David Revagliatte meets Peter Isola, Senior Partner of Isola's LLP. In this candid discussion, Peter shares his personal career journey and his experiences of leading Gibraltar's oldest law firm through the complexities of modern law.
With the IBA (International Bar Association) flagging burnout as a global phenomenon in the legal profession, Peter acknowledges the pressures of a legal career and the need for a healthier work-life balance. The interview examines AI's role in redefining modern legal practice, from aiding anti-money laundering to enhancing litigators' capabilities and its impact on traditional billing models.
This episode's GFSB Member shoutout comes from Kerstin Andlaw from Thrive As One Consulting.
Thanks for listening to the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the GFSB! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!
David Revagliatte meets Peter Isola, Senior Partner of Isola's LLP. In this candid discussion, Peter shares his personal career journey and his experiences of leading Gibraltar's oldest law firm through the complexities of modern law.
With the IBA (International Bar Association) flagging burnout as a global phenomenon in the legal profession, Peter acknowledges the pressures of a legal career and the need for a healthier work-life balance. The interview examines AI's role in redefining modern legal practice, from aiding anti-money laundering to enhancing litigators' capabilities and its impact on traditional billing models.
This episode's GFSB Member shoutout comes from Kerstin Andlaw from Thrive As One Consulting.
Thanks for listening to the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the GFSB! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!
Hello and welcome to the Gibraltar Business Podcast. I'm your host, David Revagliatte. If you already know the show, welcome back and thanks for listening. If you're just discovering the podcast, hello and welcome. Before we go any further, I'd like to ask you a favour If you're enjoying the show, please like it on social media and hit follow on the player you are it to from. This really helps us grow the show.
David Revagliatte:The Gibraltar Business Podcast is brought to you by the GFSB and is sponsored by Gibraltar International Bank, an institution that shares our passion for business. On today's business podcast, we welcome Peter Isola. Peter is a senior partner of Gibraltar's oldest law firm, Isola's LLP. It was a real coup to get him on the show. Later in the episode, we meet Kirsten Andlaw from Thrive as One Consulting, who tells us about her work with organizations and her involvement in the upcoming GibSams Wellbeing at Work conference.
Peter Isola :After that came the fourth generation, which is myself. My brother, albert has just returned to the firm after 10 years as a government minister in financial services, gaming and, by the end of many other areas, also my cousin Mark. So that's his generation. Then we have the next generation, who's already here, with my daughter Katrina working with me, and my nephew Nick as well, not forgetting my cousin Nick Eastlum. My nephew Joe Garcia, who's now a fintech ambassador. That's the history.
Peter Isola :We remain very much a family firm and I think of all my partners, lawyers and employees as being part of that family. Today we're a relatively dynamic firm Over 100 people employed, 14 partners, over 30 lawyers and including highly valued consultants. I mentioned Joe Garcia just now and also Jamie Trinidad, who's at Cambridge University but is very much a part of the firm. Over the years we've enjoyed pretty spectacular growth and we feel very much a part of the community. Despite being the oldest law firm, we're always modernizing and we recently restructured into a more modern limited liability partnership, so that was a significant milestone in the development of the firm. And obviously we're a general practice firm. We cover all the areas very involved in the gambling and the DLT space, but also in all sorts of areas as well.
David Revagliatte:So law goes right through your family. What led you into law? Where did that come from? Was it passion or was it kind of love from above?
Peter Isola :No, not at all. There was absolutely no pressure on my becoming a lawyer and it certainly wasn't a conversion on the road to Damascus or anything like that. Quite the opposite. Possibly, as a teenager, like most teenagers, I haven't got a clue what I wanted to do. And when my father put me on spot and said, so, what do you want to do? My first thought, I don't know. Maybe architecture, maybe accountancy.
Peter Isola :I enjoyed mathematics a lot and so he went off to the UK and from business trip and he returned with a couple of business book, a couple of career book loads, one for architecture, one for accountancy and I said, what about law? And he said he didn't mention law. So I had absolutely no pressure. But then, after completing my levels, where did English, history and maths? And maths were very difficult to do with the arts that I could buy and well, and I decided I really enjoyed his English and history and that, to me, pointed me towards law because it's the use of English and the historical precedent. So it was quite a late decision to turn to the law, but I certainly enjoyed it, loved it and have a look back. So I guess in the end it was in the blood.
