Interview with Gareth Bell, Partner, Collas Crill

Gareth Bell
Partner, Collas Crill 

What was your role when you left RPC, and when?

I started as a trainee in 1999, back in the Chichester House days, although I also did a seat in the Leadenhall Street office. I was in the same intake as Alan Stone, and we're still friends today.

On qualification, I worked mostly with Tims Bull and Brown, but also Simon Greenley and Ken Underhill doing a mix of financial services professional negligence defence work and pure insurance disputes.

I left RPC at the start of 2005 and moved offshore to Guernsey.

Where are you now? Tell us about your role 

I now work as a disputes Partner at Collas Crill doing a variety of financial services litigation, but specialising in directors' claims, mostly on the defendant side.

I joined as an Associate and, as it's a separate jurisdiction, had to requalify which meant heading off to university in Caen for three months in the latter stages of my wife's pregnancy with our first child, which was quite challenging. As was doing my exams in French…

I still work with RPC a lot on a variety of prof neg matters.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Well, I get to drop the kids at school every day, which is a lot easier than it would have been had I still been living in London.

It's a merged profession in Guernsey, so we act as court advocates as well as solicitors, meaning I get to go to court regularly.

I spend a lot of time liaising with onshore lawyers, including counsel. A lot more of that is done remotely these days, with fewer trips to London needed than before.

Throughout your career – what are your highlights?

Probably a US-related case: Carlyle Capital. It involved a Guernsey investment fund that invested exclusively in US-assets, which collapsed in 2008. The liquidators sued the directors, and we represented the directors. It went to trial in 2016 and we won at first instance, as well as on appeal, before it finally settled just before we got to the Privy Council.

In the recent case of BTI v Sequana in the Supreme Court, our case was cited in the judgment, which was professionally very satisfying.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

Primarily my family. I have four kids, which means life is very full on.

I do a lot of trail running and ultra-marathons, having graduated from running marathons on the road. I ran the Boston Marathon last year having qualified for my age group by running 2h58m in Amsterdam, which was an amazing experience.

What were the most valuable lessons you learnt while at RPC that has helped you in your current role?

I developed excellent, long-term friendships. Our trainee intake was only seven people, so we were a very close group. I'm still in contact with most of them.

I learnt the art of efficiency from Tim Brown – when I went to his office with a query, if I was there for longer than one chargeable unit before getting an answer I'd be doing well.

Tim Bull also spent a lot of time teaching us early in our careers, not least on how to dress in the City; I remember Simon Laird coming into the office as a trainee in full matching dark tie and dark shirt. Tim took him out to show him how it "should be done". He never wore that outfit again…

What is your favourite RPC memory?

Beyond what I've already mentioned, the Christmas and Summer parties were always good, not least with us having such a close trainee intake.

I also had the poisoned chalice of organising the football team, mostly playing against clients. I loved the fact that the team was made up of a real mix of people from across the firm – Partners, Associates, Post Room and so on. Gavin Reese and Nick McMahon were mainstays, and we had a couple of excellent players in Ritchie Hinton and Simon Laird who had played pro and semi-pro.

Getting to play cricket at The Oval in the Lloyd's six-a-side tournament was pretty special, too.

What do you miss most about RPC?

The people. RPC was always friendly, and I understand still is. We were firm in our dealings for clients, but not aggressive like other places. We also didn't have that same internal competitiveness you hear is typical elsewhere.

What does the future hold for you?

Well, I think I'm in Guernsey for the duration – my kids were born and brought up here.

I genuinely enjoy being a lawyer, so can see myself doing that for a while longer yet. I would like to do some part-time judging perhaps, but I don't envisage transitioning to that on anything like a full-time basis.