Interview
Rachel Weaver, senior associate, shares some insight into her role.
I am a senior associate in the corporate team and work in the London office. I have acted for a wide variety of clients across a variety of sectors, including private equity funds, public companies, owner-managed businesses and individuals. My role also involves project managing the internal teams at Gateley and I work closely with colleagues in our various offices and teams, particularly with colleagues in our tax, banking, property, employment and commercial teams.
A typical day always starts with a review of my diary and my inbox to check which tasks I need to action that day/ week. A key skill for any corporate lawyer is being well organised and prepared. Preparing for a completion is a little like solving a puzzle, to try and make sure all of the pieces come together at the right time with no hiccups! When I work on large transactions, I am often responsible for collating diligence from numerous colleagues to produce one central report or for ensuring all transaction documents are in agreed form prior to a signing meeting. It is important for me to communicate regularly with the internal team to check where everyone is up to and see if there is anything I can assist with or action.
I was part of the deal team who advised Gymshark on the minority investment by General Atlantic. The deal was valued at over £1bn and saw Gymshark achieve “unicorn status”. There are fewer than 25 British companies who have achieved this status since 2001 so this was a truly unique deal to have worked on. I worked exclusively on this transaction for over five months, this was a first for me as normally we work on multiple transactions at any one time, so I felt I really got to know and understand the business and I really enjoyed working so closely with the shareholders, directors and employees.