David Revagliatte:And obviously you've gone through and now you lead the firm. Do you feel with Gibraltar's oldest law firm, does that feel any pressure now to take that family legacy and lead it ever?
Peter Isola :I think it does. I feel very, very responsible towards developing the firm and making sure it continues for many years to come, and it's definitely been my one priority. So, yes, I think it's very important, very connected with the local community. We're very much a local firm. Even our website is Gibraltarlawyerscom, so we're very much linked into that. I think as a firm, we try and think differently. I think of our firm very much as one firm, one team working together. So we have great emphasis on respecting each other, working together and very much supporting the local community. So we cover all areas of law and that's very important to us.
David Revagliatte:So with Gibraltar, famously, I sat down and interviewed James Levy from Hassan's and I think I was asked him probably the most silly question I've probably asked anyone, which was why were there so many lawyers in Gibraltar, which he kind of gave me an excellent answer. But I take that as well. There's so many legal firms here in Gibraltar. What makes? If you had to think of one thing that makes you so different, what would that be?
Peter Isola :Oh, my goodness, I think it's our total connection with the community. I think that's. I really have to stress that we feel very committed to the community, and it's just not just in terms of legal services we provide through legal aid, pro bono work, many charities, but very much we think in an environmental. Esg is extremely important to us and in fact, on our website you'll find that we have an ESG page totally dedicated to all the ESG and it's not just paying lip service to it.
Peter Isola :Climate changes the largest factor facing our planet, so we have to deal with it in our own small way helping, cutting electricity, air conditioning, all these sort of things. And to ensure that we're fully committed, we carry out the annual carbon footprint, we set targets and, in fact, we're the first Gibraltar law firm to become a member of the UN initiative Climate Neutral Now. So we are committed to the pledge and we're committed to contribute to accelerating a huge change in either to reach global at zero by 2050. And as a result of these efforts, we were awarded second place last year in the Gibraltar Sustainable Awards organized by the Nautilus Project and, of course, yourselves, the GFSB. So that represents our effort and commitment to promote sustainability and we have a dedicated partner, sarah Braille, very committed to ESG. So we have green areas in the office, we have recycling bins, we've got rid of paper and plastic cups, every person is given a metal, sustainable water bottle to refill daily, and everything is looked at and checked through independent assessors.
Peter Isola :So it's a very big commitment to the local community and that's very much where I see, not necessarily I'm not saying we only found the do this, but I think we're certainly leading the way and obviously making a difference locally.
Peter Isola :Every employee is encouraged to take a day off the charity the charity day a year, and obviously we set up the Peter Jay Easter Foundation when my father died in his honor and very much my mother as well, who was with the Gibraltar Red Cross for over 50 years, and so through that we raised over £400,000 that we raised and donated to the community. During COVID, some may remember that I cycled 50 kilometers a day and my partner, neil Costa, did a half marathon for seven days and he said if we raise over 50,000, they'll do it for 14 days. So he did it for 14 days because we raised over 100,000, but I was smart enough not to raise my commitment, which was hard enough it was, and we're involved in Calpa House, in young enterprise, and I really, really see us as a law firm that's integrated and committed to the local community and that's, for us, the most important aspect.
David Revagliatte:That's a lot of charity and kind of stuff that you do in the community and actually E-Celest does enjoy a strong presence. I think people know the family, the brand and what you guys do. How would you like the community to perceive E-Celest, apart from the charity stuff that you do?
Peter Isola :Well, I think very much as a firm connected with the community, available to the community, and that we really cover all areas of law. I think it's a continuity to have a law firm that's now over 125 years old Obviously, I want to make sure it's 225 years old, although I won't be around for that much longer so it's instilling that sort of community both inside and outside the office. I go back to what I mentioned about our being one law firm, one team, working together, supporting each other.
David Revagliatte:That brings me on really nicely to my next question leading such a firm and having the legacy from your family and wanting to leave that and grow that, how would you describe your leadership style and what role you play with that?
