Citywealth Leaders List, 60 seconds interview – Laura Uberoi, Addleshaw Goddard
This week’s 60-second Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Laura Uberoi, Partner at Addleshaw Goddard.
Tell Citywealth Leaders List readers a bit about your role.
Laura is Head of Private Wealth Finance at Addleshaw Goddard, a banking solicitor supporting private banks, high-net-worth individuals, families, and private offices around the world, with all of their financing needs – from real estate and aviation finance, to yachts and art. She is widely known not only as a leading city lawyer, but as a facilitator of opportunities. Clients and market contacts regularly describe her as “not your typical lawyer” and “one of the most well-connected people we know”.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Me and my husband scramble to get our two small daughters out of the house, hopefully fed and at least partially presentable! Then I’ll usually have a breakfast meeting with a couple of clients that I want to introduce to each other, before getting to our office in the City. The rest of my day will be spent overseeing transactions between a lender and borrower to ensure that everything is going smoothly and making introductions between clients looking for finance and clients with capital to deploy. The hope is that they’ll remember a friendly lawyer when they need one and one of the biggest sources of the work for my team is deals that I have curated through introductions in my network. It is the best job in the world – professional match-making!
Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.
There are some really interesting trends in the market at the moment, particularly:
(1) Family offices want to lend – lots of the families that I look after want to do more direct lending because the returns are strong and there is a big gap in the market (particularly for real estate development lenders in the £5m – £50m space). Typically I pair them up with others who have been lending for some time, before setting them up with their own set of lending documents, regulatory approvals etc.
(2) Sports – on the back of great success in the US, many of my clients want to own or finance sporting clubs across Europe, as they are typically earlier in their journey to providing the returns you’d expect when fully commercialised/monetised. I’ve always got some football club sale and financings on the go!
(3) Female founders – as part of the great wealth shift, we are seeing more private capital move into female hands, and that is also triggering a focus towards female founders, femtech and females in sport in particular. I support lots of incredible female focussed projects with funding, and we’re also championing the first female formula 1 driver to be!
What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?
Networks – more than anything else, clients want introductions to good opportunities and contacts. Delivering best in class legal services (or any other professional services that you offer) is the bare minimum of what is expected, the real value add is in opening up our networks to bring the deal flow to clients. Now that private capital is funding such a large proportion of deals, everyone is asking me the secret to breaking into the “family office circles” – the trick is having something valuable to bring that isn’t your day job that many other people probably also do well. A lot of my time is spent helping clients beauty parade their other advisers (accountants, bankers, wealth managers etc.) and one of the first things we always ask what the adviser’s process is for making meaningful introductions for the client to their wider network.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
I was elected as president of Westminster & Holborn Law Society when I was heavily pregnant with my first daughter. I was the youngest to have ever taken up such a role and it make quite a splash, with European colleagues referring to me as ‘le president avec la bébé‘. Personally, it meant the world to me because I was giving my daughter a legacy before she was even born – she also came to all my meetings when she was a newborn, and quite enjoyed being passed around the table whilst I was chairing meetings! I did not appreciate it at the time, however bringing my pregnant bump / baby daughter into these professional settings normalised it for so many more people and very quickly there were lots more women stepping forward for such roles. We even got a designated “feeding room”!
What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?
I’ll share one of the best pieces of advice that I was ever given… As you become more senior in your professional life, fewer people will praise you or even say ‘thank you’. It means that you have to re-evaluate where you place your value, because if you are a people pleaser like me, you’ll quickly become disheartened that no one ever says what a great job you are doing any more! Instead, take your value, your pride even, in the great team members that you have who want to work with you – who step forward to help on a deal when they barely have time to sleep as it is, or who haven’t done what you are asking before but jump to the challenge because it sounds interesting. I have found those moments the most fulfilling as I have stepped into leadership roles, and bringing great people along is my greatest motivation.
Who do you most admire and why?
Alison Cork MBE – a pioneer. One of the biggest advocates and supporters of women in business. We’ve been working together on various projects to support female founders and I am in awe of her energy and delight in proving naysayers wrong! Her latest book should be mandatory reading for everyone.
Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
My most recent work trip was to my offices in Riyadh, Doha and Dubai. In my world, you have to see clients in person regularly, otherwise it is impossible to maintain meaningful relationships. It also gives me the chance to sleep in a bed on my own, rather than wedged between a baby and a toddler (she says hoping that her husband doesn’t get a chance to read this…)!
If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?
I absolutely love my job – professional matchmaking with lawyering on the side! However, if I could do anything (and magic up the skills needed), I’d absolutely be a backing dancer for an ’80s / ’90s pop band. You’d get front row access to great live music, an ability to flail around without judgement and also tour the world. I’m thinking for the likes of Queen or Status Quo!
How do you relax after a long day?
A takeaway pizza with my husband on the sofa! Given the increase in jet finance that I’m seeing recently, we’ve become obsessed with Air Crash Investigations on NetFlix!
By Karen Jones, Founder & Editor, Citywealth
Laura Uberoi shortlisted at Citywealth Future Leaders Awards
Laura Uberoi, Partner and Head of Private Wealth Finance at Addleshaw Goddard, has been shortlisted for Private Investment / Family Office Individual of the Year at the forthcoming Citywealth Future Leaders Awards.
Uberoi has built a growing reputation for her work at the intersection of finance, law and private capital. As one of the youngest partners in her field, she leads Addleshaw Goddard’s Private Wealth Finance offering — a niche but increasingly vital area supporting ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices and private banks with real estate and investment-backed finance solutions.
Her shortlisting reflects a combination of sharp technical expertise and a keen awareness of how modern private wealth clients operate — across borders, across asset classes, and increasingly with an eye on both agility and legacy.
In an industry where experience often speaks the loudest, Uberoi brings a fresh voice — one informed by lived global experience, academic rigour, and a reputation for building strong, collaborative client relationships.
She has confirmed her attendance at the awards on 11th November, and colleagues and peers are warmly invited to support her nomination.
Citywealth is proud to spotlight future leaders like Laura — individuals already shaping the next chapter of private wealth.
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