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Some are drawn to success Rainmakers 2004 Legal Business December 2004/January 2005

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Finest 50 Rainmakers of 2004 PITCH WINNING | INNOVATION | SEEN IN ACTION | CONTACTS

38 Legal Business December 2004/January 2005

SOME ARE DRAWNIn this special feature, Legal Business reveals

the UK’s 50 finest rainmakers of 2004. The

competition for the most lucrative work has never

been so hard fought: here are the winners

CLAIRE SMITH

ONE THING US LAW FIRMS FIND difficult to comprehend when they arrive onthese shores, chequebooks open and readyand able to buy talent, is the apparentabsence of the UK rainmaker. English lawfirms have spent many years busily institutionalising their client relationships sothat the book of business, so much a feature of legal recruitment on the other side of theAtlantic, is rare over here.

Exceptions exist. Just because lawyersdon’t move with clients here doesn’t meanwe Brits don’t know how to win clients: farfrom it. For the first time, Legal Business isshowcasing the year’s 50 finest rainmakers,in what will be an annual celebration ofdiversity, innovation and professional

He beat Freshfields to win a multi-million pound PFI mandate

She invented a new product and reaped £3m in billings

He won Goldman Sachsfrom his opposite number

LB150 Rainmakers p38-51 29/11/04 4:29 pm Page 38

PURE TRACK RECORD | RELATIONSHIP INVESTMENT Finest 50 Rainmakers of 2004

December 2004/January 2005 Legal Business 39

TO SUCCESS…commitment. Our list includes megadeals,scoops, slow-burning investments payingoff – and stacks of individual, idiosyncratic,talent. These 50 stories showcase to all howthe best work is being won. Business genera-tion is not an art confined to Americansalone. The LB 50 finest rainmakers have collectively helped make Britain that bitgreater as she gears up for what all expect tobe a more economically robust, but ultra-competitive, 2005.

Winning waysHere, we investigate the stories behind someof the winners, and explain the differenttactics employed to make a client committhe millions of pounds of fees that many of

these deals generated. First, let’s shake off any doubts thatthe UK’s most famous City firms rest on their laurels. Farfrom it. While perhaps in thelate 1990s being Slaughter andMay or Linklaters was powerfulenough to attract the biggesttransactions, this is far from the truth today. Both firms havea visibly motivated new generation of departmentalmanaging partners burstingwith energy and a determina-tion to make hunger for client wins overtake pride in a rich past.

Illustration JMCDESIGN

Competition, of course, now arrives from all quarters – not just the Americanfirms, but from national and regional firms as well. Many will claim to offersimilar or higher levels of service at morepalatable rates.

So the Magic Circle needs its rainmakersas much as the next firm, and its client winsare logged with vigour. For Slaughter andMay last year, for example, we can revealthree high points: the wins of Standard Life,GlaxoSmithKline and Gallaher. MartinWhelton makes our finest 50 list for his rolein winning the work for Gallaher from underthe nose of Simmons & Simmons. ‘We sentout our crack team of smokers on this pitch,’one partner revealed with a smile.

His friend secured him the Apax work

Reputation alone won him a £3bn energy deal

Several years of luringChange Capital paid off for him this year

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client. When FreshfieldsBruckhaus Deringer partnersDavid Ereira and Chris Bownmanaged to scoop their firm aplace on the Apax Partnerspanel for private equity work, alongstanding friend of Ereira atApax was thanked for givinghim the chance to pitch.Having only done one deal forthe client before, Freshfieldsmade the most of that initialintroduction, worked extremely

Similar credit should go to the team thatwrested a lucrative demutualisation instruc-tion for Standard Life away, in this casefrom traditional advisers Clifford Chanceand Herbert Smith: it was the first timeSlaughter and May had acted for the client.

The firm also brought in a major M&Amandate from Glaxo, despite an ongoingbattle for the client since its merger, whenSmithKline Beecham’s legal counsel tookthe helm of the combined group. SKB hadpreviously worked with Linklaters, whileSlaughters had advised the Glaxo side onthe link-up. But Slaughters partners refusedto wave goodbye to the client, and sometenacious marketing ultimately paid off.Slaughters, in the face of global firms andglobal pressures on billing, refuses to bemarginalised.

Working those contactsWith Slaughter and May fighting so hard for a new client, what chance the rest of theUK legal market, a cynic could ask. Theanswer is sheer hard work: be it working thecontacts book, impressing on the other sideof the table, coming up with a new andimaginative product offering, or simplyputting everything you’ve got into anopportunity to pitch. Nearly all of the finest50 client wins here involved a real fight.

Without a doubt, it helps to knowsomeone who can get you in front of the

hard on the presentation, andemerged as one of only twofirms now working on £100m-plus deals. ‘Stephen Grabinerknows David Ereira extremelywell,’ Bown explains. ‘Whenthey decided they were going tomove to a panel, that was whywe were invited to be one of thefive firms that pitched.’

Good links with the bankerscan’t fail to pay off. TomSpeechley, acquisition financepartner at Macfarlanes, has hada phenomenally busy first yearsince leaving Norton Rose,largely a result of his tight relationships with bankers atboth The Royal Bank ofScotland and NIB Capital.

Peter Allan, head of acquisition financeat NIB Capital, says: ‘The fact that I havecontinued to use him for the best part often years is down to Tom himself. I thinkhe’s a top class lawyer.’ Speechley was anextremely rare lateral hire for the conserva-tive London-only Macfarlanes. The movehas taken the firm into markets that it wasslipping away from, with stunning effect.

With corporate finance, the investmentbankers themselves will often send the rightrainmaker the deals direct. WilliamCharnley, head of corporate in the London

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The LB finest 50 comprises a collection of stars who excel notjust for their legal skills, but for the way their work was won.Law is about teamwork; and teams need leaders. This finest50 lead by stunning example. Having spoken to just over 200law firms and 150 of the most influential and activecompanies in the UK and Europe, our finest 50 unsurprisinglycaptures an elite collection of lawyers from across the UK –from the hungry US firms in London, to brilliant Scots,Brummies, City high-flyers, as well as the lucky man whobumped into Elle Macpherson one day. This collection ofclient-winners is comprehensive, and comprehensivelywinning. Congrats to them all: a corporate recovery is takingshape, and for the discerning client, there are advisers whowill ensure that it is sustained with the highest levels of professional advice on hand.

STAR QUALITY

The baron public M&A market in 2004 broughtwith it even greater competition for work fromthe more active private equity houses. So when a new house arrived on the scene, with a billioneuros to invest in leveraged buyouts, law firmswere queueing up for a piece of the action.

