| If one thing defines John
Wallace, it has to be his grasp of information technology.
If you have an IT question, chances are that he will have
the answer at his fingertips. John, a former chief executive
officer of our firm, is a director in our Commercial Division
and managing director of Finlaw, our financial services
partner. We found out more about this multi-skilled attorney
over a cup of coffee … I
joined the firm as a 21-year-old surfer dude.
I still have a letter from Oliver Hart informing
me that I had been accepted for articles, provided that
I had my hair cut to "accepted professional standards".
The letter also mentioned that my salary would be the
princely sum of R100 per month, subject to review if
I showed "the necessary initiative and enthusiasm"!
I have
always been intensely curious about how things work.
This started with wanting to know what made my mother's
cake mixer tick - I found out, but with some cogs and
screws to spare! I guess this curiosity has been the
central theme of a fairly diverse career. I enjoy helping
clients assess the advantages and disadvantages of alternative
business structures, estate planning solutions and financial
products.
I began
my career in administering deceased estates, really
by chance. I ran out of money and had
to leave university (the rumours of expulsion are groundless!).
I headed up to Johannesburg and joined the trustee division
of a bank. After gaining some experience, I started
looking around for articles with a law firm, which would
allow me to study part-time. |
Surprisingly,
estates administration is a great way to pick up business
skills. Estates often include one
or more businesses, and you have to pick up the pieces
and keep the businesses going. This exposure has helped
me to understand clients' businesses and to develop
business-like solutions to their problems. The experience
also stood me in good stead as chief executive officer
of our firm over almost two decades.
I then
moved into commercial law, tax planning and business
structuring. My natural problem-solving
approach helps a lot in this kind of work. When a
client tells me that he wants X, I have to ask why.
I need to know what his desired outcome is, and then
I have to ask myself whether there is not a better
way of getting there.
I put
my hand up when we established Finlaw. I
now spend a fair amount of time looking after clients'
investments, but again it's about understanding financial
problems and identifying the best solution. I really
enjoy interacting with Finlaw's clients.
Our
technological capacity has grown massively over the
years. I have headed the technology
drive since the seventies and, believe me, it was
a drive! When I joined the firm, we had two or three
electric typewriters. In 1983 we bought our first
mainframe computer and had to lift it into the building
with a crane! Now Venn Nemeth and Hart is at the forefront
of legal technology. I guess it all comes back to
mom's cake mixer!
|
ffee
with john
