Neil Swift, Partner, Peters & Peters Solicitors

What is your position and what do you do on a day-to-day basis?

I’m a partner in the business crime team at Peters & Peters. I advise individuals, professional firms and companies on business crime and regulatory issues. The work is incredibly varied. A typical day will involve working on 8-10 cases, all of which will have at least one associate or trainee working on as well.

My main practice areas are fraud and corruption, financial services misconduct, criminal tax delinquency, extradition and proceeds of crime advice.

How long have you been in this role and what brought you here?

I’ve been a partner since 2010, having joined the firm as a trainee in 1997. They offered me a training contract, and the work looked interesting, so I joined. The work proved to be very interesting, so I stayed. I quite like the people too…

What is the best and worst part of the day for you?

The best part of the day is arriving in the office with a clear plan of what I’d like to achieve that day. The worst part is the late afternoon realisation of quite how many of the things on my list still need to be done.

Any memorable cases or transactions?

I’m very lucky to have been involved in a lot of really interesting cases over the years, concerning investigations into some of the most serious and international economic crime. For many clients, keeping their names and the allegations out of the public domain is a very high priority. This means that the majority of my work is behind the scenes, and one of the great measures of success is guiding clients out of difficulty with their reputations intact.

What advice would you give to junior associates early in their career?

Find something you love doing, at a place you love doing it. Life is too short to do otherwise. The way you treat people is important – whether you work with them, or in opposition to them. Discourtesy will come back to haunt you.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

It’s a great privilege to be the trusted adviser to those facing the most difficult period they’ve experienced, which could have very significant consequences for many years to come. Each case produces instances where there’s a real judgement call about what to do (or what not to do). The biggest buzz comes from weighing up all that you know and giving considered advice, and that subsequently proving to be the right thing to have done. As a result, there really are too many highlights to mention.

I also like to try and sneak song lyrics or references into articles I write. I’m not sure anyone notices...

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