Joanne Berry
Pannone, Manchester

As a rising star in one of the country’s most highly-regarded personal injury teams, Joanne Berry is proof that young lawyers don’t always have to follow the bright lights in order to enjoy success. An associate at Pannone in Manchester, Berry still lives in Bolton, where she grew up, making the half-hour commute to the firm’s offices each morning. Berry became interested in personal injury law during several work experience placements that she undertook while still at school; she studied law at Liverpool University and joined Pannone as a trainee in 2000. The 29-year old, who has just completed the San Francisco marathon, has spent the last few months working as part of a team on a multi-million pound settlement for a teenage girl who sustained a catastrophic brain injury as a result of a road accident.

Angela Boughton
Wragge & Co, Birmingham

Angela Boughton’s path to the brink of partnership in the Birmingham office of Wragge & Co represents an impressive comeback. Afflicted by illness while at the University of Reading, Boughton did not attain the benchmark 2.1 grade that many firms require from graduates. But rather than panic, she looked around outside the big name firms and managed to secure a training contract in the Milton Keynes office of regional commercial outfit Howes Percival. In five years with the firm, she impressed sufficiently to draw the attention of Wragge & Co, and joined their banking and finance team in 2005. Two years on, the 30-year-old has demonstrated on a number of deals, including a £23.5 million refinancing of a data cable manufacturing company by HSBC, as one to watch. She is currently acting for Lloyds TSB on two big money financing transactions.

Vaqas Farooq
Shoosmiths, Birmingham

A partner in the commercial property department at Shoosmith’s Birmingham office at the eyebrow-raising age of 29, Vaqas Farooq has come a long way from his days helping out in his parents’ chain of grocery stores as a teenager. But the experience remains firmly with him. The son of Pakistani immigrants — educated at Birmingham University, trained at Eversheds — says those early days behind the cash register fostered the commercial awareness and entrepreneurial skills that have led to his rapid rise. He built his reputation after leading on a deal involving the acquisition of 500 pubs for Marston that saw the brewery transfer the bulk of its work to Shoosmiths. Now regularly leading on deals, he is also an active fundraiser for the NSPCC, the children’s charity.

Al Goodwin
Burges Salmon, Bristol

Burnt out City associates may look with envy on Al Goodwin. The 30-year old Burges Salmon projects associate has turned heads assisting the Ministry of Defence on a number complex strategic partnership arrangements, but also leads a busy social life. Weekends are spent on the rugby fields of Bristol rather than in the office. Goodwin trained with Freshfields after studying law and French at Oxford, but left for the projects team at DLA Piper’s Birmingham office. Looking to find a quieter place to bring up children — his first is due this month — Goodwin moved to Burges Salmon in Bristol three years ago. Since then, Goodwin has played a lead role in advising the Ministry of Defence on a number of major procurements, including its recent, high-profile £1.1 billion Tornado aircraft support contract.

Rob McNabb
Eversheds, Cardiff

Things weren’t looking great for Rob McNabb when he finished the LPC in 1997 without having managed to secure a training contract. While his friends started lucrative graduate schemes, McNabb took a job as a lowly legal assistant at Eversheds in his home town of Cardiff. Seven years later, the 32-year old is a highly rated associate pushing for partnership. An astute construction lawyer specialising in both contentious and advisory work, the Cardiff University graduate has recently advised the Welsh Development Authority on a multi-million pound arbitration relating to defects in a factory. McNabb, who plays rugby for Llanishen in the Welsh second division in his spare time, is currently working on a project involving the construction of an offshore wind farm worth over £1 billion.

Chloe McSwaine
Dickinson Dees, Newcastle

After four years in the project finance department at Denton Wilde Sapte in London, Chloe McSwaine decided to bid farewell to the Tube, prohibitively high house prices and traffic-clogged streets, and headed back up north to her hometown, Newcastle. “Although London was a great place to train, I don’t miss it,” says the Leeds University law graduate. “The work is just as good up here, my commute is ten minutes rather than an hour. Everything feels a bit more human.” The 31-year old Geordie has advised on several major public-private partnership deals; highlights include assisting Newcastle City Council on its £180 million scheme for the re-provision of eight local schools and advising two NHS trusts on a redevelopment of Hope Hospital in Salford.

Pegah Sharghy
One Crown Office Row, Brighton

Pegah Sharghy is already on her way to becoming one of the finest family law barristers on the South Coast. Sharghy, who moved to the UK with her family from Iran when she was 11, specialises in ancillary relief and has appeared in several big money High Court disputes, including a recent case with the prominent silk David Balcombe, QC. After a degree in business and marketing from Queen Mary University in London, Sharghy worked as a commodities broker in the City for 18 months before being enticed by the lure of the Bar. She converted to law at Sussex University and joined One Crown Office Row as a pupil in 1998. The 33-year says she copes with the stress of her frantic schedule with regular Vajrasati yoga sessions and the sea air.

Martine Snowdon
Exchange Chambers, Liverpool

Martine Snowdon, 30, manages to combine being a mother of three with daily appearances in criminal trials and training for the World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver next year, where she will represent Britain. After attending her local comprehensive in Liverpool, Snowden studied law at the University of Liverpool, then received a full scholarship from Lincoln’s Inn to attend Bar School in London. Returning to Merseyside to undertake pupillage at Exchange Chambers in 2000, Snowdon quickly gained the trust of clerks, leading her to be instructed on a variety of important cases. A veteran of several rape trials, she is currently acting as part of a team involved in prosecuting a group of defendants for conspiracy to defraud Revenue & Customs.

Stephen Stewart
Addleshaw Goddard, Leeds

While studying law at Queens University in Belfast, music fanatic Stephen Stewart signed up for the optional intellectual property module in order to find out about copyright issues that could affect his rock band. “I found that I really enjoyed IP and decided that it was the area that I wanted to specialise in,” he says. Several years later, Stewart, now 30, is increasingly calling the tune as an associate in the IP department at Addleshaw Goddard’s Leeds office. And he’s still in a band: he plays guitar for The Revelator Band, regulars on the Leeds pub circuit. Praised by colleagues for a creative approach to problem solving, Stewart once defended a client accused of patent infringement by uncovering old footage of a Royal Ballet performance proving that the object in question — a method of lighting — was used several years before it was registered as a patent. Stewart has now turned his attention to assisting Asda with an online hosting and fulfilment transaction.

Eleanor Temple
Kings Chambers, Leeds

Eleanor Temple’s combination of an easygoing personality with a steely professional determination and sharp intellect has seen the 30-year old chancery specialist nicknamed the “smiling assassin” by fellow barristers on the northern circuit. Educated at Ilkley Grammar School and Durham University, where she gained a first in law, Temple joined the Leeds branch of northern commercial heavyweights Kings Chambers in 2000. She “took off like a train and has had growing numbers of solicitors beating a path to her door ever since,” says her senior clerk, Colin Griffin. Often instructed on cases that would typically go to more senior barristers, Temple recently obtained an injunction preventing 12 customers from presenting winding up petitions against the Bank of Scotland. Last month, she acted for Leeds United in proceedings against a former director. She is also passionate about horses and combines her insolvency and corporate recovery practice with a sideline in veterinary negligence cases.

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