The diminutive figure of Julia Chain is in the cockpit of one of the most dynamic law firms in the country.

With a reputation for super efficiency and an expansionist eye, the new managing partner of Garrett & Co - a firm which raises eyebrows because of its close association with Arthur Andersen - is pondering her firm's potential with some relish.'No,' she says, 'Garrett & Co does not want to take over the world.' But she is confident that the firm is capable of going national.

'I think we have the ability to be one of the first truly national law firms,' she says, adding: 'It makes sense to have regional offices with each office competing in its own regional market.'That is the kind of statement guaranteed to put the wind up law firms in provincial cities.

Garrett & Co's recent entr-e to Leeds, aided by a team from Simpson Curtis, caused a furore amongst the local legal fraternity and there were dark murmurings of boycotts of Arthur Andersen.Ms Chain was not overly surprised by the reaction.

'In a very close business community like Leeds it was bound to cause a stir.' But, she adds, 'there is probably enough work for everybody in Leeds'.Just 15 months old, Garrett & Co, has already opened two satellites - Reading and Leeds.

Ms Chain says there are no immediate plans to open elsewhere, but 'if opportunities present themselves or it makes business sense, we will.

We are constantly assessing the position.'In 15 months, the firm has grown at an astounding rate, now comprising 14 partners and 59 staff.

And by recruiting people who could bring work with them, it has built up a chunky portfolio of corporate/commercial clients as well as being able to provide an array of specialisms - employment, tax, intellectual property and banking - unusual for a relatively small firm.Ms Chain reckons that between 25% and 30% of the firm's work can be traced to Arthur Andersen but she insists that there is no cosy drip feed; Garrett & Co has to pitch for work from the accountants just as from any other source.With her appointment this month, Ms Chain became the first female managing partner in the city.

Her progress within the firm reflects the progress of the firm overall.

She was one of three key people hired by senior partner Colin Garrett at the start to build up the firm.

Her background was solid corporate/commercial work, including five years at Herbert Smith followed by two years at the smaller specia list firm, Hobson Audley.When she heard of the Garrett & Co opportunity, she felt it had 'me written all over it'.

It seemed to combine the best that her two previous employers had to offer - top quality big time work together with the opportunity to get involved in management.In common with most managing partners of law firms, Ms Chain has had no formal management training but she does not feel at a disadvantage, believing her commercial law background has involved much on the job management training.

'In a way, managing a transaction - for example an MBO - is not much different from what I will be doing [as managing partner],' she says.She will aim always for consensus - 'to ensure that everyone buys into the strategy'.

And her particular concern will be to ensure that the firm's younger lawyers know what kind of future they can expect at the firm.

She abhors the traditional practice of keeping young lawyers in the dark about their prospects.Another thing she will insist on is continuing a sizeable proportion of her fee-earning load.

'It keeps your feet on the ground and keeps you very much in touch with what your staff are doing.

In order to remain sensitive to their needs, I think you need to understand how they spend their days.'Ms Chain might have been a social anthropologist - her first choice of study at Cambridge - or a doctor.

But two years into her anthropology studies she 'panicked and thought I better get a real job'.

And so she became a lawyer.On getting her law degree, she accompanied her immunologist husband to New York - he to work at the Sloane Kettering Hospital, she to join the foreign associates programme at Shearman & Sterling.

Plunged straight in at the deep end she was fortunate to get to work on giant deals for clients like Citibank and Massey Ferguson.

Of her two years there she says: 'It was marvellous experience.

I never worked so hard in my life.' She returned to England and did her articles at Herbert Smith, where she stayed for five years.Observers remark on Ms Chain's steely efficiency, how she manages, apparently effortlessly, to combine the most demanding of careers with a home life which involves four school-going children and other activities, including acting as commercial editor to this publication.

'Yes,' she admits, 'I am well organised.

But speak to any working mother and you will find a very well organised person with somebody who is totally chaotic, screaming to get out and have a holiday once in a while.'Once or twice a year she escapes with her family to their holiday home in the wilds of the West of Ireland.

'That is lovely because I can be as disorganised as I like.'From her modest, neat-as-a-new-pin office, Ms Chain considers where Garrett & Co will be in five years.

She recalls what a mentor at Herbert Smith used to say years ago.

'He used to say: "We should be in the regions, we should not be opening offices overseas."'Ms Chain now believes the opportunities exist to do both.

Garrett & Co has already made a start in the regions and thanks to its alliance with Arthur Andersen, it can tap into a network of 'sister' law firms throughout Europe which are similarly affiliated to the accountancy giant.

As Ms Chain sees it, the only way is up.