Peter Isola :It's difficult. You probably have to ask someone else.
David Revagliatte:It's always a quick question.
Peter Isola :I guess my leadership style is very much leading from the front. I never ask anyone to do anything I'm not prepared to do myself, and it's right across the whole firm. I think in my younger days I was probably quite hard. I was sort of expecting everyone to be at the desk at 9am. I expected everyone to be working as hard as I was, so it's probably a bit harsh and unbearable at the time. But I hope that over the years I'm meled. But I guess other people will tell you whether I have or not. But I do believe in hard work, I believe in smart work and I also believe in always trying to improve what we do in every aspect.
Peter Isola :I hate if someone says how are we doing like this for years? That for me is like a red flag. Why haven't we changed? We've got to improve and I think during COVID, as a great eye opener, our HR, our IT team were absolutely brilliant. We were seamlessly working from home, remotely, and so we learned a lot from. I never heard of Zoom or Teams at the time. Obviously, now they're very much part of our lives and we do use it in trying to help us with our ESG credentials In, for example, trying to discourage travel where it's not necessary business travel, and to use things like Teams and engage digitally with our clients wherever possible. So we've learned a lot working from home. Environment is changing and we always have to be looking at new ways of working.
David Revagliatte:I absolutely think with COVID, many of our listeners and definitely lots of my guests have described it as a before and after and kind of something that has driven a lot of change. You mentioned that when you started you were a hard leader, right. What has led to you being melded out? As you mentioned? Probably age.
Peter Isola :Probably age. I think actually for me the biggest difference is when you start having children and suddenly you realise the pressures that perhaps I hadn't recognised before. I had children start having children and perhaps having to do that. So becoming more flexible and understanding, naturally, as you get older, as you have a family and of course, I'm very fortunate now to have my daughter working with me, so that gives me an extra incentive as well.
David Revagliatte:Piti, you're an incredibly busy man. You use a lot of different boards and committees. What keeps you motivated?
Peter Isola :It's very simple I love what I do. You've got to choose a career or a job that you love doing and if you do that, then everything follows. I mean, I love working with the people I'm working with, I enjoy the law and I enjoy all aspects of leading a business of this nature, and obviously also we have the fiduciary side, which has grown over the years, which has been very rewarding, and so if you do what you love, it's almost not a job anymore. So that's why I'm now 65, but I have no plans to retire and I keep on coming to the office every day, as I mentioned. Obviously, having my daughter there is an extra incentive when you've got your family there. But, as I said, you know my partners, everyone around. It's great to have them around. I enjoy, we work closely together, we support each other in every way, not just in the law but privately.
David Revagliatte:So it works really well, so would you say that you've achieved balance in your kind of work, non-work life?
Peter Isola :Today, I think so I certainly take more holidays, but I guess 30 years ago when I was developing the law firm and particularly developing fiduciary with my brother's Albert and also Lawrence it was very much a part for that. That was really full on hard work and I guess I had absolutely no balance at the time. But I still fairly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the growth we achieved through fiduciary. We had offices all over the place. It was a great journey, a great story. But with hindsight I wish I spent more time with my family and I'm sure a lot of people say that, as they say when you're on your deathbed, no one ever said that we should have worked harder. So I guess finding that balance I'm finding it in later life rather than during the years when I was fully 110% on developing the fiduciary and all the other things. But you've got to enjoy it.
David Revagliatte:You've got to enjoy this thing. Yeah, I think also there is time for hard work. I think, in my personal experience anyway, I think there are times and stages in your life where you are working a lot. But, as I said, if you're enjoying it, then it's about maybe changing that chip, and I think for me it's definitely helped, thinking you are working but you're also building, and I think I find that definitely in my career. I was just curious. To see someone who has and is leading and is much further ahead is refreshing to hear that as well.
Peter Isola :What I think is very important is obviously, is obviously, health and balance. So my weekends I definitely don't work anymore and I'm an avid cyclist, so you'll see me cycling up to Jimena and San Pablo and, on a brave day, all the way up to Garcia. I do that with friends and in fact, my nephew, mark Garcia, is a medical director in hospital. He often comes with me, which is good. I got a doctor on hand just in case I pushed too hard, but, to be honest, he's normally pushing me harder. But yeah, it's finding that balance.
