“Like many things in my career—totally unplanned!”

Helen Lamprell’s decision to move in-house wasn’t part of the script. Following several years in Linklaters’ highly esteemed finance department, when a senior partner suggested Lamprell do a secondment at Vodafone, the firm’s largest corporate client at the time, she dutifully accepted. A couple of secondment extensions later, the company asked her to stay for good.