James Maxey
Managing Partner at Express Solicitors
James Maxey answers this month’s 20 Questions
What time did you wake up this morning?
5.50am
What’s your favourite object in your office?
The pictures of my lovely wife and kids (oh, and my boat)
Who is your closest colleague?
That’s impossible as I work closely with a brilliant management team including other owners of the business, our FD and our operations, HR and marketing partners.
Do you have a favourite family heirloom?
A lovely grandfather clock kindly gifted by my wife’s father.
What’s your favourite song of all time?
Any 1980s soft rock really. How about Money For Nothing by Dire Straits.
What’s your favourite play?
Romeo and Juliet – only perhaps because I’ve been lucky enough to see it in Verona.
Who’s your favourite movie star?
Daniel Craig.
What’s your favourite book?
The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseni. It shows the weakness and bravery that I believe is in us all at different times.
What book are you reading right now?
Getting To Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury.
What book do you wish you had written?
Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed. Brilliantly researched and makes you think.
What’s the greatest invention of all time?
The Aqualung by Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau.
Is there a sport that you wish you could play?
I’ve never been much good at athletics or ball sports but I’ve done some pretty adventurous scuba diving in my time and still keep my hand in.
Who inspires you in business?
I think you pick up bits of inspiration from different people around you. In my case, my father taught me hard work and determination and my brother has been a fantastic advisor since he first helped me get into business.
Dress up, dress down or somewhere in between?
Definitely dress down. I started coming in to work in jeans when we were doing up our first large office building (now we’ve got three on the same high street) and I never got back to wearing my suit really.
Where do you go to relax?
To the family boat in Antibes in the South of France.
What country have you always wanted to visit?
Fiji.
Besides your phone, what do you always have with you?
My TAG watch and enough cash to buy a round for everyone I’m with.
What’s the best part about your job?
Everything! The fact that we’re currently helping 12,000 injured people, extract fair compensation from the system; the fact that we’re developing the careers of 100 plus lawyers at any given time and the fact that I work with 250 people who really give a damn.
What’s your favourite post-work tipple?
If it’s a pint then Murphys as it brings back happy memories of holidays in the south west of Ireland at my parents’ holiday home. If it’s spirits we’re talking about then a good West Coast Malt, maybe Bunnahabhain as that brings back happy memories of sailing and diving around the west coast of Scotland.
Finally, what’s your guilty pleasure?
That expensive boat!