David Revagliatte:And score I guess in keeping fit and wellness and things that are coming into play right, it's so important.
Peter Isola :Yeah, you have to have that balance.
David Revagliatte:It's really important. One of the reasons I mentioned balance and I guess again it's a theme that comes through in many of the conversations I have is that traditionally the legal profession has had a bit of a reputation for burnout. Say so, I'm not just saying it. The International Bar Association flag burnout as a global phenomenon in the legal profession. A recent study found two-thirds of legal professionals have experienced burnout. What's your take on that finding and what's Issa's approach to it?
Peter Isola :Yeah, I think a burnout is a real factor and it's not necessarily because you're working 80 hours a day. It affects people in different ways and I think the broader within law firms have a reasonable balance. I don't think people are working the sort of hours that say magic circle law firms were working London. So I think it's slightly different. I don't think it's just about the lawyers, it's about the employees, the partners, the firm as a whole. So mentor being is essential.
Peter Isola :Covid was very hard on many people. I don't think we realize how hard COVID was to laugh to the event and the stress that we were under. I mean, as I mentioned before, we adapted amazingly well during COVID. But mental health awareness is not something new. It wasn't something that was off COVID.
Peter Isola :We have a very active intranet and one of the main headings or things like this is well-being, and we work with a company, tellus Health, so we have a lot of online support and resources. And it doesn't just stop there. We also use a local company, oxyllium, to help people and sometimes, in working smarter, to manage their stress levels and that way find more balance in the workplace, and that's available to everyone. I have a terrific HR team who are also very supportive and I personally have an open-door policy and I often discuss with partners of lawyers, employees who may be struggling in other areas, and help them find a way through it. But it's very important. So this is like a company, like Oxyllium, but Oxyllium and Handler she's really good.
Peter Isola :It's very much one of the lifestyle coaches. Sometimes that's what you need at the first level. Then obviously, if it gets worse and you're having other mental issues, then we're very aware of that and have to keep an eye out. So I'm very conscious of, actually and it's quite amusing this couple of particular lawyers where when I'm leaving the office, they say why are you still here? Right, you've got to go. Don't do what I did. Do what I say, not what I do, in a positive way. So I want people I think someone has been working hard in the office from nine to six needs to go home and not stay late. So I mean that's part of it keeping an eye out, keeping that balance.
David Revagliatte:I think it's interesting that you mentioned that it's not just about if you're working 80 hours, and I think we're living in an age now. It's overwhelmed. We've all got devices, news seems to go, we're going from bad to worse.
Peter Isola :So I think maybe it's a mix of people, maybe working too hard in the environment, that pushes them, but maybe it's also what else is going on outside, maybe Well, thankfully my children are older so I haven't had to worry about that phase for my children and the social media and the internet and everything that is available there and can be so stressful to people. There's a lot of social pressure for Instagram what other people are doing? What aren't they doing? Of course they're doing it for that week. They're not doing it all the time. You've seen different people do it and am I missing out? So there's that. There's incredible peer social pressure on people, which thankfully I never had and my children were slightly before.
David Revagliatte:I think absolutely there's a whole. We can have a whole conversation about that Back in the day I grew up and I didn't have social media. So when you compare yourself to your peers, they were your peers in your professional life or your school. When you're growing up Right now you've got kids and people working, you're preparing yourself to people in America, in London, in Singapore. So it's kind of it really amplifies that pressure. So, yeah, how do we get over that? How do we manage that?
Peter Isola :I mean, I don't know what the answer is. You've got to, on one side, embrace it and other side, control it and manage it and just remember that's not reality and reality is when you're walking down the street and seeing. That's reality. And also you have to realize that you're in Gibraltar. In our community we're very, very fortunate. We are, relatively speaking, the majority well off, and I mean not completely. That's why, from our charities, we try to help local charities, particularly you know company like Childline Clubhouse, so that covers children and mental issues and things, and we've got to be aware that there's still a lot of issues within our community. We're, relatively speaking, on a global scale we're doing pretty well, so we have to find, you know, recognize that Recognize that and keep that, I think, and also any parents, younger people, is kind of reassured them that it's not real.