Change Capital is the largest retail specialistLBO fund in Europe. It has two high-profileleaders: Luc Vandevelde, previously chairman ofMarks & Spencer, and Steve Petrow, once aBain Capital managing director. In terms ofthese superstars’ legal advisers, the two mostsuccessful rainmakers were both at Americanlaw firms in London: Will Rosen at Weil, Gotshal& Manges, and, later, David Patrick Eich atKirkland & Ellis.

Both UK-qualified, they had worked withPetrow in the past as associates and immediatelyset to work renewing the relationship.

Rosen had been a three-year qualifiedassociate when he first knew Petrow, who wasthen at SB Capital Partners. Petrow left there in 1997 to join Bain, and Rosen kept in touchdespite receiving no instructions. Regularlunches over six years paid off this year whenPetrow handed Rosen his first deal, and Weiladvised Change on the acquisition of RobertDyas for £61m at the start of 2004.

Eich, meanwhile, had also known Petrowsince his days at SB Capital, and had workedwith him while he was at Bain, a major Kirklandclient. But he didn’t know Petrow’s new colleagues, and he had to crack into the existingRosen relationship. He says: ‘I have been trying to generate a relationship with Changesince their inception, but so have a lot of otherpeople. Then this deal came up and it was com-plicated, it was fast, and it was big enough to

support our fee structure. They effectively ran us head-to-head against their experience withWeil, and we convinced them to give us achance.’ Eich won the work on Change’s second major deal, the £115m secondarybuyout of Hillarys Group.

Change Capital partner Lorenzo Russo says:‘Some of us knew Kirkland from a previous life,and we had worked with them. And we haveused Weil Gotshal in previous deals in the UK –they are also very good and we have strongrelationships with both firms. In both cases thepartner on the deal knew them before, so wewere comfortable and we selected them.’

Talk about being kept on your toes: it isagainst this kind of pressure that Britain’s finest 50 rainmakers battle each and every day.

Change Capital will enjoy unparalleled levelsof attention through 2005, doubtless.

KIRKLAND VERSUS WEIL: THE ALL-AMERICAN COMPETITION FOR EUROPE’S CHANGE CAPITAL




contacts, the real stars findunique ways of making them inthe first place. They say lawyersnever stop working: NickFinlayson-Brown of Mills &Reeve in Cambridge met adirector of property companyBurford Group at a social event,

office of McDermott Will & Emery, haspicked up two major new clients throughrelationships with the bankers. OliverEllingham, head of investment bankingEurope for BNP Paribas, introducedCharnley to the Reuben Brothers at the startof the year, and he has since advised themand their acquisition vehicle AldersgateInvestments on a run of four major deals.

Another banking contact, AndrewDawber, moved from Société Générale this year and joined Collins Stewart as acorporate finance director. Charnley hassince completed six deals for CollinsStewart, having never acted for thembefore.

Dress to impressOn top of the obvious, and generally well-observed, practice of keeping up with your

and came away with a chance to pitch andultimately win an instruction to advise onthe management of part of its £400mproperty portfolio.

‘I had met Nick socially, and I also spoketo our local agents and they spoke veryhighly of Mills & Reeve and their practice,so we went to see them,’ Burford’s director

‘Winning a client is most difficult whenyou can’t point to anything. There isnothing like being able to say: “ We have just done that”.’ Fabrizio Carpanini, Olswang

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Mark Boyes says. ‘It just seemed the rightthing to do, and it has worked outexceptionally well.’

Wragge & Co’s IP partner MichaelLuckman managed to make a good impres-sion on Derek Walmsley, Spirit Group’scompany secretary, when a chance meetingled to a discussion about a small IP matter.Spirit had used Slaughter and May for all itslegal work before, but Luckman convincedWalmsley that there were savings to bemade by going outside London.

He helped the client set up its first panel,and now gets a significant chunk of theday-to-day legal work, with only the majorCity acquisitions still done by Slaughters.

Perhaps the best (or most envied) chance meeting of all in 2004 must go toAlex Carter-Silk, a technology and IPpartner at Manches. He managed to turn a coincidental encounter with supermodelElle Macpherson into legal work advisingher on a licensing agreement for her

Elle Macpherson Intimateslingerie range.

Prove yourselfThere’s more to winning thesenew clients than just chance –every one of our finest 50 rain-makers has impressed an in-house lawyer and convincedthem they can do the job. Atthe end of the day it is a leap offaith for a client to instruct anew law firm, and it takes a fairamount of trust.

One of the easiest ways toprove you’re up to the job is toremember that every client onthe other side of the table hasthe potential to instruct you. SJBerwin’s most impressive clientwin last year was the firm’s firstinstruction from GoldmanSachs, won by corporate partner

Mark Mifsud. He had impressed Goldmanon the other side of the table. ‘Mark wasopposite us on another deal and the folkshere were impressed with how he handledhimself,’ says John Aiello, vice-presidentand counsel at Goldman. ‘Mark’s a verycommercial lawyer, so he was very effectivein not just negotiating his client’s position,but also solving problems and beingcreative and proactive. If you see someoneacross the table who is good, those are thepeople you go after.’

SJ Berwin managing partner RalphCohen adds: ‘It doesn’t happen every day,but it’s often the most satisfying way to wina client, where they actually rather regretthat you were on the other side and not ontheirs. It’s the most effective way ofmarketing.’

Olswang corporate partner FabrizioCarpanini picked up his firm’s first deal forThe Blackstone Group after showing themhe had worked on previous deals very

similar to the one they wereplanning. Because he had advised Warner Cinemason their sale to Vue Entertain-ment, he was able to convince Blackstone theyshould try Olswang when theywere looking to do cinemaacquisitions.

‘Winning a client is mostdifficult when you can’t pointto anything,’ Carpanini says.

ENERGY AND INFRASTRUCTUREAscent – Simon Allan, Berwin Leighton PaisnerGold Fields – Charles Jacobs, LinklatersBP-TNK – Irvine Marr, Clyde & CoSolihull Interpartnership Consortium – Morag McNeill, McGrigorsPetrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait – Geoffrey Picton-Turbervill, AshurstScottish & Southern Energy consortium – Ewan Robertson, Dundas & WilsonThe Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company – Paul Stockley, Bond PearceNational Grid Transco – Sean Watson, CMS Cameron McKenna

FINANCIAL SERVICESCitigroup – Maurice Allen, White & CaseAdmiral – James Bateson, Norton RoseGoldman Sachs – Tim Emmerson,

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloyStandard Chartered – Paul Fallon, Reed SmithLloyds Bank – Chris Fanner, Denton Wilde SapteBanco Santander – Jose Maria Fernandez-Daza, Clifford ChanceAviva – Francis Giacon, LovellsDaniel Stewart – Peter Jay, Beachcroft WansbroughsGoldman Sachs – Mark Mifsud, SJ BerwinEurex US – Barney Reynolds, Shearman & SterlingNIB Capital Bank – Tom Speechley, MacfarlanesUBS Investment Bank – Thomas Werlen, Allen & Overy

PRIVATE EQUITYThe Blackstone Group – Fabrizio Carpanini, OlswangReuben Brothers – William Charnley, McDermott Will & EmeryChange Capital – David Patrick Eich, Kirkland & EllisApax Partners – David Ereira, Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerChange Capital – Will Rosen, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

FINEST 50 RAINMAKERS OF 2004, BY SECTOR

‘There is always a personal connection that gets you through the door, but converting that into a win is when you have to think about what you present and how.’ Chris Bown, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

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‘We all go around selling our wares andsaying we can do this, but there is nothinglike being able to say: “We have just donethat; we have got the expertise”.’

