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Stewart is the first to admit he is not much of an athlete — “You just have to be a good old plodder and go all day,” he says, with characteristic self-effacement — but they were required to trek for 14 hours a day for two weeks, dragging a sled through inhospitable conditions. Even navigating is difficult, since the ice floats with the tides.

At one point, after several days’ solid walking, they realised they were miles south of where they had started, on the wrong side of the world. But for all that, the experience was one of the most unforgettable of his life. The ceaseless daylight, the brilliant whiteness: “It’s absolutely stunning,” he says. “It’s unbelievable.” He and several partners are now planning a trip to the South Pole early next year.

Stewart was born in north London in 1958. He attended University College School and then, unsure of what else to do, followed his father’s footsteps by studying law, at Bristol University, where he gained a first. He began his career at Richards Butler (now Reed Smith Richards Butler) in 1981, specialising in shipping law.

In 1985, two years after qualifying, he left for Clifford Turner, though he did maintain a significant connection to his first firm: his wife, Nicol, was a legal secretary there. Married for 25 years with three children, they live in Hertfordshire, from where Stewart commutes every day by motorcycle, and have another home in Poole, in Dorset, where he relaxes by cruising around in his boat.

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The firm he joined in 1985 would be almost unrecognisable today. The hours are longer; technology has meant standardisation, fewer meetings, pressure to respond faster to clients. The firm is more businesslike, more professional, more international.

Trainees who once had to cope with a 20-page loan agreement now have to get their heads around a 200-page agreement. And the financial instruments they work with are sometimes impenetrably complex.

Stewart sympathises with the younger lawyers now coming through the ranks: “I think a lot of the youngsters must look at me and think, ‘Lucky bastard’.”

Nevertheless, despite the pressures he says he is happy that his eldest daughter, currently studying English at Oxford, is thinking of becoming a lawyer.

“It’s not easy,” he says, “but then again, nobody’s job is easy these days. I think it’s quite a good life, actually.”

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