Because I deal with licensing, for venues from pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels to open-air events like festivals and celebrations, as well as shops which sell alcohol – from the corner shop to Liberty of London – people tend to call on me at the start of something really positive or when they have run into difficulties.

When someone wants to start a new venture, like opening a new restaurant or setting up a festival, they need advice on what they can and can’t do.

But more often than not, I see people when they’re having difficulty over their licensing – that could be related to violence or drugs in a pub or club, alcohol being sold to children or problems with illicit alcohol or tobacco.

The police could be involved, or the local council, and people risk losing their licence or their whole business.

Cost cannot be the sole driver

I do enjoy getting to grips with a really difficult case – usually it needs to be stripped back to the essentials so that we can see where the real problem lies; I can then help my client to find a way forward so that they can keep their business going and comply with the law.

For instance, I have dealt with an appeal where a licence has been revoked because of drugs on the premises – new measures at the premises could solve the problem, without having to revoke the licence.

In my team, we deal with the whole range of regulatory issues, including health and safety, and businesses really need to get to grips with them so that they can thrive.