Thinking aheadIn many cases, the way in to a new client is not quite as clear. You just have to startpounding the pavements and hope that itbears fruit. Watson, Farley & Williams took a punt when it decided that one wayto grow its profile in arbitration wasthrough trawling the opportunities in theIndian market.

The firm has had a team, led by partnerDavid Kavanagh, making regular trips toIndia, meeting local law firms and speakingat arbitration conferences. The hard workpaid off when Kavanagh was asked to pitchto the government of India to advise it onthe multi-billion dollar Dabhol arbitration.Watson Farley had never worked for thegovernment before, but had met the rightpeople at conferences.

Kavanagh says: ‘This was a very signifi-cant win for us for two reasons. One, is justthe sheer size of the case: it’s going to keepa large proportion of our group busythrough to next year and beyond. But italso gives us a real position in a type of arbi-tration – investment treaty arbitration –which is sewn up by a small group of lawfirms at the moment. It’s a very discretearea, but fast-growing, and to get this onour CV gives us a chance.’

Andrew Probert, the finance director atinsurance group Admiral, says that was alarge part of the reason he hired NortonRose partner James Bateson for the first timeon his company’s flotation, one of the mostsuccessful IPOs of 2003. ‘We invited threefirms to pitch,’ he says. ‘Two that we knewquite well from other transactions and werelarge Magic Circle firms, and Norton Rose,which somebody recommended assomething a little bit different.

‘Norton Rose convinced us that thepeople we were looking at were the peoplethat would be doing the deal. Theyconvinced us that they had done this beforeand they knew what they were doing. To behonest it was a great choice – they werevery well prepared and understood theprocess. Everything they had said up frontthey delivered,’ Probert says.

Bateson recalls: ‘Admiral told us we werecoming late to the party, and I don’t thinkthey were expecting us to win, but we weredetermined to give it our best shot. We didquite a personal pitch – it wasn’t thousandsof people, and it was quite informal, whichseemed to suit their culture.’

All over the country there are instancesof this every day – bright lawyers that canimpress a client with far more than justlegal skills. No matter what kind of law firmyou are, you need to be winning newclients. These are the 50 finest professionalswho are doing just that. LB

[email protected]

We’ve unveiled instances ofsuch entrepreneurship all overthe UK legal market in our finest50; one from the oppositeextreme comes in the shape ofChristine Bradley’s work atPannone & Partners in Manches-ter. An employment partner,Bradley has devised a whole newway of doing business wherebyclients can pay a one-off annualfee to the firm, in return for day-to-day legal advice and no extracharge should a tribunal casearise. If the client loses attribunal, the payout is coveredby insurance. Throughmarketing the scheme to corpo-rates all over the country,Bradley has won new clientsincluding Toyota and PC World.She has trebled the fee income ofher group from £1m last year toa projected £3m for 2004/05.

Perfect pitchWhatever the initial route in,invariably a client win willcome down to a pitch: youagainst a raft of your competi-tors, armed with just a Power-Point presentation and facingan anxious in-house legal team.The thought you put into thatcan be the clincher.

PUBLIC SECTOR HM Customs and Excise – Stephen Allinson, Clarke WillmottGovernment of India – David Kavanagh, Watson, Farley & WilliamsImperial College – David Smellie, Farrer & CoGovernment of the Republic of Ecuador – Robert Volterra, Herbert Smith

REAL ESTATEErinaceous Group – Peter Crystal, Memery CrystalBurford Group – Nick Finlayson-Brown, Mills & ReeveLand Securities – Delia Kempley, Nabarro NathansonCleveland Bridge – Martin Scott, Walker Morris

RETAIL AND LEISUREPC World – Christine Bradley, Pannone & Partners Elle Macpherson – Alex Carter-Silk, ManchesInterflora – Tim Hamilton, Addleshaw GoddardSpirit Group – Michael Luckman, Wragge & Co

Gallaher – Martin Whelton, Slaughter and May

TMTTrinity Mirror – Mary Clarke, DLAAshtead – Mark Darley, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & FlomCisco Systems – Martin Hopkins, EvershedsChina Telecom – Daniel Liew, Simmons & SimmonsStericycle – Daniel Rosenberg, Taylor WessingVernalis – Julian Thurston, Morrison & FoersterSanofi-Synthelabo – Thierry Vassogne, Linklaters

TRANSPORTDepartment of Transport – Simon Coppen, Burges SalmonRyanair – Peter Fitzpatrick, Howrey Simon Arnold & WhiteTransport for London – Cornelius Medvei, EvershedsLondon Underground – Nicholas Tott, Herbert SmithStrategic Rail Authority – Julian Voge, Brodies




SIMON ALLANBerwin Leighton Paisner, LondonProject finance partner, Age: 50CLIENT WIN: Ascent

BLP had never worked for anyof the Ascent consortiummembers before – Rolls-Royce, Lockheed Martin and

Vosper Thorneycroft – but this year thefirm won the mandate to advise them onthe largest ever PPP the government hasundertaken, valued at £15bn. Allan led atender process against Magic Circle andUS firms and worked for six months toscoop the client.

STEPHEN ALLINSONClarke Willmott, BristolBusiness recovery partner, Age: 45CLIENT WIN: HM Customs And Excise

In June, Allinson won a pitchto become Customs andExcise’s sole law firm advisingon debt recovery cases. The

work is worth about £1m in fees, and waspreviously shared between DLA, Lees LloydWhitley and Moon Beaver. Allinson knewthat the work was about to be put out totender, so had been monitoring it andexpressed an interest early. The firmcompleted a formal tender and convincedthe client it could do the work for the whole of England and Wales, rather thanjust one region.

