more admin!
What do you enjoy outside of work?
Not a lot these days. I have two young kids (aged two and five) so I split my time outside work between the local playgrounds and cleaning up after them. If I get any spare time to myself, I enjoy the gym and getting out for a run or a cycle.
If you could give yourself one piece of advice before you started your training contract, what would it be?
Throughout my career (including as a trainee) I’ve done loads of great transactions with plenty of brilliant people, both clients and other advisors. As a trainee/junior I didn’t have the confidence to stay in touch with these people as I feared I wouldn’t have enough to say about the ‘market’ or exciting legal developments etc. My excuse was I was always too busy with the next deal. If I could go back, I would tell myself to take the time to stay in touch with those people to build a network of good people who I’d enjoyed working with. In my experience, people like to work with people they get on with and having an encyclopaedic knowledge of financial markets is not expected.
