During this column’s tireless search for interesting lawyers there have been occasional moments of wishful thinking. The refrain has gone thus: “Wouldn’t it be nice if a delectable lawyer turned up out of the blue, one who was quite happy to pose in just a bikini because of a strange out-of-office obsession?” Such thoughts are pointless, as for surely no lawyer would do such a thing. But then, to prove not only that dreams are free but that sometimes they even come true, along came Jane Rogers.

The Lovells’ solicitor, who specialises in fraud and insolvency litigation, has no qualms about cavorting around wearing very little — even in snow. “It was cold, posing for the pictures, but great fun,” says the 29-year-old. But if the old-fashioned among the legal profession fear that Rogers’ semi-nudity is further evidence that standards have truly slipped, there is a very good reason for her less-than-lawyerly appearance.

“In a few weeks I’m taking part in the Ice Warrior Project,” Rogers says. The project, founded by Jim McNeill, a polar explorer, involves assembling a number of volunteers to travel to the Arctic to gather data on climate change. The volunteers will spent 60 days skiing and walking the length of the North West Passage in Canada.

That sounds serious enough, and it gets worse: “We’ll have to manhaul our sledges over sea-ice from Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island to Sachs Harbour on Banks Island. It’ll be difficult to take on enough calories to replace the 8,000-9,000 that we’ll burn every day.”

Rogers and her fellow explorers will take ice depth measurements for the National Snow & Ice Data Center (a NASA funded research institute), as well as collect snow samples for a project currently underway at the University of Washington to measure the albedo effect. “We’ll also be monitoring polar bears for the Norwegian Polar Institute in conjunction with the Born Free Foundation,” says Rogers. “All the data we amass will be used to produce a snapshot of the changing conditions in this fragile environment.”

That’s all well and good — but why the pictures of Rogers in a bikini? “We had to raise funds for the expedition and about a year ago one of the girls in my team, Vicky Stuart, suggested that we pose for a calendar. It was a joke but it became reality one afternoon when we were training in Arctic Norway. Along with the third female member of our team, Catherine Vincent, we got into our bikinis and had some pictures taken. We thought we’d sell the calendar just to friends and family but it’s been a huge hit.”

Rogers recalls travelling to work one morning recently and opening Metro to find herself — in her bikini — on page seven, and says that one of her most surreal legal experiences to date is conducting a bidding war between The Sun and The News of the World. “They both wanted the pictures and I fielded calls from them for an afternoon,” she says. “In the end, The Sun got the pictures.”

How did her employers greet the prospect of her vanishing to the Arctic for weeks on end? “They’ve been brilliant,” is her unhesitating reply. Prospective lawyers with an expeditionary bent take note: Lovells operates a discretionary leave scheme, whereby solicitors with four years’ PQE can take off, unpaid, for three months to pursue appropriate interests. In Rogers’ case, her imminent departure for the Arctic has come at a cost. For the two years, she has devoted herself to a training regime that sounds as punishing as an Olympian athlete’s.

“I get up early and go for a long run before work,” she says. “The aim is to build stamina and cardio-vascular fitness. Then at lunchtimes I go to the gym, to work on upper body strength, which will be vital for hauling the sleds.”

That’s not all. “On weekends, I walk in Hyde Park dragging car tyres behind me. It looks pretty strange, yes, but the friction as they rub along the ground is perfect for building leg strength and endurance.”

What, though, when it’s all over? Won’t trekking amidst polar bears in so extreme an environment make the law seem, well, rather dull? Rogers doesn’t think so. “I’ll be glad to get back to my job but getting involved in Ice Warrior has definitely reawakened my love of the outdoors. I’ll be making a lot more trips on weekends to go hiking, that’s for sure.” In her bikini? She chuckles. “Only if strictly necessary.”

If you’d like to buy the calendar, email nwpecalendar@yahoo.co.uk. The asking price is a minimum donation of £10 per calendar, with £1 of that money going to Cancer Research UK and SPARKS. See also www.ice-warrior.com

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