JAMES BATESONNorton Rose, LondonCorporate and regulatory insurancepartner, Age: 43CLIENT WIN: Admiral

Having had no previous rela-tionship with Admiral,Bateson was given the oppor-tunity earlier this year to pitch

to advise Admiral on its £770m IPO. A lotof work was put into the process, whichpitted Norton Rose against two MagicCircle firms the client knew well. Batesonsays: ‘It was quite a personal commitmenton my part that we could do it – you haveto convince the client that they can trustyou.’ Rather than targeting just the floatwork, Bateson aimed from the outset toestablish a long-term relationship. Admiralfinance director Andrew Probert says:‘Somebody recommended Norton Rose tous as something a little bit different. To behonest, it was a great choice.’

MARY CLARKEDLA, ManchesterEmployment partner, Age: 47CLIENT WIN: Trinity Mirror

Clarke led a DLA humanresources pitching team thatwas appointed by Trinity toprovide national employment

law advice alongside Lovells and Dundas& Wilson. Trinity cut its panel of externaladvisers from 12 firms to just three, and isthe UK’s largest newspaper publisher,employing over 11,500 staff.

MARTIN HOPKINSEversheds, BirminghamEmployment partner, Age: 48CLIENT WIN: Cisco Systems

Hopkins is head of Eversheds’North American sales team,and thus led a pitch to CiscoSystems, which saw the firm

convince the Internet company to drop allits other UK law firms. Eversheds will nowbecome primary adviser, edging out Baker& McKenzie, Herbert Smith and Weil,Gotshal & Manges, and will work oncorporate, commercial, licensing and procurement work. A three-year agreementhas been signed, with a fixed price comingup for negotiation every year. The firm willshare secondees, know-how and trainingfacilities with the client as part of the relationship.

DAVID KAVANAGHWatson, Farley & Williams, LondonArbitration partner, Age: 37CLIENT WIN: Government of India

Kavanagh and his colleaguePeter Flint have beentargeting India as a marketfor international arbitration

for some time, and earlier this year visitedthe country to meet local law firms andspeak at an arbitration conference. It wason the back of conversations and meetingsthere that the firm was asked to pitch,alongside four other firms, for workadvising the government on the multi-billion dollar Dabhol arbitration. Kavanaghbeat others including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,Wharton & Garrison, Simmons & Simmonsand Vinson & Elkins to the appointment.He says: ‘I think what really clinched it wasour connections, our ability, and the teamwe put forward.’

DELIA KEMPLEYNabarro Nathanson, LondonProperty development partner, Age: 36CLIENT WIN: Land Securities, KentThameside Development

Kempley joined Nabarros fromBerwin Leighton Paisner inspring this year and wasimmediately invited to pitch to

one of the firm’s biggest clients for amassive instruction. Nabarros knows LandSecurities well, but this appointment wasto advise them in a position as legalproject manager on the Kent Thamesidedevelopment, which will last for the next20 years. Land Securities will develop30,000 homes, 60,000 jobs and 1,600acres of land, with a new town, schools,hospitals and transport. Such a big projectrequired one law firm to oversee 20 or 30other law firm relationships that LandSecurities will have over the course of theproject. The massive instruction willprovide work for all parts of the firm.

DANIEL LIEWSimmons & Simmons, Hong KongCorporate partner, Age: 38CLIENT WIN: China Telecom

At the start of this year, Liewscooped the massive instruc-tion to advise China Telecomon its $8.2bn acquisition of

ten provincial networks in China. The dealwas the firm’s first for the client, whichhad in the past used FreshfieldsBruckhaus Deringer. The client is now thelargest telecoms network operator inChina, with 160 million access lines and aservice area population of 838.8 million.Janet Gaymer, Simmons’ senior partner,says: ‘What excites us about this instruc-tion is it signals our growing reputation inChina generally, and it is also a very goodindicator of how well we are penetratingthe TMT market. Daniel is a very energeticpartner, and this is a good example of howwell he is communicating that energy.’

WINNING THE PITCH This, the biggest group of the 50, provides the ultimate high for a rainmaker. With tender processes rife across the UK, winning a major piece of work fromone is often the result of months of intense preparation – work that involves partners, assistants, trainees, business development professionals, and marketingexperts. The rewards are massive, and heightened further when an arch rival is beaten, or a Magic Circle firm cast aside




MICHAEL LUCKMANWragge & Co, BirminghamIntellectual property partner, Age: 44CLIENT WIN: Spirit Group

When Spirit was joined by anew general counsel, Luckmangot the chance to talk to himabout a small IP matter. Until

then the company had used Slaughter andMay for all its legal work, but Luckmanconvinced the client that it could savemoney if it set up a panel. He helped Spiritput a panel in place, and was asked totender for seven areas of work: real estate;employment and pensions; trademarks andIP; health and safety; commercialcontracts; data protection and IT; andcompany law. Wragges was appointed toall seven panels and is now the client’s‘relationship’ firm, doing a large amount ofthe day-to-day work not handled bySlaughter and May.

CORNELIUS MEDVEIEversheds, LondonReal estate partner, Age: 53CLIENT WIN: Transport for London

Transport for London used touse 20 different law firms forlegal advice, but this yearasked 16 firms to pitch for

panel positions. The only firm asked topitch that wasn’t on the panel before wasEversheds, who did not know them at all.Medvei took charge of the pitch, and theend result was the firm’s appointment asprimary counsel, to advise on issuesranging from procurement and construc-tion to commercial litigation, employmentand property work. Medvei says: ‘We wereappointed in August and since then wehave taken on 1,000 matters for them – wehave probably got 50 or 60 lawyers workingon TfL-related matters.’

GEOFFREY PICTON-TURBERVILLAshurst, LondonEnergy partner, Age: 45CLIENT WIN: Petrochemical Indus-tries Company of Kuwait (PIC)

One of Ashurst’s biggesttransactions of 2004, keepingthree partners busy almost fulltime for a year, was work

advising PIC of Kuwait on the formation oftwo global joint ventures with The DowChemical Company. In all, ten partnersworked on deals in Germany, Italy, Canadaand Kuwait, with the Kuwait projects alonethe largest petrochemical projects beingdone in the Middle East. Picton-Turbervillwon the instruction in a formal pitchagainst Magic Circle and major US firms,having previously worked only with PIC’sparent company Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

BARNEY REYNOLDSShearman & Sterling, LondonFinancial services partner, Age: 38CLIENT WIN: Eurex US

Eurex is jointly owned byDeutsche Borse and SWXSwiss Exchange, and Reynoldshas this year won a couple of

pitches to get instructions from DeutscheBorse, against several other Magic Circlefirms. Those successes led the client topush this Eurex deal Reynolds’ way – headvised the combined outfit as it tried togain recognition as an overseas invest-ment exchange in the UK. It is the firstoverseas body to be recognised by theFinancial Services Authority, and tops agood year for Reynolds, who has alsoworked on a number of major deals forfirmwide client Citigroup, now regularlyusing him in London.

