Chapter Text
‘Babington Parker Crowe,’ Clara said as the taxi stop-started through the heavy London traffic. ‘Or the one with money and connections, the one with the brains and one who is the marketing genius.’ She smiled and looked up from her iPad, the sleek website of the law firm Babington Parker Crowe on its screen.
‘Clara,’ Susan Worcester said levelly.
‘What?’ Clara met her boss’s gaze unflinchingly. She turned to Esther beside her. Esther was busy reading her notes for the meeting and did not look up. ‘They're all lawyers, like us and we’ve all been labelled by people in this industry at some point or other in our careers!’ Clara said. ‘I just thought I’d embrace the push back.’
Susan smiled as Clara grinned and went back to her iPad and the notebook on her lap.
When Susan had interviewed Clara for a position within her law firm, Worcester House, she had been immediately impressed. Clara had put herself through university, saving and then studying part time alongside working as a secretarial temp so as to fund her studies. And Clara had studied hard, very hard, and had the grades and references to prove it. But it had been when Clara had looked Susan in the eye in that interview and said there wasn't anyone she aspired to be or anyone she looked up to that Susan had been most impressed by. There were men and women she admired, Clara had explained, but they had lived their own lives and made their own paths and she, Clara, was going to do the same.
Clara Brereton had never, and would never, look up to anyone. But it was very clear she would never look down on anyone either. Susan had had to stop herself from hiring her on the spot.
Esther Denham had been a very different hiring for Worcester House. She had come to them initially as a client for her divorce which Clara had handled with her usual steely focus, always refusing to be distracted by noise and fuss from the other side. About a year later Esther had applied for a job. Susan freely admitted she interviewed her partially out of curiosity as Esther had given nothing away as a client.
Esther Denham was just as qualified and experienced as Clara but had done the fixed journey of school to sixth form to university. She was quiet, calm and had high confidence in her abilities and experience. But as Susan had interviewed Esther, she wondered if the aftermath of the divorce and her move from Manchester to London was affecting the young woman still. Esther had seemed, in some of her answers to Susan’s questions, to have less confidence in herself than in what she had achieved.
Susan had thought about it for a few days before calling and offering Esther the job. Now Susan could not imagine Worcester House without the two young women sitting opposite her, each preparing for the meeting in their own ways. Esther calm and quiet, impenetrable almost. Clara openly interested and intrigued, thoroughly checking her notes with what she was reading.
Francis Crowe looked at his two business partners seated at the large conference table in one of the meeting rooms in the offices of Babington Parker Crowe.
‘Any questions?’ he smiled brightly, indicating the large display screen behind him with an extravagant flourish.
‘Jesus, Crowe,’ Sidney growled. ‘I think we get it by now. They are Worcester House, we are BPC. Babbers and Susan Worcester thought it would be a splendid idea if our two firms worked together.’
‘Sometimes worked together,’ Babington said. ‘We are still a very young firm, Sidney. Worcester House is generations old. They bring us gravitas and we bring them-‘
‘Men?’ Sidney muttered, unhelpfully.
‘You are an HR accident waiting to happen,’ Babington sighed.
‘Our client bases are very different,’ Crowe said, his marketing brain excited by the possibilities. ‘But if we can work together, we can strengthen both companies. I think its genius, Babbers!’
‘You do know what they say about Worcester House, don’t you? What has always been said of them?’ Sidney leant forward, rested his forearms on the table. ‘That they are feminist ball breakers? Is that really what we want to say to our clients, by working with them?’
‘Sidney!’ Babington sighed. ‘Worcester House is a highly respected firm with a long history. They are not afraid to take on difficult cases and they punch well above their size. They will give us-‘
‘Gravitas, I know.’
‘We did vote on this, Sidney.’ Babington continued.
‘I know. I just,’ Sidney sighed. ‘We have a plan for this firm,’ Sidney spread his hands, gesturing to his two partners. ‘We worked our backsides off to get here and it is coming together with a clear purpose. People know who we are at BPC, what we do. I just don’t want our association with Worcester House distracting from that.’
‘It won’t Sidney,’ Babington flicked through the papers in front of him by way of reassuring his friend. ‘We have been through this, we know the parameters.’
‘Ignore him Babbers,’ Crowe said. ‘He’ll turn on the charm when we need him to.’ He leaned forward and ruffled Sidney’s hair. ‘Like he always does.’
‘Fuck off,’ Sidney growled.
‘How many people do you think they will bring to the meeting?’ Clara asked as the taxi crossed the river and into the City.
‘Three? At a wild guess?’ Esther said dryly. ‘Babington, Parker and Crowe?’
‘I’ll be disappointed if there is less than six.’ Clara laughed. ‘We should have bought Georgiana and Charlotte along.’
‘I think three feminist ball breaking lawyers visiting a male dominated law firm is enough to be getting on with for the time being,’ Susan said, serenely. She merely flicked an eyebrow at the two young women’s delighted laughter at their boss’s unexpected phrase. They all knew Worcester House’s reputation, many of the employees of the small firm had applied to work there because of it. ‘Charlotte and Georgiana will both have their opportunity to work with BPC. Not against them,’ Susan looked very strongly at both Esther and Clara who smiled.
‘This will be interesting for Worcester House,’ Susan continued. Her firm was stable, financially sound and respected. But sometimes it was good to shake the cobwebs out. ‘It will be challenging but there is no point existing and working in an echo chamber. We need to be questioned as much as anyone else in this industry.’
‘Assume nothing, challenge everything,’ Clara grinned.