Speaking Up – An Interview With Nina Von Groote27 November 2019

What’s Nina’s secret to success? “In business, it’s important to keep your experience as broad as possible for as long as possible,” she says. “Also, be kind to everyone you meet; you may well meet them again!” She advises women in particular who suffer ‘imposter syndrome’: “I would tell anyone who thinks they are not good enough: trust me, there are plenty of people out there practicing law who are a great deal worse than you!”

Nina’s time at WFW taught her that practicing law “is not an intellectual pursuit, but a tool to help business succeed.” She also learned not to be awed by someone else’s confidence or seniority but to trust her instincts and speak up. “If something does not make sense to me, this is usually because there is actually something wrong,” she says.

She remembers former colleagues with fondness. Rubin Weston was ‘enthusiastic, kind and encouraging’ and James Watters really ‘knew his stuff.’ “I learned masses from watching how he interacted with his clients,” she says. There were many other great people: Michael Kenny, David Robinson, David Osborne, Sally-Anne Panton, Winsome Parris and Lana Landsberg, to name but a few. She describes the firm’s culture as ‘supportive of colleagues, but also never forgetting the client.’

Nina wants to get better at keeping in touch with former colleagues. “I have come across WFW people (past and present) advising the “other side”, which has been very entertaining (especially when they did not recognise me until the closing dinner).”

It is good to know that when Nina is not rushed off her feet at work, helping with homework and working in the garden, she still allows herself time to daydream.

* Future Biogas plants convert a wide range of feedstocks into clean, renewable energy, through a process of anaerobic digestion which produces biogas. Biogas can either be used to generate green electricity, or upgraded into biomethane and injected in to the UK’s national gas network.