NICHOLAS TOTTHerbert Smith, LondonInfrastructure partner, Age: 44CLIENT WIN: London Underground

In May, Tott led a HerbertSmith team that won a hugeamount of PFI and PPP workfrom Freshfields Bruckhaus

Deringer for London Underground. Thoughthe firm had worked with London Under-ground in the past, the opportunity to pitchfor the role of principal adviser for all com-mercial work arising out of the PPP was acoup, and the success against Freshfieldsand Shearman & Sterling was a big win.

MARTIN WHELTONSlaughter and May, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 47CLIENT WIN: Gallaher

Whelton was one of threeSlaughter and May partners,another being senior partnerTim Clark, who pitched to win

the work advising tobacco giant Gallaher,previously a major client for Simmons &Simmons. Slaughters has worked withGallaher for a while, having been put onthe panel alongside Simmons in 2002, butthis year it was asked to take over work forthe client on the Office of Fair Trading’sinvestigation into price rigging in thetobacco market, taking over from Simmonshalfway through the process.

‘We were appointed in August and since then we havetaken on 1,000 matters for TfL. We have 50 or 60lawyers working on TfL-related matters.’ Cornelius Medvei, Eversheds




CHRISTINE BRADLEYPannone & Partners, ManchesterHead of employment, Age: 44CLIENT WIN: PC World

Bradley has tripled therevenues of her team to £3mthis year, through a marketingdrive and the launch of a new

insurance-backed employment product.Clients are offered a 12-month contractwith Pannone for a one-off fee in return forday-to-day employment advice, and noneed to pay additional legal fees should atribunal claim arise. If the client loses atribunal claim, the payout is paid byinsurance. ‘I can keep the price of thewhole thing very cost effective because notall clients will be active at any one time,’says Bradley. Such selling skills havebrought in new clients including PC Worldand Toyota to the practice, many of whomhave subsequently instructed other parts ofthe firm.

ALEX CARTER-SILKManches, LondonTechnology/IP partner, Age: 46CLIENT WIN: Elle Macpherson

Carter-Silk turned a chancemeeting with supermodel ElleMacpherson into some majorwork for his firm, ultimately

advising last month on the licensingagreement with Bendon for her Intimateslingerie brand to go global. Macphersonhad used a number of lawyers in the past,but Carter-Silk reviewed their advice andits documentation, and won the work todocument the licensing in the UK, USA,Australia and the Gulf States. Chairman ofManches Jane Simpson says: ‘Alex has hadto accept and smile through the commentsof his colleagues, both male and female.He has coupled his legal skills with anunderstanding of the world inhabited bysupermodels and global business deals.’

NICK FINLAYSON-BROWNMills & Reeve, CambridgeReal estate partner, Age: 38CLIENT WIN: Burford Group

After a chance social meetingwith Mark Boyes, the directorof the Burford Group,Finlayson-Brown was asked to

tender for work advising on the manage-ment of a significant part of its £400mproperty portfolio acquired this year fromGreen Property. Burford also uses MagicCircle firms, but was convinced to giveMills & Reeve the work. Boyes says: ‘I hadmet Nick socially, and so we went to seehim. The nice thing about Nick is youactually get Nick, a very highly qualifiedperson. With all these law firms I don’tthink it’s about the firm, it’s about theperson running the account.’

TIM HAMILTONAddleshaw Goddard, ManchesterPrivate equity partner, Age: 42CLIENT WIN: Interflora

Until earlier this year,Hammonds was Interflora’snumber one corporate adviser.But Addleshaw Goddard’s

Hamilton knew someone at the client fromway back, and when they became dissatis-fied with Hammonds he pitched for thework and won the mandate. He is nowadvising Interflora on its protracted sale to3i. Interflora has 1,850 members, and thedeal was due to go to a vote as LegalBusiness went to press, with 3i hoping totake a 65% stake in the company.

IRVINE MARRClyde & Co, LondonShipping litigation partner, Age: 35CLIENT WIN: BP-TNK

Marr made contact with one of Russia’s largest oilcompanies and created atailored shipping and oil

trading claims handling procedure forthem. The company is owned by Russianoligarchs, and is thus typically difficult for a London lawyer to crack, but Marrmanaged this year to negotiate a significant retainer arrangement withthem, whereby he streamlines the claims arising out of their hundreds of shipmentsper year, making collections, auditing andrecovering bad debts. He has since offered the service to others, and it hasbeen taken up by a major American trading company.

OPPORTUNISM AND INNOVATIONLawyers are said to be a risk-averse breed, but innovation and opportunism go hand-in-hand with the client winning partner. Here are some key examples

‘With all these law firms, I don’t think it’s about the firm, it’s about the person running the account.’ Mark Boyes, director of Burford Group


521 partnersin 117 London law firmshave joined those firmsbecause of whom andwhat we know.

E J • L e g a l

We’ve been getting it rightfor partners since 1992.

If you’d like to discuss your career options with a specialist contactSimon Janion on 020 7400 2006 ([email protected]) or Penny Terndrup on 020 7400 2007 ([email protected]).

www.ejgroup. co.uk/legal




WILLIAM CHARNLEYMcDermott Will & Emery, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 44CLIENT WIN: The Reuben Brothers

At the start of this year,Charnley was introduced tothe Reuben Brothers through acontact at BNP Paribas –

Oliver Ellingham, the head of investmentbanking in Europe. The Reuben Brotherscontrol an investment vehicle calledAldersgate Investments, and Charnleyadvised them as one of the lead investorsin Duelguide, on a £1.9bn offer for Chels-field. Two other instructions followed ondeals that didn’t happen – the brothersbid for Scottish & Newcastle’s retailbusiness and for UCI Cinemas. He is nowadvising Aldersgate on the acquisition of850 pubs, understood to be HughOsmond’s Wellington pub portfolio, worthabout £400m. Charnley also picked upCollins Stewart as a new client this year.

MARK DARLEYSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LondonFinance partner, Age: 43CLIENT WIN: Ashtead

Darley scored his first instruc-tion from UK-listed equipmentcompany Ashtead after anintroduction via his contacts

at investment bank JP Morgan. Ashtead isputting in place a $675m (£364m) debtfacility, and Darley has done much of thatsort of work with JP Morgan, the company’sfinancial advisers. Thus he was asked topitch to the client alongside other firms,thought to have included Baker & McKenzieand Davis Polk & Wardwell. Ashtead has inthe past worked with Slaughter and May.The deal sees Bank of America andDeutsche Bank as lead arrangers on thefacility, which is based on Ashtead’sinventory, receivables and assets.

