A former client, George Walker, founder of Brent Walker, says she is 'street smart, good looking and very determined to win'.

Another much less impressed commentator - a former colleague - dismisses her as being a 'lot of showmanship and very abrasive'.

Denise Kingsmill - employment lawyer to some of t he biggest names in the business and an avid user of publicity to boost cases - induces extremes of reactions.Her legal career, which did not begin until she was 32, has been marked by several high profile job changes which, in the last five years alone, have seen her through two City law firms and a stint working for the Rainbow Consortium's bid for the National Lottery.

On the move again this month, she has just taken up a new post at City firm Denton Hall.She explains the chequered progress thus: 'You get one bite at the cherry in life - you have just 70 years.

And you have to move around to keep feeling that you are enjoying what you are doing.

A lot of it is combating boredom apart from anything else.'Tall and willowy with gamine good looks, Ms Kingsmill still looks very much the part she played in the fashion world before she became a lawyer.

Working for ICI and the International Wool Secretariat in Paris, she spent seven years in fashion marketing before the business of 'figuring out what on earth everybody is going to be wearing next season' lost its allure for her: 'I started to look up the hierarchy and decided I did not want the jobs of the people above me.'Her disenchantment coincided with first time motherhood and she took the opportunity, while at home, to study law.

'I wanted to do something which offered intellectual satisfaction.'As a hangover from her past life, she still reads Vogue from cover to cover: 'It used to be the trade mag - you had to read it, it was like reading the Gazette.' But apart from that there is no hankering back.Very early in her legal career Ms Kingsmill began to specialise in employment law.

After a time with trade union firm Robin Thompson and Partners, she set up on her own - a niche practice combining employment law with personal injury and medical negligence.'I loved it,' she says of the five years in sole practice.

But flying solo stopped being an option once she started acting for large companies desiring 'a big firm service'.It was at that point that she moved to DJ Freeman to set up an employment unit there.

Soon, her practice had broadened beyond run-of-the-mill employment matters to include high profile boardroom disputes.It was while at DJ Freeman that she acted for George Walker.

'Underneath the charm there is real aggression and she gives 100% when she acts for you,' he said of her.

Ms Kingsmill was flattered enough by the comments to include them in a press release announcing her move to Denton Hall.

And she proclaims herself 'absolutely delighted' that Mr Walker was cleared of fraud charges two weeks ago.

'I predicted it,' she says.Work at DJ Freeman was followed by a brief stint at the shipping firm Clyde & Co, which she claims worked out OK although there was 'no natural synergy' between the firm's client list and hers.She therefore did not hesitate when invited by Sir Patrick Sheehy - who she knew from acting for BAT - to work on the Rainbow Consortium's bid for the lottery.

'An amazingly exciting time,' she says of the nine months involved.

'I have never worked so hard in my life - never had so many highs and lows.' But the failure of the bid meant that she was in the job market again.Denton Hall appealed for two reasons.

First, there was that all important synergy between her client list, which includes many media/ communications companies, and that of the firm, which has an established reputation in media and entertainment law.Secondly, DH employed an old Cambridge friend of hers.

'He is a bit of an off-the-wall guy and I thought if they can a ccommodate him they can accommodate me,' she laughs.Ms Kingsmill believes she has got much of her admitted restlessness out of her system and expects to be at DH 'for a very long time'.

She brings with her clients such as Peter Woods of Direct Line and Cyril Stein of Ladbrokes, and her role will be very much aimed at heightening the firm's profile as adviser on boardroom debacles.Away from work, Ms Kingsmill does not slink into obscurity.

She chairs a health service trust in south-east London and is a governor of the College of Law.

Also, for the first time, she is actively considering political work.

The election of Tony Blair as leader of Labour - a party to which she has 'a deep emotional commitment' - has fired her enthusiasm in this direction.And while she has no desire to be an MP - 'the hours are appalling' - she would be 'very pleased' to contribute to policy formulation.

Health is an area of particular interest and it is one 'where the Labour party has not refined its views'.Ms Kingsmill's razzmatazz style and what one observer called her 'very prickly' personality earns her detractors.

But even some of these concede that she is impressive when she gets the bit between her teeth on behalf of a client.Away from the office she lets off steam in a health club.

Working out regularly is 'very important' to her.

And so is the camaraderie she finds in the club.

'There is nothing like the laugh you have in the sauna with your girl-friends,' she says wickedly.