'Rising Star' Katie Hooper interviewed by Private Client Global Elite

In Private Client Global Elite's 'The Month' magazine, Katie Hooper, Partner in our Litigation team, was interviewed as a 'Rising Leader' in the April 2023 edition (having been listed as a Rising Leader in the Private Client Global Elite Directory 2023).

Private Client Global Elite was launched in 2017 and serves as a highly respected global directory of the world’s top private client and trust​ and estates litigation talent, as well as rising stars within the industry.

Katie is a Partner of Mourant Ozannes (Jersey) LLP and an Advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey in Mourant's Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice. She specialises in contentious trusts and private client work, regularly advising high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, as well as trustees and beneficiaries of highly valuable and/or complex trusts.

Find out more about the magazine (Katie's interview is at pages 5 – 6).

Tell us about something interesting you are working on at the moment.

I am working on an interesting, high-stakes mistake case at the moment, which raises a common but difficult question about the extent to which the court can modify the transaction in question under Jersey's statutory mistake provisions- the court has some flexibility but cannot rewrite history so there is often a delicate balance to be struck in such applications. In my experience, the more complicated the initial structuring, the more difficult are the legal and conceptual issues and barriers arising on any mistake application, and this case is fertile ground in that regard.

What is your definition of a good leader?

There are so many different leadership styles which can work well but, to my mind, a good leader is someone with emotional intelligence who can read and understand the context and situation before them and adapt their approach accordingly. They are someone who understands that they have agency to make a difference and takes the responsibility of that seriously.

Have you had a mentor in your career and, if so, what is the most important thing they have taught you?

I have been very lucky to have had a number of people who have informally mentored me over the years. Together, they have taught me the importance of self-acceptance and self-belief as the foundation of leadership, coupled with the need to always maintain a growth mindset- there is always room for self-development, no matter one's role, experience, seniority and/or age!

If you could change one thing about the legal profession, what would it be and why?

Gender balance at senior and partnership level. Progress is being made but slowly. As to why this is important, it is difficult to know where to start and how to summarise what parity would mean. To give a short answer, the profession and organisations within it would all be more successful with greater diversity at the table, to shape them, their culture and ethos.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

I know that I should answer this with some farreaching ambition in mind but, keeping it real after the school run this morning, I would like the power to answer the simultaneous questions of my three children in a way which satisfies them and doesn't provoke 10 sub-questions!

If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

My mum's coffee cake. She would make this whenever I returned from university and it evokes lovely memories.

What's your favourite song to sing in the shower?

Journey's Don't Stop Believin'; – it's a classic. It is also my go-to karaoke song.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go to and why?

I have this rather dull propensity to revisit places I love instead of branching out. Being true to that, I would go to Taormina, Sicily, because it is where I got married and is one of my favourite places in the world. In terms of a place I have never been before, I would go to Argentina, for the wine, food and landscape. Also, being Welsh, there is just something compelling to me about the notion of eating a Welsh cake across the world in Welsh Patagonia!

If you had a time machine, where and when would you go first?

I always wished that I had met my paternal grandfather but, having had a hard, working life as a miner in South Wales, he died young, well before I was born, so I think the first thing I would do is go back in time to have a cup of tea and a chat with my Tad-cu (that's Welsh for grandfather!).