David Revagliatte:You know, I think that puts a lot of pressure on them. Talking about again the big issues, peter, I'm really sorry about asking for one of the big things that's relatively new is AI. Now, ai as a technology has been around for a long time, but in the last kind of 12 months or so, generative AI has been increasingly being implemented, rolled out in many businesses internationally, in here on the rock. Generative AI means things programmed like chatGPT that can generate work and output. Is this embracing? Have you got a policy? What's your take on AI?
Peter Isola :Well, I think I've just finished reading a book called how AI Thinks by Nigel Toon. It was a real eye-opener, obviously, and so I think AI has got many positive benefits. I think sometimes in the press you see the negative what can happen, how can be used, but it has so many possibilities of enhancing our growth in medicine. You can number crunch if you think of the calculator when it first came out. I remember my father back in 64 when you went to United Nations Josh has that coming back with a calculator. It was a huge, it was like a big box and he didn't show us. He had to have a lunch table and he'd say what's 83 times 82? That's sort of the thing and he'd give the answer. So it can be that sort of leap change helping in developing medicines and things. And of course it's going to be very disruptive in the legal profession. I mean so far.
Peter Isola :Yes, we're using chat, gvt, I think, mainly in our marketing, business development and things like that. But I do find it quite amusing. I was trying to find last week if there was a UK equivalent for a Canadian law that I found which would be quite useful if we had it in Gibraltar and the private plant space and I was about to ask a young lawyer to look at it and I thought I'll ask chat GVT, and I immediately got back no, we don't have UK law or English law doesn't have that, but it does have ABCD. So then what it meant was that what I then gave the young lawyer to look at was okay, look, look, look into ABCD Much more special. So it's saved in an enormous amount of time and that's just going to happen.
Peter Isola :It's going to save time, it's going to improve services, it's going to help with the type of advice you give. It's going to be a lot more, if you like, the number crunching side of going through laws and finding presidents. It's going to be done by things like GVT or the enterprise version for firms and lawyers. So I think there's a lot of positive benefits and you're never going to take out the human element. You still need to sit around the table, give the advice, knock back ideas. That's going to have, but it means you're going to get that much quicker. So it's going to benefit, I think, lawyers more quality of work and clients more quality of product.
David Revagliatte:With you know. It's great to know that you are reading up on it and you're kind of seeing where it's coming from. With marketing communications it's definitely changed things. I sometimes use it as almost like a junior, you know to do that kind of heavy lifting at the start. But the legal profession for me has always been a profession that charges on time. Its price strategy, I guess, is around time. How does that balance with a tool that maybe reduces that? I don't know.
Peter Isola :I think I mean time. Everyone hates time recording. Lawyers hate time as much as clients do. I can tell you some people leave the law because they're not enough of time sheets and things. It just seems to be the mechanism for charging for lawyers, so it's not great but a lot of competition. If you look at it locally, the prices that clients achieve fixed fee prices, for example, conveyancing is really really low and they're still getting a full service for it. So I think it's brilliant in those areas. And then for the larger commercial clients, yes, it is based on time, but I see this as positive because you don't want to spend all that time sort of researching. You want to spend the time advising so you can get the advice quicker. And you know we do want to give value to clients. So we ourselves are sometimes horrified by how much time we have to spend on things and tend to cut back on things and how we raise. So to have a mechanism that can get you quicker to that point it's going to help everybody.
David Revagliatte:It really is a tremendous benefit.
Peter Isola :I think it's going to be hugely efficient, you know, instead of going to the old volumes of laws of Gibraltar. Thankfully it's now online and there's Gibraltar. You know, Patrick Kahawana has developed that very well, so the resources already there which are helping us in that. So I mean, we talk about artificial intelligence, but in a way, Google already is.
David Revagliatte:Yeah, of course.
Peter Isola :So we're talking about developing it to help us to be doing more effective. So you're getting more to the point quicker. So now I see so many positives. I think it's really, really positive and, don't forget, it's very positive for learning as well.
