5 minutes with Future Face of Greater Birmingham 2015, Alice Price
HCB Solicitors
We caught up with the Future Face of Greater Birmingham 2015 Alice Price to find out more about her career, ambitions and how winning the overall award has affected her future.
What’s your day job?
My day job mostly involves securing divorces and financial settlements for my Clients, with a particular focus on high net worth clients, cases involving business assets and foreign property. I also manage cases dealing with child arrangements, pre-nuptial agreements, disputes between unmarried couples and people undergoing surrogacy.
What do you like most about your job?
No two days are ever the same! I am out and about in Courts across the West Midlands and beyond most weeks and when I am in the office have a varied an busy caseload to keep me on my toes.
If you weren’t doing what you were doing, what other job would you have?
I have recently renovated my own home and come from an entrepreneurial family so would have quite liked to go into property development. I am also a qualified ski instructor so would try to fit in a few ski seasons around projects!
How did you become involved in Future Faces?
I attended a Future Faces event in Lichfield and thought the idea was so great that I signed up straight away and haven’t looked back since.
What brought you to Birmingham?
I moved to Birmingham for University, having narrowly missed out on Oxford. Looking back now, I wish I had known then just how great a city Birmingham is for a young professional!
What’s your favourite thing about living/working the city?
The people who live and work here. Birmingham somehow balances being an international and well connected city, whilst also having a real sense of community and local business.
Which of the Future Faces events have been your favourite recently?
The recent Leadership Series has been great both from a development and networking perspective. I particularly enjoyed the recent event with Paul Thandi, hearing his take on leadership and how he got to the position he is in now.
How has being part the awards helped raise your profile? Externally and at work?
In terms of exposure it has been great, particularly in terms of online and Chamberlink coverage both before and after the Annual Dinner and Awards. It has also given me additional credibility when dealing with Clients, colleagues and third parties, many of whom have commented on it having seen the various media articles.
How has winning the award affected your career so far?
The initial interest that it generated – particularly from referrers – has certainly helped me reinforce and expand my network, which will be really helpful in the future. I have also recently been promoted to the role of Associate, which I would attribute in part to the award and the confidence that it has given me.
A day in the life of
My alarm goes off…
At 7.00 as I am lucky enough to live very close to work so I can be up and at my desk within an hour.
My work involves…
Precision, paperwork, negotiation, financial analysis, teamwork, expectation management, advocacy – the list goes on!
I got my job…
After sending out over 200 speculative letters seeking work experience to firms I found in the address book! I secured work experience on the back of a letter I sent to my current firm and was offered a training contract at the end of that week.
My typical day…
Once the computer is fired up I go over my emails and prioritise the tasks for the day then start chipping through the list. Usually my day is a mix of paperwork preparation and discussions with Clients and other solicitors.
The worst part of my job...
Is the dreaded 4.55pm phone call on a Friday. I love the buzz that it creates when an urgent piece of work comes in, but it almost always seems to happen on a Friday afternoon.
The best part of my job…
Without doubt the best part of my job is seeing my clients planning their new lives and moving forwards both emotionally and financially. For some people this is early on in the process and for others it comes much later, but it is really rewarding to see the difference you make. The two other ‘best things’ are the fantastic people I work with and of course payday!
After work…
I take time to relax. With such a busy work life it is important to me to make time to gather myself before the next working day begins to ensure I am on top form for my clients. I tend to do this by going to the gym, socialising with friends or planning my next holiday or home improvement project.
To apply to become the Future Face of Greater Birmingham 2016 and attend the awards on Friday 16th September please visit the event page and download the nomination form here.