Five minutes with...Nicholas Marshall, ANZ

Nicholas Marshall is the manager of legal contracts, supplier shared services at ANZ Bank. He tells NZ Lawyer about the tricky logistics of cashing ceremonial cheques...

 
NZ Lawyer: What made you decide to become a lawyer and how long have you worked for ANZ?
Nicholas Marshall: I was good at sort of arts subjects at school and that made me think that maybe law would be a sensible thing to do at university. I’ve worked for ANZ about 10 years. Before that I worked in government.
 
What’s the oddest or most unusual thing you’ve been asked to do at work?
One of the first things I did at ANZ was someone had a presentation cheque – an enormous presentation cheque – and we didn’t know how we were going to bank that. So that was a bit of an interesting query. (We ended up giving them a small cheque along with the ceremonial one).
 
If you could invite three people to dinner, dead or alive, who would they be?
Only three? Winston Churchill, Isambard Brunel…and maybe Jeremy Clarkson to spice it up.
 
You’re based in Wellington – where’s the best place to go for an after-work drink?
It depends what you’re looking for, but I would probably go to somewhere like Foxglove [on Queen’s Warf].
 
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given, personal or professional?
“Watch good people work,” so people who care about how they’re going to run a process and are calm about it.
 
What are your interests outside of work?
I enjoy travel and classic cars. I’ve got a 1983 Rover Vitesse.  
 
Complete this sentence: If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would be…
If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would work in the motor industry.
 
What’s the single biggest issue facing the in-house legal space right now?
Probably the challenge of doing the same with less in terms of resources.
 
If you had John Key’s job for a day, what would you do?
Run a budget suprlus.
 
What would you change about your job if you could?
I’d probably have a larger team.