Denise Nurse divides her time between broadcasting on sky news and running a law firm. She talks to Polly Botsford about how she balances the demands of this curious double life


It is not every day that you meet a lawyer who, when casually asked what she has been up to recently, tells you that she has just got back from Abu Dhabi where she was presenting a TV programme for Sky Travel. But that is what Denise Nurse recounts from the cosy central London offices of her firm, Halebury. The programme featured the new six-star hotel in the United Arab Emirates’ second-largest city, as well as a Justin Timberlake concert in the desert with an audience of 13,000 people.



Ms Nurse leads an extraordinary double life: half her time is spent as a broadcaster for Sky, predominantly on Sky News presenting the weather, and with occasional forays abroad for Sky Travel; the other half is spent running Halebury, a new firm of self-employed lawyers, and as a practising lawyer. To her this is entirely logical and unsurprising. ‘I am an all-rounder, which is why I need both sides – a performing and an academic side,’ she says.



Her schedule is mind-boggling. She usually works three or four shifts a week at Sky, on top of her full-time post as director and lawyer. ‘Sometimes there are early shifts when I get up at 3am,’ she says. ‘Sometimes I work straight through and then go directly to Halebury. Sometimes I go home for a while and come in later. It is a little bit tricky because I don’t have a regular broadcasting schedule at Sky.’



It all started when she was working in-house as a commercial lawyer for Sky and won a Sky talent competition. The prize was the chance to interview the cast and director of the Hollywood musical, Phantom of the Opera. The interview impressed Sky and, after a successful screen test, she was offered six months’ work at Sky News. Eventually she gained a permanent presenting role.



But although Ms Nurse has been extremely successful as a broadcaster, her early career was very much focused on law. She openly admits that she first decided on law as a career when she was only 14. ‘Part of me is a lawyer at heart – practical and logical,’ she explains. Despite having no one in the family who had gone to university before, Ms Nurse went to Liverpool to study law. ‘Because I was the first one, I needed to make sure it was worth it. Once I was there, it was fascinating to see that the law touches all parts of our lives. It is a great academic subject.’



Ms Nurse trained as a solicitor at Charles Russell, a medium-sized City law firm. ‘My favourite subjects at university were family law and intellectual property (IP),’ she explains. ‘I chose Charles Russell because it offered quality training, and both private client and IP disciplines, which is quite rare. As it turned out, I wasn’t allotted any private client work at all. I was disappointed, but then I found that I liked negotiations because I liked the commercial aspect. I didn’t like litigation because of the problems in going to court, and because you are starting from a point where the parties are working against each other and are reluctant to compromise. In commercial law everyone is working for essentially the same aim.’



It was to a position as an in-house commercial lawyer at Sky that Ms Nurse moved after working in Charles Russell’s corporate and commercial department. ‘Sky is a great place to work, both as a lawyer and as a presenter,’ she says. ‘As a lawyer, I genuinely enjoyed it. It was hard work but that is what we want, we are competitive. As an IP and media lawyer, it was perfect experience: you cover all sorts of areas such as advertising standards, competition law, defamation and commercial agreements.



‘It was also inspiring in terms of the attitude of the people who work there. They have a good ethos – they are healthily competitive and want to be the best in the field. These are great people to be around. Also, if you are willing to put yourself forward, then they will let you move around. People do move departments.’ Like Ms Nurse did, for instance.



After four years as a practising lawyer came the talent competition and the lawyer became a broadcaster. Then, after a few years in front of the camera, an ex-colleague and friend, Janvi Patel, approached her with a business venture: Halebury, a law firm for freelance lawyers that is now entering its third year of operations (see page 22). Ms Nurse signed up as a director in 2007 because, she explains: ‘I’m not very good at turning down opportunities. I feel like I am being given the opportunity for a reason. Not that all these things aren’t also a responsibility. I keep remembering that phrase: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected”. I have been given talents and energies so I must do something with them.’



The daily transition from one job to the other is challenging, but Ms Nurse says: ‘There are similarities between the skills needed to be a presenter and a lawyer, particularly running Halebury. There is the nitty gritty of organisation, but also presenting and communicating – whether it is to a potential client or a TV viewer. You have to be able to think on your feet and stay calm under pressure. After all, a lot of lawyers are frustrated performers.



‘Sometimes I do think I am mad. I had such a great time just doing one or the other [job], and there are days when I think I can’t do everything. And there are guilt trips as well, because you are having to split your time and so offer concentrated bursts of your attention rather than dedicating your life to just one cause. But equally one enhances the other and makes you a happier person.’



The schedule is demanding, however, and Ms Nurse concedes that she needs help to manage it. ‘I have a good support network,’ she explains. ‘No one should imagine that they could, can or should do it on their own. So I need Janvi, my business partner at Halebury, who understands and can cope with me not being there all the time. We have a great PA: we needed someone to rely on and who we could trust. When you work in TV, it is the same. I get my make-up done by someone, someone else helps me decide what clothes to wear, and most days I’ll have a producer. You don’t actually do it on your own. I have to have people to get things going on a personal level as well. I need a personal trainer, a cleaner, and I have a very supportive family. If they don’t see me for a while it is because I am doing this or that, and they support me.’



Halebury’s business model is built around people having the flexibility to do different things, something which Ms Nurse leads on by way of example. ‘Halebury is exciting because it helps other people,’ she says. ‘It is a business, yes, but we are also making sure people can live the lives they want to lead. I am busy, but it is where I want to be. People ask what I do to enjoy myself when I’m not doing all of these jobs, and I say this is what I do, this is my idea of enjoying myself.’



Ms Nurse is keen to do more news presenting because it would bring together her academic and performing sides. ‘Mixing the two would be great,’ she admits. ‘I would like to do something along the lines of Oprah Winfrey: she can be frivolous and serious. She is a hero, absolutely. She does amazing things and she runs her own business too. And TV is a playground. It is fun. You get the chance to have experiences which are once in a lifetime. Sky News is fast-paced, it is about breaking news. I like the element that you don’t know what is going to happen next.’



Nor does Ms Nurse know what will happen to her next. She says: ‘If you had told me five years ago that this is what I would be doing, I would have laughed, so I don’t know what’s next. Halebury is definitely here to stay. I am prepared for anything, I am open to anything.’



Polly Botsford is a freelance journalist