The meeting room at Camilla Baldwin’s eponymous law firm in Mayfair, home of high-end jewellers and hedge funds, is a bit like the reception of a Harley Street doctor’s. The furnishing is beige sofas, scatter cushions and designer posies of white roses and lilac. A Penhaligon’s candle flickers, emitting a warm figgy fragrance.
The homely touches are designed to put clients at ease – though she draws the line at clients’ dogs: “I always worry they’ll pee on the curtains.”
Ms Baldwin, a divorce lawyer, is very much aiming for the image of a private consultant. Rather than advertising she prefers to get business through discrete recommendations from satisfied wealthy clients – hedge fund managers, MPs and aristocrats. Sometimes she finds work at her 10-year-old son’s rugby matches – a fellow mum might sidle up to her, asking for help.