Vicky Münzer-Jones: A life in Law and Art

Vicky joined Norton Rose Fulbright as a trainee and rejoined again becoming a partner in 2015, but it is art that is her true passion. We caught up with Vicky now she has decided to dedicate her time to building her art business.

I joined the firm as a trainee in January 2001. I had decided to study law because I wanted a career with a clear progression path, and it appealed to my organised and risk-averse personality type. I only interviewed at Norton Rose Fulbright and fortunately, I was offered a traineeship. When I started you got to spend two weeks away with your intake, so we bonded easily and became a close support network for each other. It was great bunch of people, and I still count many of them as among my closest friends. 

I was able to do a seat in Singapore, where four of us, including Ian Giles and Nicky Davies, lived together in a huge flat with a beautiful view. It was super demanding work but one of the best experiences. 

After returning to London, I qualified into the capital markets team with Christian Parker where I stayed until he left in 2005 to join Cadwalader and took me with him. I spent 2 years at Cadwalader, but I yearned to return to Singapore so Christian helped me to get a job with Linklaters there. I had an amazing time with Linklaters, it taught me a lot and I made some good friends, but it was a difficult environment, so I left and moved to the Netherlands where my (now) husband was living. I have always enjoyed art, and I decided to give some time to my creating a collection of drawings of Dutch buildings, but with no Instagram or easy way to sell my work on the internet, it was difficult to promote it and get the business to take off.

In 2010, I saw that the banking team in Norton Rose Fulbright in Amsterdam was hiring, it felt like too good an opportunity to miss so I rejoined the firm working with Paul Vine. He was a great teacher, and I learnt so much from him. I also reconnected with Deirdre Walker who was incredibly supportive and, with others, helped me on the road to partnership. I once again moved to Singapore where I made partner. 2015 was a momentous year for me getting married and becoming a partner.

I liked being a partner, I enjoyed the managing people aspect the most but found building up my portfolio much more challenging than expected. So, I left the firm and came back to the UK where I took a role with a former client, Madison Pacific, to run their London office until, early in the pandemic, my brother set up a Covid testing company (trading as ExpressTest) and asked me to become its General Counsel. It was both an exciting and challenging job. My brother and I have vastly different personalities, and I take a much more cautious approach than he does, but it worked, in that we are still talking to each other.

The end of the Covid testing business coincided with me looking down the barrel of 50 and the opportunity to reflect made me feel like it was the right time to pursue my art more seriously. My grandfather was an architect and used to teach me drawing when I was a child. He was exceptionally talented but not a natural teacher whereas my grandmother, who had been a primary school headmistress, was just brilliant. She was inspirational and invested so much time in me. Other than that, I have not received any art training.

It is important for me to work with other female business owners. One of my friends (the wife of one of my Norton Rose Fulbright intake) sat down with me during a holiday together last year and helped me draw up a business plan. One of my nephews is married to a successful model and entrepreneur (Ella Eiveren) who has explained to me the intricacies of Instagram. Ella introduced me to a woman (Xaviera Anne Barra) who designed and set up my website and I collaborated with another lady in Dorset (Lucy Down at Fresh Leaf Creative) to take some photographs for the website. It took me a few weeks to pluck up the courage to look at the photos she took, but they are great. My website officially launched in January. In November, I moved back to west Dorset, where I grew up. I have family and friends here who have been incredibly supportive in my new venture.

I love to do commissions, and I have worked on some great ones – drawing people’s houses, painting neighbours’ horses and yachts, creating collages of important places and pastimes for special birthdays. I also offer gifts including scarves, aprons, totes and mugs and I have enjoyed creating that range very much. It is brilliant that my art can bring joy not only to me but to the people for whom I paint. I am enjoying it all so much and hope that I can build the business up over the coming year to give me an income. If it goes a bit wrong and I have to return to the law at some point, I always know my time at Norton Rose Fulbright stands me in good stead.