David Revagliatte:Absolutely. It's almost like that comparison of on a negative, how it's bad that we're comparing ourselves sometimes on social media to people in different parts of the world. I think just having this kind of technology at our fingertips can be can be a really, really good thing.
Peter Isola :Last week, I spoke to the new CEO at Macedonia and they are embracing AI as well, so it's good to see these big local firms doing so, yes, I mean, I sit on the boards of gaming companies and things and I see them embracing it very much in their due diligence and anti money laundering. So there are areas which are not using it in yet but which enhance, I think, the gaming community as a head of the game, because they're dealing with so many, so many players and it's very, very important that they can use artificial intelligence, even mental well being, and trying to assess their partners and things. So, yeah, there's a lot of positive potential.
David Revagliatte:Flipping it now and from a litigation, I guess, point of view. What are some of the challenges? How does the law tackle some of the challenges presented by AI?
Peter Isola :Well, I think. I mean I'm not a litigator, but I think for litigation it definitely helps in research, which is really, really important. You know, when you're preparing pleadings and things, you want to get there as quickly as possible. You don't want to spend hours, days researching, especially if some of the dead ends. So artificial intelligence is going to help enormously in analyzing the law and I think it's going to help local businesses. It's going to help the community, because they themselves will be able to use certain tools without even having to go to lawyers. So there are benefits right through the community.
David Revagliatte:Peter, again I feel really bad because I'm asking all these big questions the treaty, you know I think this is something again, you know it's tough, but it is a question that it's been part of every single discussion I've had, I think since the very start of this podcast, and seeing it evolve and develop is kind of and see it through the lens of the different people I'm interviewing is super interesting. What are your views or expectations on the treaty negotiations?
Peter Isola :Part of the problem is that we don't know you know devils in the detail we don't know what's in the treaty. So I think the treaty will be very important for ensuring frontier flow or no frontier, and that increases the flow. That will help the larger business, particularly in Gibraltar. It will help the main street because they'll be more footfall. So perhaps the main street will maybe less sort of price focus but more type of shop or type of, so it becomes an experience shopping in Gibraltar, for example. So I think there's lots of benefits coming from the treaty or should come for the treaty. But we don't know if there's going to be additional taxes and things like that which then may affect and change the way we do business. For example, obviously GFSB, very conscious of how, might affect wholesalers and retailers and that's a side that we don't really know yet. So I think the jury's out on that side.
Peter Isola :But I have great confidence in Fadir Bigar on his team to deliver a treaty. It's really really hard. I mean, as a lawyer dealing with contracts generally trying to deal with all the different aspects and the treaty has to cover all sorts of aspects. You know from ID card shanggans is such a huge that people shouldn't underestimate how difficult the task that Fabian has set himself is. But I think you know they're working around the clock on it. We've never had better relationships with Spain, or the UK for that matter, in my lifetime. I know what they were like in times of my father and Assange and, believe me, they were nothing like they are today. Tremendous support, tremendous communication, and I've taken my hat off. I mean, fabian has achieved that with his team. They keep on working as well with the Labour Party. It's a very important change of government in the UK. But so I am very positive about the treaty.
Peter Isola :I don't think it's the end or I don't think by any means that if we don't have a treaty and we remain in the frontier, we're outside Shandong. We have the protection of EU law. We're a third party border. You know we haven't changed. We're still like that. We're outside Shandong today. So, yes, we may have to suffer bad frontier flows if we didn't have a treaty, but I'm increasingly confident that we're going to have a treaty anyway.
Peter Isola :But I think it's very important to your listeners that if we don't have a treaty, we still have a vibrant economy and we will continue. I don't see that changing. We've got tremendous. You know the gaming communities is fully developed, it's resilient, it's growing. You know we all fought after Brexit. You know the day after the Brexit but we were down and look, look how property prices have increased and I think it's great. You know things like the 50-50 projects. They bring people back to the broader affordable prices. We're growing our economy. We're growing our people. So I see, I don't think we don't have a treaty. It'd be great to have a treaty because obviously a lot of you know the GFSB space. A lot of wholesalers' retails are holding back on investments, although you've seen some have just gone ahead.
