A law consultant and barrister, Henry King specialises in insurance, personal injury, and employment law. Drawing on over seven years of experience as a barrister, Henry King frequently advises and negotiates settlements for high-value cases.
Mr. King ranked in the Legal 500 2025 in Costs Litigation for his knowledge of costs law. He represents both the receiving and paying parties, as well as clients with claims against insurance companies. He has recently shifted his focus to commercial matters, representing major companies in high-value claims.
Before becoming a barrister, Mr. King worked as a legal assistant at a Health penalty defence charity in New Orleans and as a paralegal at a major law firm. He volunteered as an English teacher in Tianzhu, China, where he taught middle school students. He then volunteered with a cross-cultural team of Nepali and English volunteers to promote better sexual education and health practices in rural Nepal.
A graduate of the University of Leicester, Henry King earned an LLB law degree with a focus on French law and language.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
My typical day involves getting up at either 6 am or 7 am subject to what work I have going on that day. I try to keep the same morning routine, which involves taking 20 minutes to have a coffee and sit without a screen before starting work. I use Todoist to stay productive. It lists all of my tasks for that day. To keep on top of everything, I will usually spend 10 minutes at the end of the day working out my to-do list for tomorrow, what can wait and what cannot. I try not to work past 5 pm or work weekends if at all possible.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Planning and preparation. Taking time out of the day to plan the week ahead is vital. I also always have my next holiday in the diary to keep me motivated.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I am still on the bread trend from 2020. I can usually be found making a focaccia whenever we have guests around. My favourite bread that I have recently made was a mozzarella-stuffed focaccia.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Going to the gym and having a holiday always firmly on the horizon. I try to condense my work into the week and never to work on weekends.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Keep working hard. It is all worth it in the end. But do not forget to enjoy the journey.
Tell us something you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I don’t like cheese, and I believe it fundamentally tastes bad.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Cardio. It is the best stress relief.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Take 20 minutes away from my desk and go for a walk. When I get back, I set a 25-minute timer to do something that I have been putting off. I turn off all emails and put my phone on flight mode and just do that thing. By the time the timer goes off, I am normally back into it. If that doesn’t work, I reprioritise.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Keeping a very thorough to-do list and being ruthlessly organised. For example, I bill my work at the same time I send it to the client. Never wait to bill or put it off because it will grow exponentially the more you put it off, and it becomes harder to do.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Early in my career at the Bar, I lost a case that I believed—based on the facts and on the law—was very strong. I thought I was at the top of my game and that I could not lose. I prepared the substantive arguments thoroughly and had conferences with the witnesses, but I underestimated how much weight the tribunal would place on the presentation of those arguments: structure, narrative, and strategic emphasis rather than technical completeness. The decision went against my client, and it was a sobering experience.
After this experience, I went back to the drawing board. I asked friends and colleagues for advice and worked deliberately on my advocacy as a vocation. I changed my style and sought to learn from others, deliberately trying new things and attempting to further simplify my advocacy.
This lesson taught me humility. At the Bar, we never stop learning and must always keep pushing to improve.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
A specialised “legal triage” service for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Many SMEs delay seeking legal advice because they fear cost, complexity, or being sold unnecessary work. The idea is a fixed-fee, time-limited legal triage offering—perhaps 60 to 90 minutes—where a lawyer reviews the client’s situation, identifies legal risks, prioritises issues, and produces a short written roadmap of the next steps (including what not to spend money on).
The value is not in doing the work, but in the diagnosis. It builds trust, creates a natural pipeline for future instructions, and provides genuine value—even if no further work follows. For clients, it replaces uncertainty with clarity. For lawyers, it reduces unqualified enquiries and aligns legal services more closely with how modern businesses actually make decisions.
It is simple to implement, scalable, and—most importantly—meets a real, unmet market need.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Todoist. It is the best organising app I have ever used. The key is to capture everything that you need to do and immediately add a deadline to it. The deadline does not need to be set in stone, but it keeps you on top of all the admin.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best £100 I recently spent was on the video game Helldivers 2 and a PlayStation Plus subscription. Sometimes I just need to switch off, and I have no shame in admitting that video games are one of my guilty pleasures.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Burnout by Amelia and Emily Nagoski. It is a truly excellent book that explains the concepts behind burnout in an easy and helpful way.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
Stranger Things, Season 5, is excellent. I thought Season 4 was not as good as the previous three seasons, and this has been a true return to form.
Key learnings
- Organise first, then do.
- If in doubt, take an active break first. Then start small (25 minutes).
- Time off is just as important as work.