Another ex-City lawyer joins the wine trade

Dan Senior was an employment lawyer at Clifford Chance until 4 years’ PQE and then left in 2005 and spent a year travelling.  Following a final year in the legal profession, he joined Corney and Barrow in 2008, after speaking to one of our previous interviewees about the wine trade.  We asked him about his legal career and his career change. 

mtl: Hi Dan, please can you tell us about your legal career.

Dan:  I enjoyed studying law at Durham but wasn’t initially planning to become a solicitor.  After a couple of summer placements and interviews, though, I attended a Clifford Chance assessment day.  I met a lot of good people there and was impressed by its international reach.  I felt that it was a firm I would like to join and that a professional qualification with Clifford Chance would be a good start in life.  At the time, I thought that I would probably qualify and then leave to do something else.  However, I spent six months in the employment department as a trainee and ended up staying on qualification, quite happily, for another four years. 

After a couple of years as a qualified lawyer though, I was still not sure that it was right for me in the long term.  I mulled it over and, at the age of 29, decided I either had to take my legal career very seriously and go for partnership, or leave.  I didn’t have any particular issue with the often long hours and pressure of the work but I felt frustrated by the inherently risk averse nature of the work and the inevitable volumes of documentation, which I found restrictive.  I wanted to get into something more directly commercial that better suited my personality.

In 2005 I decided to leave Clifford Chance without knowing what I would do next professionally.  However, I had wanted to do a big world trip for many years, so I spent a great twelve months travelling.  I was never naïve enough to think that I would “find myself” and hit upon a brilliant next career move while I was away – instead it was good just to take a step back from things.

While I was away, though, I started to look into lots of different options for another career path and had 101 ideas, many totally ridiculous and/or unworkable and nearly all of which I ruled all out.  I thought seriously about setting up my own business, for example, but didn’t hit upon an idea that I thought would really work.  

Being away confirmed my perspective on a career at a City law firm as something that was definitely not for me but when I got back from travelling, I needed to work to tide myself over, so I joined another City law firm as something of a means to an end.  I found the work tedious at best, particularly after a fantastic year’s travelling, and realised straight away that I wouldn’t be there for long – I only stayed a year. 

mtl: So how did you end up in the wine trade?

Dan:  I finally left the law altogether without a definite plan of what to do next, but much closer to knowing what area I might get into.  I wasn’t concerned about leaving without a job lined up as it is hard to find the time and energy while working as a lawyer to look for something else and you rarely stumble across real opportunities by accident.  You have to work out what you want to do and work hard at making the step.  I made sure I was sound financially before I left my last firm so that I had some breathing space.  I was confident that I would find something else and did some freelance work on the side while planning my next move.

During that time, I read a Moretolaw interview with Katy Thorniley and spoke to her about the wine trade.  I also have a good friend who has worked in the business for years and who is one of the few people I know who likes his job.   I realised it might be a good area for me to move into as I have been interested in wine for a long time, particularly after visits to vineyards around the world over the years. 

By a stroke of luck I was put in touch with a recruitment consultant who offered to chat to me about careers in the wine trade and then, the next day, he called me back about an opening at Corney and Barrow in their corporate team.  Even though I had no prior experience in the trade, I obviously had other relevant skills and experience to offer and I had already started studying wine, so had some technical grounding before my subsequent interviews.  Within a few weeks, I had started in my new career in the wine trade. 

mtl: Tell us about what you do now and what you like about it?

Dan:  I am part of the corporate team at Corney and Barrow and do a lot of work with City organisations, including many law firms.  Often working with catering and hospitality teams, I supply City customers with wine for client functions, partners’ dining rooms and staff events.  Corney & Barrow has been in business a long time as one of the very well established, independent merchants and has a very impressive wine portfolio, so I am exposed to some great wine through regular tastings. 

I spend lots of time travelling to and from meetings and wine tastings in the City, preparing proposals, advising customers on the phone and doing tastings at the office.  I quickly got used to tasting wine as a professional exercise rather than just sitting back and drinking the stuff!  Part of our ongoing training, for example, has included several sessions of tasting 16 wines “blind” in around 20 minutes and making notes on them all to discuss with colleagues.  Although not an easy exercise, that sort of training is not only good fun but helps me to give the best advice to customers.

It is a varied job and I enjoy not being too tied to my desk.  I enjoy the commercial focus of the job, the business development aspect of bringing new customers onboard and I look forward to the day when I can progress into the management of a smaller and more directly commercial organisation than a law firm.  I’ve picked up a lot in a year at Corney & Barrow and have found that the customer service and clear communication I learnt as a lawyer have been very useful.  I’ve had to take a few exams along the way but I’ve done plenty of those in my time and, although there’s certainly a bit of hard work involved, I have really enjoyed learning about a subject that I am enthusiastic about. 

mtl: Having made use of a Moretolaw interview yourself, do you have any advice for our readers?

Dan:  A lot of lawyers who feel stuck in their career, and aren’t entirely happy with what they are doing, either can’t find a better alternative or are committed to the salary.  As other interviewees have said, if it isn’t for you then invest time and energy in finding a better alternative as one won’t jump up and grab you – you have to put yourself out there.  Avoid becoming tied to a big City salary, too, as there may not be much else that you can sidestep into if you are committed to earning a certain amount. 

Also, the further you get into your legal career, the more likely it is you will have fewer options if you decide to move.  Be honest with yourself about whether you want to stay in the law.  Although I enjoyed my six years at Clifford Chance, I think I made a move at the right time before the opportunities to do something very different started to become more limited.    

If you are thinking about joining the wine trade, then make sure you have your eyes open as far as your salary is concerned.  I decided that a big City salary was not a key objective for me and I am not a very materialistic person but, having said that, I am still trying to adjust to what was a very significant pay cut.  That has certainly been harder than I anticipated.  There is a lot to be said for getting out of bed, however, and feeling really enthusiastic about the working day ahead.... 

mtl:  Thanks for your time Dan.

If you know any other ex-lawyers who have gone and done something interesting or unusual with their lives then please get in touch.

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