Peter Isola :I think this is it you know what do they do is probably hardest for wholesalers, because how's it going to work on the wholesale and the frontier? But you're still seeing, you've brought it. This has developed and I do think Spain's completely changed. You know, we're not dealing with General Franco. We're not dealing with a fascist regime. They may still be right-wing elements, as there are in every country, but we're dealing with a revolved, a developed democracy who cannot ignore the 12,000, 15,000 people resident in Spain. Many Spaniards who are coming into Gibraltar to work have happened to the economy. They want, you know, gibraltarians, we are in Gibraltar, we largely spend in Spain. They want that to continue. So I think that economic growth, even if there wasn't a deal, they would find a way of making a free-flowing frontier.
David Revagliatte:So I'm confident, I'm very positive about the future of Gibraltar Brilliant, and I think you know there's a lot of. I think people want clarity, right.
Kerstin Andlaw:Yeah.
David Revagliatte:Question what does that mean? What does that mean? We as a community have lived under uncertainty in some way for a long, long time. So it's not the treaty, it's something else. So I think you know it's not the be all and end all, whichever outcome it is.
Peter Isola :Yeah, I think I'd just like to mention I just went on a bit about failure, but obviously I think Joseph Garcia, doing a lot of the nitty gritty doing a great job, and Alba Men I think Although he's not back at his side, he continues to be involved very important factor and obviously Michael Yamas, the attorney general, and no doubt many have mentioned, because I don't know- yeah, they were. Who's involved. But you know, I've been practicing for over 40 years. I don't think we've ever been in a better position.
David Revagliatte:Talking now, looking towards the future, and then we've got a couple more questions. Yes, we're nearly there. What's your? You know, this is what we've talked about our global context. We talked about the treaty. What are your hopes for the future of Isselas, the firm?
Peter Isola :I think that we can continue to grow very much as part of the community, be very aware of our community obligations. I'm now trying to develop the Peter J Issela Foundation further with all our family companies and once I've developed it at that stage then I hope to get other companies involved with it Because I think together we can do a lot more than individually. So, whilst the foundation really started by Isselas and Fiduciary when I involved in other family companies, you report and things like that so we can grow funding to a greater extent and that's very much you know to legacy and things. That's very much my concentration in it. So really a community firm, a community law firm, very much Gibraltar Lawyers and seeing that growth and trying to get that message that fought throughout the firm for many years to come.
David Revagliatte:When you look kind of back now I remember looking just forward but flipping that to the very very start have you got any advice A that you were given that has kind of driven you through your career, and then B, any advice also that you might have to someone who is starting out their career, doesn't know which way to go when thinking about law.
Peter Isola :Yeah, well, I think the thing about law it's not a job, it's a profession. So if you just have to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons, if you want to become a lawyer, and you need to dedicate a lot of time to it and hard work, especially when you're studying for it to develop as a lawyer, when you're training to develop, so it's not for everybody. So just make sure it's what you want to do. It's not something to go into just because you want to job. You know sometimes we'll go in. You know lawyers make money. Yes, but it's hard work and it can be very rewarding, both personally and financially. But make sure you want to be a lawyer.
Peter Isola :Life is too short not to be enjoying what you do and but if you love it, enjoy it, you embrace it. It can be rewarding in every sense. But a lot of hard work and there's nothing you can't get around. A honey's not going to help you, so a lot of hard work to get there. Well, it will help you, obviously, learning and stuff, but you need to do it.
Peter Isola :You need to have the knowledge because, the end of the day, for all AI's benefits, it's not a human brain and it can't analyze things in the same way, so you still need to get all the information and then be quite analytical yourself. Nobody understands a human brain. That's what I learned from the book, and they almost tried to copy certain aspects of it so they can perfect certain aspects of it rather than counting adding and subtracting. But in the end you need someone else to look at, to look at the overview and then look at things in general. But look, it's a great profession. I've been at it for 42 years and I'm not planning to stop any time soon, and if you embrace it, that'd be fantastic. Love to see more people joining the law and you're welcome to knock at Eastliz door If you want to train or do a few village or whatever.
