Gavin Faber is a partner at Roythornes Solicitors guiding individuals, professionals and trust corporations through family disputes, generally involving wills, trusts and estates. He has been in his current role for several months having previously been at Gateley for just over three years.
GIVE A VERY BRIEF SUMMARY OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL CAREER TO DATE: I qualified at Higgs & Sons in 1999, becoming a partner in 2005. I moved to Irwin Mitchell in 2014 to build a contentious trust and probate team in the Midlands, and then to Gateley in 2020 to build a national team. I moved to Roythornes to lead the private wealth disputes team and head the Birmingham office, with an aim to grow the Roythornes brand here in the Midlands.
DID FURTHER/HIGHER EDUCATION SET YOU UP WELL FOR YOUR PARTICULAR VOCATION? Having grown up in a family of lawyers, I was determined not to follow suit. I undertook a Business Studies sandwich degree, during which I had a year working in the exhibition industry.
I then took a year out at the end of my degree and found myself working in the pursers office on a cruise ship travelling around the Mediterranean. After a particularly long day dealing with difficult passengers, I decided that I needed to decide on a career path. I then found myself living back at home, studying law in Wolverhampton, and ultimately, ended up in the Black Country at Higgs enjoying a wide array of litigation. It seems it was in my blood after all!
HAS THE FALLOUT FROM THE PANDEMIC PRESENTED ANY OPPORTUNITIES? Certainly, we have seen an upturn in disputes, particularly challenges to wills and negligence claims as a result of lockdown and the relaxation of the formalities for the execution of wills. In terms of recruitment, I think the culture of the business has become increasingly important to many who took the opportunity to reassess their lives during lockdown. This has enabled regional firms like ours to take advantage in becoming increasingly attractive to lawyers looking for less bureaucracy, more autonomy, greater collaboration and a better work/life balance.
CAN ONLINE MEETINGS SUCCESFULLY TAKE THE PLACE OF FACE-TO-FACE CONTACT? To an extent; whilst practical and certainly better than telephone conferences, they do not allow you to build the same rapport with attendees in the same way as a face-to-face meeting. A lot of clients and professional contacts still crave personal contact which simply cannot be replicated over a screen. The non-verbal signals that our subconscious picks up on when physically together are crucial in developing strong, long-term relationships.
HOW DO YOU GET THE BEST OUT OF YOUR STAFF? This is best achieved through encouragement and creating an excellent working environment. All colleagues are individuals with their own skillsets, desires and drivers. The key is accommodating these individualities within a team and collective structure. It is also crucial to champion their successes and give them the tools to achieve their clearly-defined goals.
HOW MANY EMAILS DO YOU TEND TO GET IN A DAY, AND HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE TO READ THEM? It always feels like an endless stream of emails each day with rarely enough time to read them. I always prioritise them based on their urgency and importance but ensure that none go unanswered.
HOW DO YOU HOPE YOUR COLLEAGUES WOULD DESCRIBE YOU? I would like to think that they would describe me as driven, supportive and collegiate. As a keen rugby player in my younger days, you recognise the team is only as good as the weakest link. As such, I have always been motivated to do the best for my team, sometimes at my personal expense.
HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR? The recognition of my peers in the legal directories; particularly when your competitors and leading counsel say complimentary things. It doesn’t matter at what level you are, compliments from those you respect will always be your proudest moments.
ANY PARTICULAR FAUX PAS OR EMBARRASSING MOMENTS IN YOUR CAREER YOU WOULD PREFER TO FORGET? As a newly-qualified solicitor, a partner gave me an insolvency file an hour before a hearing and told me he didn’t expect anyone else to turn up. It was in open court so I had to don a borrowed gown and a collar that I had to force over my shirt. I didn’t know the code for the robing room so ended up putting them on in the general toilets. I was then confronted by counsel for four other parties, one of whom had walked into the toilets whilst I was changing. Safe to say, my advocacy was not particularly impressive or persuasive.
PET HATES? Rudeness, stupidity and arrogance. Sadly, the legal profession is full of individuals who suffer from Dunning-Kruger effect.
IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF SOME WISE ADVICE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?CDs were not a fad and investing in digital cassettes was a terrible idea, despite being able to record on them.
HOW DO YOU RELAX AWAY FROM WORK? Watching a wide array of live sport, walking, and occasional fine dining. I have been fortunate enough to have visited a large number of countries around the world but do like to find new places to explore.
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS SPECIAL ABOUT THE BIRMINGHAM BUSINESS COMMUNITY? It is a very close-knit community that is generally very supportive. I am always proud of the level of expertise that we have in so many diverse areas.
TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THAT MOST PEOPLE PROBABLY WOULDN’T KNOW: I have appeared on “This is your Life” with my great-aunt who was a world-famous ballerina, Dame Alicia Markova. I had to miss my third day of my CPE (legal conversion course) to go to London for filming which gave me a certain notoriety amongst my fellow students.
YOU CAN TAKE ONE BOOK, ONE FILM AND ONE CD ONTO A DESERT ISLAND – WHAT WOULD THEY BE? Book: Trevayne by Robert Ludlum – I always felt a lack of interest in reading whilst I was young but remember discovering this author one summer when I had nothing to do and became hooked on his books. Film: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest – I am yet to see a better performance than Jack Nicholson. CD: Radiohead “The Bends” is still my go-to album, though the rest of my family consider it to be too depressing.
YOUR FIVE DREAM DINNER PARTY GUESTS, DEAD OR ALIVE? Victoria Coren Mitchell, Dominic Sandbrook, Miriam Margolyes, Serge Blanco and Henry Cecil.
WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO EAT FOR YOUR LAST SUPPER? Scalllops and black pudding, followed by Filleto Rossini with thick cut chips and Argentinian malbec, and finished with the Core-teser from The Core, London.