TIM EMMERSONMilbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 49CLIENT WIN: Goldman Sachs

Emmerson joined Milbankfrom Freshfields BruckhausDeringer in 2003, attracted inpart by the fact that the firm

was liked by Goldman Sachs, a client heknew well at Freshfields. He was theAmerican firm’s first UK M&A partner, andwas quickly instructed by Goldman toadvise on a possible bid for Marks &Spencer. The advisory role developed into afull-scale structuring role by the spring,with Milbank dealing with the takeoverpanel, the structure of the ‘stub equity’being offered, and the private equityfunding and underwriting structure.Milbank’s London head Phillip Fletchersays: ‘This was a substantial step forMilbank London, as it led to a furtherinstruction from Goldman on the WH Smithoffer, and perhaps contributed to theinstructions we subsequently received fromUBS on the Chelsfield takeover byMultiplex, and Westfield.’

DAVID EREIRAFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, LondonBanking partner, Age: 48CLIENT WIN: Apax Partners

Freshfields had only everacted once for Apax in London,advising it on a failed attemptto buy Energis a couple of

years ago. Nevertheless, Ereira knewStephen Grabiner in the media team well,and had kept in touch. When the clientdecided to set up a panel, Freshfields wasone of five firms invited to pitch, despitenot knowing the client well, and having alimited profile for private equity. Ereira andhead of private equity Chris Bown workedhard on a presentation, and won one of thetwo spots, now sharing the client withAshurst. Bown says: ‘There is always apersonal connection that gets you throughthe door, but converting this into a win,that’s when you really have to think veryhard about what you present and how.’

CHARLES JACOBSLinklaters, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 37CLIENT WIN: Gold Fields

Jacobs is South African bybirth and is fantastically wellconnected in the market there.Hence he won this instruction

to advise Gold Fields on its defence of amassive hostile bid from Harmony which,should it succeed, would create one of theworld’s largest gold producers. The deal isthe latest in a run of ground-breakingdeals Jacobs has won out of the SouthAfrican market – last year he advisedSouth African financial services companyInvestec on an innovative dual listing, andbefore that he worked on the BHP Billitonmerger. David Cheyne, Linklaters’ head ofcorporate, says: 'This is a significant M&Atransaction for us – not only is it extremelychallenging, but it is one of the largesttransactions in the global mining market. Ithas involved not only assisting on thecorporate side but also litigation in the US.’

PETER JAYBeachcroft Wansbroughs, LondonCorporate finance partner, Age: 60CLIENT WIN: Daniel Stewart

Jay joined Beachcroft Wans-broughs from Finers StephensInnocent in May, and immedi-ately set to work building up

the firm’s AIM practice. Since his arrival hehas worked on 11 admissions to themarket, with a further 14 in the pipeline.He introduced Daniel Stewart, one of thefastest-growing corporate finance houses,to Beachcrofts, having worked with themat Finers, and has also been regularlypitching to new clients interested injoining the exchange.

WILL ROSENWeil, Gotshal & Manges, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 37CLIENT WIN: Change Capital Partners

This €1bn fund was estab-lished in 2003, by a teamincluding managing directorSteve Petrow. UK-qualified

Rosen had first worked with Petrow in1997 when Petrow was at SB CapitalPartners and Rosen was a three-year PQEassociate. For six years, Rosen kept intouch with Petrow, sensing he would ulti-mately come in useful. In 2004 Rosen wasinstructed on the fund’s first deal, the£61m buyout of Robert Dyas, and he hasworked on other deals since. Weil GotshalLondon head Mike Francies says: ‘Will’swork for Change is proof of how importantit is to build a real relationship with aclient, irrespective of whether or not thereare immediate returns.’

CONTACTS THAT COUNTWorking your contacts is the name of the game in the City and beyond. Here are the year’s finest examples of client-nurturing paying off in grand style




DANIEL ROSENBERGTaylor Wessing, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 42CLIENT WIN: Stericycle

Rosenberg has spent a lot oftime building relationshipswith some of the best lawyersin the US, and thus won this

referral to act for Nasdaq-listed Stericycleon its acquisition of White Rose Environ-mental for £35m. Though a small deal, itis an example of Rosenberg’s rainmaking– in the past he advised TransamericaCorporation on a £750m acquisition ofBroadcast Communications. One partnerat Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, NewYork’s premier M&A firm, describesRosenberg as: ‘one of the best lawyers Ihave ever worked with’. Praise indeed.

TOM SPEECHLEYMacfarlanes, LondonBanking partner, Age: 37CLIENT WIN: NIB Capital Bank

Speechley joined Macfarlanesat the start of this year fromNorton Rose and has, in 2004,closed eight leveraged

financing deals and worked on a numberof others that didn’t complete. He worksextensively with The Royal Bank ofScotland, which had dealt with Macfar-lanes before, but this year introduced NIBCapital to the firm, advising it alongsideBank of Ireland on the senior andmezzanine facilities for the €115m(£80m) acquisition of Hirschman Electron-ics by HgCapital. Peter Allan, head ofacquisition finance at NIB Capital, says: ‘I have used Tom for a number of years,and it’s very much a case of using the lawyer and not the firm. In terms of thequality of the team around him, I wastaking that on trust, and in the eventfound them to be top class.’

PAUL STOCKLEYBond Pearce, SouthamptonCommercial partner, Age: 37CLIENT WIN: The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company

Stockley was a former seniorlegal counsel at Amerada HessCorporation before joiningBond Pearce, and has worked

his contacts in the energy market since.His recent win of the instruction to advisethis pipeline company, a project companyoperated by BP, on certain English law andcommercial issues is a coup for theregional firm. It will work alongsideAmerican firm Baker Botts on the projectthrough Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.Managing partner Simon Richardson says:‘Understanding and being able to meetwhat in-house lawyers want is vital, andPaul’s experience in this respect has beenintegral to our success.’

JULIAN THURSTONMorrison & Foerster, LondonTechnology transactions partner, Age: 49CLIENT WIN: Vernalis

Thurston joined MoFo in Aprilthis year from Arnold & Porter,and immediately won hisclient Vernalis over to the new

firm. In his first three months he closedthree significant licensing deals for them,including a $400m (£216m) licensing dealwith Endo Pharmaceuticals. ‘This is anexcellent example of a partner hitting theground running. When many partnersmight still be finding their feet, Julianimmediately introduced Vernalis to thefirm, continued to work seamlessly for theclient, and introduced Vernalis to MoFoattorneys in various offices as needed,’London head Kristian Wiggert says.

