Every month we speak to prominent professionals working in, around, and for the legal sector in the UK, uncovering their greatest inspiration, what makes them tick in a work capacity and out, and their own career paths and journey to the top of their game.

Interview with: Joseph Kotrie-Monson | Director | Mary Monson Solicitors

WHAT HAS YOUR MORNING LOOKED LIKE?

Took my daughter to school, went for a session with my vocal coach, had three conferences with clients, and then worked on some marketing material, all interspersed with the usual thirty or so phone calls.

HOW IS BUSINESS AT THE MOMENT?

What a question. Better than 5 years ago, hopefully not as good as in five years time.

HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN ‘LAW’ AS A CHOSEN CAREER?

Law was a bit of an accident really.

First it was to be music, then business. I got the law degree to please my late mother and then actually realised there was something potentially important I could contribute there. I expected to become an advocate, but in the end I’ve helped my brother and colleagues continue the work we were doing with my mother to build the firm to greater heights.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT IN YOUR CAREER SO FAR?

Not sure really.

I’ve had some successes early on, maybe just by sheer luck. I was a Times Lawyer of the Week at 30 which was pretty cool. The Cambridge Analytica data case was probably a high point, but being involved in the Grenfell Fire case is also a great responsibility. Doing the work I do explaining legal cases for the public in the media is something that took time to understand how to do well I guess, so I’m quite pleased with that, but those feelings never last too long. It’s always onto the next thing. I don’t really know how to answer a question like that. I think it’s my relationships with my colleagues and the work I have been able to do for clients in general which will stay with me when the lights eventually begin to dim.

WHO WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATION?

It’s hard to say, and it depends in what sense.

David Geffen the record industry pioneer is someone I’ve always admired for the way he used hard business to protect artists fiercely. My Dad and Mum taught me so much about what I could do and how the world works. I think really what motivates me though is the idea of the person I might and should be and trying to be as close to that as I can. I’m not suggesting it’s something I’ve managed particularly well.

WHAT ARE YOU READING AT THE MOMENT?

Goncharov’s Oblomov.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF IF YOU COULD GO BACK TO THE START OF YOUR CAREER IN THE LEGAL SECTOR?

None.

I wouldn’t have listened anyway. I might have advised myself to slow down, or stick to the fundamentals that work rather than reaching impatiently for unrealistic and unnecessary goals. But how can you tell the difference between those and great but attainable challenges? Hindsight is great, but the keenest understood truths often only come from actually making the mistake and learning.

HOW HAS THE LEGAL SECTOR CHANGED IN RECENT YEARS?

Communication methods have changed unrecognisably. Paper is gone. Meetings across countries can be held remotely and effectively. But AI I guess will be the sea change. I imagine it will revolutionise the mundane and repetitive aspects of our work in ways we can’t even currently conceive.

OUTSIDE OF WORK, WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?

I’m in a band of pro musicians called the Heizer Monkeys. That keeps me pretty busy. I mess about in race cars in the UK and Germany. But family is the main block that everything else has to fit around.

AND FINALLY, YOUR GO-TO PODCAST?

Nah. No time for that.

I do watch Joseph’s Judgements, the weekly legal segment on TalkTV. Mainly because I’m on it.

Mary Monson Solicitors is a UK top ranked, multi-award-winning law firm representing people and organisations in the fields of criminal law, fraud and sexual offences. The firm, founded in 1979, operate nationally and have a team of criminal solicitors in Birmingham, Manchester, Salford, Leeds, Sheffield, Chepstow and London’s Fleet Street.