David Revagliatte:Peter, thank you. I hope it's a US. So again, thank you for your time today. Thank you, pleasure.
Peter Isola :Thank you very much for having me GFSB member spotlight.
David Revagliatte:So, kirsten, thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
Kerstin Andlaw:Thank you very much for having me.
David Revagliatte:Congratulations on your recent launch. You launched a new website. Tell me about that.
Kerstin Andlaw:Yes, so we launched a new website. Basically, we went through a rebrand, and the reason being was to just mainly align our external communication, our website and all our marketing to what we're actually doing, because I guess, like every business, it evolves and it transforms, and so have we. So we've now become Thrive as One Consulting.
David Revagliatte:So tell me about that Thrive as One like Thrive Magazine for the GFSB but nothing to do with them. Tell me about Thrive as One Consulting.
Kerstin Andlaw:So we are a boutique consulting network and we really focus on supporting organizations around their culture and leadership transformation. Yeah, I can go into a lot of detail.
David Revagliatte:Well, actually I spoke to Peter Isola from Isola's and he mentioned that you've worked with them on certain things. How do you usually work with your clients?
Kerstin Andlaw:Our approach is really non-linear, so it really is based on what the organisation needs at the time, and I feel we're really lucky to work with quality clients, and what I mean by that? With clients that really want to create change. They really want to operate as an organisation that has a positive impact, not just on the bottom line but with all stakeholders, and so, depending on where the focus is for the organisation, we support them. Quite often it's around developing the culture, developing progressive ways of working, leadership development because ultimately, we all know the tone is set at the top working with a values-based approach to help the organisation make that positive impact on their bottom line, on their clients, their suppliers, their partners, their people, their employees.
David Revagliatte:So adding value right, Because a lot of time you know coaching a lot of this kind of work that you do. How can it benefit the bottom line, right? So I know that our listeners are thinking a lot of the time on budget and how they can maybe be more effective. Can coaching help them with that?
Kerstin Andlaw:Oh, absolutely yeah. So obviously let's use a team as an example. The way a group of people, a team, works together ultimately determines how effective and high-performing they're going to be, which ultimately is going to have an impact on the bottom line, and our focus is really in that space of how do we support people to work at their highest potential, step into the highest potential and work together collaboratively to perform at a very high level across the whole organisation, keeping in mind that they are part of a wider system, so part of the community, part of the society, part of the environment and the ecosystem, and we want to link all of those aspects together because, ultimately, we can only thrive if everything else around us is thriving too. Hence the name.
David Revagliatte:Because another thing that you are involved very heavily with is the Gypsum's Wellbeing Work Conference.
Kerstin Andlaw:Yes, and we're really excited. So this year we have the conference will take place on the 9th of May and the title is sustaining success amidst overwhelm and burnout, and I think a lot of people and a lot of organisations can relate to that because we can see it all around us. We have Amy Bradley coming as the keynote speaker. She published two books on workplace wellbeing. One is particularly focused on burnout. So she's doing our keynote and we'll also have a lot of local expertise and experts coming to facilitate breakout rooms. Last year in the conference we managed to achieve an environment where there was a lot of engagement, a lot of dialogue, and we're aiming to do the same this year.
David Revagliatte:So I did attend last year's conference and it was in May. Is it going to be in May again this year?
Kerstin Andlaw:Yes, 9th of May.
David Revagliatte:And tickets are out now.
Kerstin Andlaw:Yes.
David Revagliatte:So, kirsten, thank you for joining me today and thanks for coming in to speak to our listeners about the conference.
Kerstin Andlaw:Thank you, thanks for having me.
David Revagliatte:And that's a wrap for this episode of the Gibraltar Business Podcast. Thank you to our guests Peter Isola from Isola's and Kirsten Andlor from Thrive, as One Consulting. Thank you to all the team at the GFSB, our sponsor, the Gibraltar International Bank, and everyone who contributes to the project and keeps the podcast going from strength to strength. I hope you've enjoyed listening. Remember you can catch up on any episodes you've missed anytime you like. So for now, it's a goodbye from me. Until then, keep focused on your journey and reach for your business goals. See you very, very soon.