FABRIZIO CARPANINIOlswang, LondonCorporate finance partner, Age: 44CLIENT WIN: The Blackstone Group

Carpanini convinced major USprivate equity house Black-stone to use him for the firsttime this year on the back of

work he had done on a similar deal. Black-stone paid £120m for cinema operatorCine UK, and instructed Olswang becauseCarpanini had previously advised WarnerVillage Cinemas on its sale to Vue Enter-tainment. On the back of that, Carpaniniapproached Blackstone and was asked tohelp it on its interest in the Odeon cinemachain, which it ultimately sold to TerraFirma. He has since won more instructionsfrom them. ‘There is nothing like having adeal you have done fairly recently, that’s ahigh-profile transaction, to get you throughthe door,’ he says.

FRANCIS GIACONLovells, LondonReal estate partner, Age: 46CLIENT WIN: Aviva

Giacon picked up the firm’sfirst property instruction fromAviva this year – winning themandate to advise Aviva-

owned insurer Norwich Union on a realestate partnership with Land SecuritiesTrillium. The win came on the back ofsheer initiative – Giacon read in PropertyWeek that Aviva was planning to do thedeal, and having recently worked oppositeAviva on another transaction, he got intouch with the people he had met and toldthem of his expertise in this area. Theywere impressed and effected an introduc-tion to the relevant members of the legaldepartment, leading to a chance to pitchand a significant new client. Giacon hassince had further approaches from Aviva.

MARK MIFSUDSJ Berwin, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 36CLIENT WIN: Goldman Sachs

Mifsud scooped SJ Berwin’sfirst deal for Goldman Sachsafter impressing it on theother side of a deal, and

though it often uses Clifford Chance forprivate equity funds work, Goldman Sachscontacted him to advise on a €400m(£280m) acquisition of interests in twofunds managed by SG Capital Europe. JohnAiello, vice-president and counsel ofGoldman in the United States, says: ‘Therewas no conflict or need for us to getanother firm, we just thought we had seenthis guy and we liked him, so we would liketo retain him. We did, and I think we wouldlike to use him again.’

SEEN IN ACTIONArguably no praise is higher than being witnessed on a deal by the clients onthe other side, who then decide you’re better than their current advisers

‘There wasno conflictor need forus to getanotherfirm, we justthought wehad seen thisguy and we liked him.’John Aiello, Goldman Sachs




MAURICE ALLENWhite & Case, LondonBanking partner, Age: 48CLIENT WIN: Citigroup

In four years at White & Case,Allen has built a seven-partnerbank finance group that willtop $20m in revenues this

year. In 2004 the team has not only signifi-cantly increased the work it is getting fromcornerstone client Deutsche Bank, Allenalso brought in the first instruction fromCitigroup, advising it as one of the under-writers on the £1.8bn refinancing ofTelewest. That deal came on the back ofthe team’s work for the lead arrangers onthe NTL refinancing, and through contactsAllen had at Citibank dating back to hisdays at Clifford Chance. Allen says: ‘Wehave kept seven partners and 27 associ-ates busy all year. I think rainmaking ismore about getting the right people andapproaching clients on an institutionalbasis than it is about individuals.’

SIMON COPPENBurges Salmon, BristolCommercial partner, Age: 41CLIENT WIN: Department for Transport

Coppen has made a big namefor himself in the rail industry,and was this year asked tojoin a national group set up by

the Department of Transport to look at andrevise the Network Code, which determinesthe relationships between Network Railand the operators. Coppen is the onlylawyer on the group, giving him a seat atthe top table of the industry and effectingmany introductions that will generate fees.His recent work includes advisingFirst/Keolis on its franchise bid andagreement for the new TranspennineExpress rail franchise.

MORAG MCNEILLMcGrigors, GlasgowCorporate partner, Age: 45CLIENT WIN: Solihull Interpartnership Consortium

McNeill is leading a McGrigorscharge into urban regenera-tion work, and had previouslyacted for InPartnership Ltd.

That company joined up with BellwayHomes and Whitefriars Housing Associa-tion to bid as a consortium called SolihullInPartnership Consortium to lead one ofthe biggest regeneration programmes inthe Midlands. The consortium expects toattract some £1.2bn in public and privateinvestment over 15 to 20 years. McNeillsays: ‘You often have transactions thatlast two or three months, and you do it andmove on. This will be a work stream for thefirm for a long time, and will generate substantial fees for years to come.’

EWAN ROBERTSONDundas & Wilson, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 35CLIENT WIN: Scottish & SouthernEnergy consortium

Dundas has a longstandingrelationship with Scottish &Southern and, as anassociate, Robertson was

seconded to the company’s in-house teamback in 1998. When he moved intocorporate work on his return, he begantargeting its M&A work. In 2004 hescooped the massive instruction to adviseit, along with Borealis Infrastructure andOntario Teachers’ Pension Plan, on the£3.16bn bid for distribution networks fromNational Grid Transco. Managing partnerChris Campbell says: ‘Ewan deserves greatcredit for the fact that not only have wemaintained and expanded the relationshipwith SSE, we are now being preferred toCity firms on instructions such as this.’

DAVID SMELLIEFarrer & Co, LondonEmployment partner, Age: 40CLIENT WIN: Imperial College

Smellie is a leader in employ-ment and educational law,and a major rainmaker for hisfirm. In 2004 he won new work

advising Imperial College on generalemployment work, and work for WinchesterCollege on the OFT enquiry into price fixingof school fees at private schools. He is alsogiving employment advice to the schoolwith regard to a change of headmasterand the dismissal of chaplains. Both newclients came on the back of Smellie’s repu-tation for educational advice. He alsoscooped work advising a Magic Circle lawfirm on employment matters, this time onthe back of relationships with partners atthe firm who had seen him in action.

THIERRY VASSOGNELinklaters, ParisCorporate partner, Age: 53CLIENT WIN: Sanofi-Synthelabo

French rainmaker Vassognelanded his first instruction forpharmaceuticals companySanofi on its massive hostile

bid for Aventis. The client’s regular counselCleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton was con-flicted out, and Vassogne’s reputation inthe market led to him getting the call. Hisother clients include Air France, France Telecom and Vodafone. The work on the £33bn bid fed work into the rest ofthe firm.

SECTOR SPECIALISM AND PURE TRACK RECORD In an ideal world, the client would find it impossible not to pick your firm on a deal, because they’d fully understand your unbeatable expertise on a given project. Some dream of this situation: others, such as these, are living it, be it in the rail sector, or the global arbitration field

JULIAN VOGEBrodies, EdinburghCorporate partner, Age: 46CLIENT WIN: Strategic Rail Authority

Throughout 2004 Voge and hispartner Brenda Scott havebeen working on one of Scot-land’s biggest transactions,

advising the Strategic Rail Authority on itsfranchise agreements with First ScotRail, aseven-year franchise worth £1.9bn. Theagreement was signed in August andScotRail took over the trains on 17 October,with Brodies having first won the work in atender process that began back in 2001.Brodies’ managing partner Bill Drummondsays: ‘A key point in winning this work willundoubtedly have been the recommenda-tion received from those who worked withJulian and Brenda in the previous re-letbetween 1996 and 1997. They did a superbjob last time round.’

