The Leadership Series

Interlink Recruitment meets Bhavisha Mistry, General Counsel of Missguided Ltd and learns more about her legal career; from how she got to Missguided to what motivates her, including advice on making it in-house. 

[Interlink Recruitment]
Q: You must be the envy of most legal ladies out there with your role at Missguided? Can you tell us about your career path to date?  

[Bhavisha Mistry]
A: I know, it was a very exciting opportunity when I was presented with it, so I’m sure it would be for other ladies too! Missguided is a great company to work for and I really enjoy my job – the people are amazing and so talented, and I get a real buzz in helping them to do their job and collectively helping make the company successful.
I grew up around my parents’ printing company and saw the role a lawyer had in it, which really fascinated me.  This led to me reading law at the University of Leeds where I gained deeper understanding of the role of a lawyer and developed a real passion for law in business. It was here I cemented my interest in pursuing a career in commercial and corporate law.  I chose only those commercial electives at university, and later on at BPP Law School, and approached firms with a solid reputation in commercial and corporate law when seeking work experience and training contracts. 

In order to help me develop as many skills as I could to become a really good lawyer, I undertook lots of work experience and paralegal opportunities including Squire Sanders (formerly Hammonds) where I did a secondment at their major clients, who specialised in leasing advertising space around the world.  I also worked at the now defunct Halliwells which was an interesting experience for me as I saw the rise and fall of a big national firm.  I did my training contract at Weightmans LLP where I shadowed some extremely talented corporate and commercial lawyers.  I really got the chance to get stuck into a varied workload and gain crucial skills that have become invaluable in my role as General Counsel at Missguided.
 

[Interlink Recruitment]
Q: What were the drivers for you choosing an in-house position over private practice?  

[Bhavisha Mistry]
A: In an in-house position you see the fruits of your advice.  You get to know the company well and understand what its drivers are, much better than you are able to when you are acting as an external adviser, so you can deliver really tailored advice. Your advice is much more commercial – you have to consider the legalities against the realities of business.

[Interlink Recruitment]
Q: What would you say has been your biggest challenge while working in-house at Missguided? 

[Bhavisha Mistry]
A: Getting the commercial side of the business interested in legal matters – we are a creative business, if the individuals within it wanted to deal with law on a day to day basis they would have pursued a career in law.  Of course the core focus of any business is to make money and grow, but sometimes the legal department can be deemed restrictive.  That is why it is so important that you can develop ways to deliver your advice in a way that reflects commercially.        

[Interlink Recruitment]
Q: What are your motivators for success? 

[Bhavisha Mistry]
A: From early on in my career I always worked that little bit harder, being driven by wanting people to remember me as a great lawyer, not an average one.  You can get a lot out from all the hard work you put in.   

[Interlink Recruitment]
Q: Do you have goals you aim to achieve in your career? 

[Bhavisha Mistry]
A: Absolutely. I want to build a successful legal team here at Missguided, and continue to deliver first class legal support to the commercial side of the business. Overall, I want to be known as a successful lawyer and I want to be able to demonstrate that success by helping to build a great company. 

[Interlink Recruitment]
Q: Have you any tips or advice for anyone considering an in-house legal position?  

[Bhavisha Mistry]
A: If in-house is the route you want to go, I would say that as early as possible you need to be focusing on commercial factors, as opposed to only law. Find out what drives a business to be successful and tailor the legal advice you give to those main drivers. 
It’s important to be approachable when working in-house. Yes, you are dealing with serious and often complex matters, but you are still part of the team within that business and people should be able to come to you.  Work hard, get to know the business inside out, and always be methodical in your approach. 

[Interlink Recruitment]
Thank you Bhavisha for taking the time to share details of your career with us - we wish you every success growing the team at Missguided!