Personal Profiles, Professional Insights: Meet Joanna Rees, Construction and Infrastructure Partner

This keen interest in world affairs and social justice led her to study law in Bristol. After leaving University, she spent ten years as a city lawyer, cutting her teeth on infrastructure cases before moving back to south Wales to start a family.

“For anyone that watched the BBC legal drama This Life in the 90s, that’s exactly what life as a London lawyer was like. I lived in a big house share in Islington, and the stories I could tell, honestly…”. She tactfully doesn’t elaborate. This self-deprecating humour defines Joanna’s approach to the law and life.

Today, Welsh-speaking Joanna is one of Wales’ leading legal minds, heading up Blake Morgan’s cross-discipline construction and infrastructure team. Known for her commerciality and pragmatism, she has advised on many high-profile regeneration and development projects, including Porth Teigr in Cardiff Bay and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s stunning landmark building overlooking the city’s Bute Park.

“I never get bored of seeing all these amazing developments. It’s so satisfying to know I played a tiny part in bringing them to life,” she says.

Joanna’s love of placemaking and Welsh culture is underlined by her voluntary work as a trustee for the Wales Millennium Centre and non-executive director of the Design Commission for Wales, which champions high standards of design and architecture to the public and private sector in Wales.

We caught up with Joanna to learn more about her career, motivations, and hard-won advice for aspiring lawyers.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I enjoy working on infrastructure projects because they make a difference in people’s lives. I also love being part of a successful project team, working with the client, the project manager, the architect, and the contractor to evaluate where the risk should sit. Then, there’s the buzz of watching a project go from the design stage to the final, tangible development. For me, our work is more than bricks and mortar – it’s about building better places to live and work and connecting communities. What could be more satisfying than that?

What projects are you currently working on?

We’re advising on Cardiff Crossrail, an exciting development for the city. It’s a collaboration between Cardiff Council and Transport for Wales and will see a new tram link running from the city centre to the Bay. It will make such a big difference when it’s complete.

The legal directories have praised you for giving “clear and precise advice” and have described you as “unflappable”. What is your approach to building strong client relationships?

I think some people naturally build good client relationships. It often comes with age and experience, the ability to read a situation and say what you think. Working in construction, I have encountered a fair bit of misogyny during my career, especially working in the city in the 90s, which, thankfully, were different times. But I’ve always focused on my role, which, as I see it, is to reassure clients. Clients sometimes tell me a problem has kept them awake at night; I want to put them in the best position possible. We can’t always make everything perfect, but we can try to put the issue into perspective and focus on managing the risk.

What keeps you motivated?

What advice would you give aspiring lawyers?

Firstly, embrace both the contentious and non-contentious sides of the law. It gives you a well-rounded perspective. Never underestimate the power of building a strong network. And never lose sight of your technical skills. As your career advances and you build a team, success means becoming a manager of people who know more than you. But keeping your technical skills sharp means you can remain that trusted partner. Finally, maintaining a sense of perspective – and humour – has always served me well. Embrace the challenges, work hard, and laugh often. And remember, the world of law is as much about people as it is about clauses and contracts!

Read the Welsh language version here.

For more information on Joanna Rees, click here.