Spotlight | Peter Golden

Never mind the gap year: instead of taking a year out after his studies, Peter Golden jumped straight into work and aimed high. He talks to Jennifer Palmer-Violet

Being listed as a top 35 under 35 private client practitioner three times is an achievement, but 33-year-old Forsters partner Peter '¨Golden didn't waste any time getting on the professional ladder after graduating from University College London.

"I decided not to have a gap year and go straight through, and it's given me the opportunity to work with clients when I was a bit younger," he says. It was a decision that propelled his career and influenced his choice of specialism.

Golden had initially set his sights on the "cut and thrust" of criminal law. Inspired by his older brother, the first in his family to move into the sector, he went to a university careers fair only to find most criminal law firms didn't recruit two years '¨in advance.

"I wanted to leave university with a job because I wanted to secure my future," he says, "so I applied to large and medium-size firms and got a training contract at Penningtons."

Mathematics had been a back-up because he found numbers easy. But it was also too boring. "Everyone said I should have become a banker, but I'd sooner do law," he says, having realised private client offered the excitement his younger self thought of crime.

"I really enjoy the client contact and helping with their problems. '¨To a certain degree, you become '¨their trusted adviser, you solve '¨their issues and end up being their right-hand person because you understand them."

More so, there's a huge amount of variety. "I've shipped shotguns to Chile," he says, recalling when he had to send a bespoke gun to the son of a Chilean national who had died while in the UK. His caseload includes understanding complex tax law while dealing with issues such as impounded yachts.

"You name it, I deal with it," he says. The hours are long when you're juggling clients and networking most evenings, but Golden welcomes the different challenges and finds a release in various sports, notably running, cycling and skiing.

Career ladder

• 2002 Joined Penningtons as a trainee
• 2004 Qualified as a solicitor and moved to Withers 2009 Listed in the Top 35 under 35 in PrivateClientPractitioner(also in 2011 and 2012)
• 2010 Joined Forsters as a solicitor in the private client practice
• 2011 Promoted to partner
• 2012 Listed in the CitywealthLeaders List (and in 2013)
• 2013 Recognised as a London rising star in the Super Lawyers List

 

Follow the leader

After qualifying, there was no immediate private client opportunity at Penningtons, so Golden moved to Withers for six years. It was there he met Andrew Lane, who became a mentor notably in client-handling skills. "He taught me how to consolidate advice and give it a practical application rather than writing a 50-page tax memo, which few people are likely to read.

"I was told by a client, one of the good skills of a lawyer is to get off the fence; rather than giving three options, you've got to say which one you think will apply to their circumstances. It's guiding the client, reacting to their needs and treating them as an individual rather than just setting out the options."

Lane left Withers for Forsters in 2008, which was key to Golden following in 2010. The firm, he says, '¨is one of many focused on engaging with the next generation of lawyers '¨and nurturing emerging talent. It recruits at least six trainees every year - making its first trainee-to-partner promotion recently - and partners including Golden have attended legal workshops for schools to educate teenagers about the profession.

New breed

Golden admits hard work and intellect have driven his career, but there was an element of luck. He now sits on the firm's graduate recruitment committee, and sees the crop of candidates has increased in both quality and number (the lull in banking is adding to the oversubscription in law). "I don't think it was easy when I was starting out, but it definitely wasn't as hard as it is now."

Universities are preparing their graduates for work these days, he says, so applicants are more polished. They're also generally older having delayed their careers to flesh out their CVs via gap years and extra-curricular activities.

"I obtained my training contract offer from Penningtons when I was 20, and we don't have many 20-year-olds applicants who were as 'green' as I was back then," he says. "I tried to get a lot of work experience: I was living in London and needed the money so I had a job throughout university."

Born and raised in Kenton, just outside Harrow, Golden has always had a strong work ethic and remembers his first job, which he did with his identical twin. "We both pushed trolleys in Sainsbury's aged 16 to earn our crust. Our parents couldn't give us much. They gave us a very good education, the rest we had to get for ourselves."

It was about that time he considered pursuing medicine while his twin thought about law. Then they swapped choices, qualifying in the same year, despite the different routes.

He admits they were once competitive and used to fight a lot but are now very supportive of each other. "I have no regrets about not being a doctor," he says. "I'm very happy not to be involved with blood and all that stuff. I now don't know why I even thought I wanted to do it."

Fountain of knowledge

Golden specialises in offshore tax, an area he says Forsters is carving out as a niche service. "The recent change in property tax legislation is such a specific field - targeting £2m properties owned by companies," he says. "Most people think some Russian oligarch owns them but it's always owned through a structure. Therefore it's such a niche area, you need to keep really up to date with changes, which makes it very interesting."

It also gives him an advantage point. Most of his clients are in their 50s and Golden's age means he will still be practising when something happens to them and retain that knowledge base.

"Some clients like coming to a younger adviser: you go to the right people for the right advice. You can't dabble in offshore tax and structuring because that's when you're potentially liable to make mistakes."

And it keeps him on his toes, having to underscore that he advises on mitigating tax, which is nothing to do with aggressive tax schemes. "You have to have a balancing act," he says. "Tax is always going to be one of those grey areas but I don't think taxpayers should be under obligation to pay more than they have to. People have strong views either way."

Business minded

Becoming partner at Forsters in 2011 was a milestone - "It's useful to show to the outside world that the other partners effectively support you by making you one of them and that you've got their trust" - and he's looking forward to getting more involved with management. "The advantage of doing maths is that I do understand things like the accounts of both our business and the clients' businesses," he adds.

As for all firms, growth over the next five to ten years is a priority. "We're thinking organic growth," says Golden. "We're not going to merge or have offices outside Mayfair. But you've got '¨to have a business plan.

"Some lawyers don't realise as much as they should that a law firm is a business. I'm sure historically law firms have relied on existing clients and clients walking in the door - you can no longer do that.

"The legal field will continue to progress. The challenge for firms is to keep hold of the good people - to do well you need to have both business acumen as well as the best people. The leading law firms are the ones who are viewing the current environment as a potential for growth.

"You've got to adapt slightly and Forsters has done quite well in our practice of doing more offshore work. You've got to have the right people in the right place and make sure you keep hold of them. We need to keep hiring below and pushing partners forward.

"Unfortunately, with the government changing tax law all the time, there will always be a level of uncertainty. It's never going to be an easy environment, but it's a challenge my fellow partners and I relish."

 

Jennifer Palmer-Violet is acting editor of Private Client Adviser