ROBERT VOLTERRAHerbert Smith, LondonLitigation and arbitration partner, Age: 40CLIENT WIN: Government of the Republic of Ecuador

Volterra is Herbert Smith’smost productive arbitrationpartner. He acts for major cor-porations, governments and

public bodies in public international lawdisputes, and this year won an instructionfrom the government of Ecuador in anarbitration over claims of expropriationrelated to a foreign investment by MCIPower. He was also asked by Chileancompany Empresas Lucchetti to deal witha similar case against the government ofPeru. Both instructions are lucrative andoften feed work into other parts of the firm.Volterra was just contacted directly: ‘Thisis a small community,’ he says. ‘When theyhave a big case, the sophisticated clientsfind out who are the best people, and theyjust call up.’




PETER CRYSTALMemery Crystal, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 56CLIENT WIN: Erinaceous Group

Crystal was first introduced to Erinaceous Group when heacted opposite it on a dealback in 2001. He advised on its

AIM flotation in 2003, and at the start ofthis year the client began work to buyHercules Property Services for £150m andadmission to the Official List. Crystal wonthe instruction despite some of the client’sbankers suggesting it instruct a larger lawfirm. Crystal says: ‘I think if you have astrong relationship with a client, if theylook you in the eyes and you say that youcan do it, then they will believe you.’

DAVID PATRICK EICHKirkland & Ellis, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 38CLIENT WIN: Change Capital Partners

A significant first instructionfor Kirkland from this new€1bn private equity fund.Eich, who is dual-qualified,

has known managing director Steve Petrowfor many years. But Weil, Gotshal &Manges’ London office got the first deal, and there were many firms after work for the start-up. ‘Steve was aware of our capability and competency, but his partners were not in the slightest,’ Eich says. He won the work to advise on its £115m secondary buyout of Hillarys Group, and has since had further instructions.

PAUL FALLONReed Smith, LondonFinancial services partner, Age: 43CLIENT WIN: Standard Chartered

Fallon has worked withStandard Chartered for manyyears, but was put up againstsome 20 other firms in the

competitive bid to make their panel. He isa litigator and the firm has previously donecontentious work for the bank, but thisenables them to now pick up M&A, IT,employment and general banking instruc-tions. The appointment is not restricted to the UK, so other parts of the firm shouldalso benefit. ‘This is precisely the kind ofinstitutional relationship with a majorfinancial services business that we arelooking to develop,’ Fallon says.

CHRISTOPHER FANNERDenton Wilde Sapte, LondonAcquisition finance partner, Age: 39CLIENT WIN: Lloyds Bank

Fanner, one of Dentons’hungriest finance partners,kicked off a bumper year inFebruary with a win to act on

his first deal for Lloyds Bank LeveragedFinance team. A club of three banks – RBS,Lloyds and Barclays – invited Dentons topitch alongside Clifford Chance andDickson Minto for the financing of insurancebusiness Towergate. Fanner got the invite topitch on the back of links with RBS, butsuccessfully convinced Lloyds and Barclays’leveraged finance teams to use him for thefirst time. Lloyds is now spearheading adrive into leveraged deals and has sentFanner a further major instruction.

JOSE MARIA FERNANDEZ-DAZAClifford Chance, MadridCorporate partner, Age: 40CLIENT WIN: Banco Santander

Clifford Chance was one of anumber of firms that hadworked with Banco Santanderin the past, but in a spectacu-

lar piece of rainmaking it was Fernandez-Daza that got the call when the bankdecided it wanted to buy Abbey, creatingthe biggest ever merger between Europeanhigh street banks. There was no pitchprocess because of his established

relationship in Madrid, and Fernandez-Daza contacted London partner DavidPudge to lead the deal.

PETER FITZPATRICKHowrey Simon Arnold & White, LondonLitigation partner, Age: 43CLIENT WIN: Ryanair

Fitzpatrick has worked withRyanair for many years, goingback to the days when he wasa partner at Theodore Goddard.

This year he won a major instruction from itto advise on the high-profile dispute withBAA about the use of Stansted airport, andthe firm was appointed as sole adviser forsubstantial litigation work. ‘On the back ofthe appointment, and my relationship with[chief executive] Michael O’Leary andothers, we were instructed on the BAAcase,’ Fitzpatrick says. ‘We act for Ryanairon a number of things, but that’s certainlythe most high profile.’

MARTIN SCOTTWalker Morris, LeedsLitigation partner, Age: 45CLIENT WIN: Cleveland Bridge

Martin Scott has known Dar-lington-based steelworks firmCleveland Bridge for manyyears, but won one of his

biggest instructions yet this year when hewas asked to represent the client in ahigh-profile dispute over WembleyStadium. Scott won £1.95m for his client –who was responsible for the stadium’ssignature arch – from Australian contrac-tor Multiplex, and is now embroiled in acase in the Court of Technology and Con-struction in the High Court for damages inexcess of £20m. It was a huge piece ofwork on the back of painstaking relation-ship building over many years.

SEAN WATSONCMS Cameron Mckenna, LondonCorporate partner, Age: 56CLIENT WIN: National Grid Transco

Watson scooped one of thebiggest instructions of theyear, advising NGT on thecorporate aspects of the

£5.8bn sale of four of its gas distributionnetworks. Camerons has a long relation-ship with NGT, but has had to work hard tokeep the client following its merger withLattice Group in 2002. Lattice’s principallaw firm was Linklaters, and it is nowLattice’s former company secretary, HelenMahy, who heads the combined in-houseteam. Watson’s persistence paid off, withthis being the client’s biggest instructionthis year. Linklaters advised on propertyand employment issues only.

THOMAS WERLENAllen & Overy, LondonCapital markets partner, Age: 39CLIENT WIN: UBS Investment Bank

Werlen is a US-qualifiedpartner who heads the US lawgroup at A&O in Germany,Switzerland and Austria. His

strong links with UBS have led to somemassive instructions for the firm,including securing the appointment of thefirm as adviser on two deals which formedpart of the expansion of its Europeanwealth management business. A&Oadvised on the £160m acquisition of Laing & Cruickshank Investment Management, for example. Werlen’scontacts also led to the appointment ofA&O as adviser to Syngenta on its €400macquisition of Advanta.

RELATIONSHIP INVESTMENT Although the lead-in time is necessarily longer, the buzz garnered from a client who pays you back for all that effortyou’ve put in over the years is arguably the raison d’etre of the true professional services provider. There’s no luckhere, no short-term pitch – just rock-solid relationship payback built on the best foundation of all: time-proven trust


Documents

LB150 p38-51