A DAY IN THE LIFE OF.... Mark Hovell – managing partner at George Davies...
Before Work...
I would describe my average day as a juggling act! I have a multi faceted role; I am the managing partner at George Davies so I manage the firm and the lawyers at the firm. I also still work as a lawyer practising in sports law and I am married with two young children so I have a busy home life!
I tend to get up around 6am. I am an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland and my role there means I regularly have to spend hours reading detailed case submissions and writing judgments. I need quiet time to do this so I find it best to do it early morning away from the office and before the kids get up. I’ll get the kids up (I have two - aged nine and five), give them breakfast and take them to school.
I am currently training for my fourth marathon (I recently ran both the Paris and Manchester marathons) so I run to work from the school which isn’t too far as I live in Didsbury.
Average Day...
Once I get to the office, I’ll shower and then start working through my emails. On an average day I’ll have five or six meetings. These will be a mixture of internal meetings (such as management and strategy meetings, seeing colleagues, and business development), external work meetings (seeing new clients and contacts) and management/practice development external meetings (interviewing, seeing recruitment consultants).
Lunchtimes...
I tend to meet contacts over lunch most days but I try and limit evening business functions to one per week.
Evenings...
Once a month, I have a board meeting at the Factory Youth Zone which is a new state of the art youth centre in Harpurhey. The project is led by key members of the city centre’s business community with Bruntwood Estates’ director Kate Vokes chairing the board which I also sit on.
In the evenings - once I arrive home - I try not to do any work and instead spend time with the family - especially as my work with the Court of Arbitration means trips to Switzerland a couple of times each month. I help the kids with their homework (or at least remind them to do it), walk my 12 year old Labrador and go out for drinks with my wife and friends.
About Mark...
Mark Hovell is managing partner of leading mid tier Manchester law firm George Davies. Mark combines fee earning with his managerial role; he is a well known international sports lawyer and sits as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Switzerland. When Mark was elected managing partner of George Davies in October 2007 he became the firm’s youngest ever managing partner aged just 39.
http://www.georgedavies.co.uk
