A group of around 30 partners who left Ince & Co in the two years before it went into administration following the pre-pack deal with Gordon Dadds could lose up to £300,000 in unpaid capital, The Lawyer understands. Sources familiar with the situation said that the administrators of Blue Co London LLP, formerly Ince & Co UK […]
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For law firms the real question is how to get and maintain momentum. Jomati's Tony Williams explains how to do it.
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The claim brought against CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang from a former corporate client will not be heard until early February after the High Court struggled to find a judge for the case, The Lawyer has learned.
Parties in the claim were informed late on 22 January that the Honourable Mr Justice Andrew Baker will now hear the case in the Commercial Court for four weeks beginning on 5 February when Spokane Investments starts its claim against the firm.
The case – one of The Lawyer‘s Top 20 of 2019 – was due to start on 28 January and though the size of the claim is unclear, it is thought the figure could be worth several million pounds.
Private equity firm Spokane’s former director Alexander Mayr is leading the claim which first came to light in 2017. He is advised by Asserson Law senior partner Trevor Asserson, instructing 4 Stone Buildings’ Jonathan Crow QC and James Knott.
Simmons & Simmons partner James Pollack is defending CMS, instructing 4 New Square’s Roger Stewart QC, and Crown Office Chambers’ Daniel Shapiro and Michael Harper.
The claimants allege that CMS was negligent and in breach of both confidence and its fiduciary duty relating to an aborted 2011 transaction for the private equity firm.
CMS had at the time been advising Spokane on a deal thought to be worth up to €1bn (£871.2m) to buy a life sciences business. The deal was not completed, though according to a CMS engagement letter, the firm was obliged to cut its fees by 50 per cent. Mayr alleges that this obligation was never honoured and led to him losing up to £65m.
CMs has denied all claims against it during two substantive first instance judgments before Vos J in 2012 and Asplin J three years later.
With the case understood to be far from settling before its reaches court, it is set to be one of the most fiercely contested pieces of litigation running in 2019.
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Over 30 business services roles could be at risk at Taylor Wessing, after the firm outlined plans to shift work from the City to its new Liverpool base. The firm will enter a collective consultation on February 5, which is expected to last for 30 days. This follows a review of the business services functions last autumn […]
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Self-awareness – that ability to know and understand how we are seen – is an important aspect of job performance, career success, wellbeing and strong leadership skills, but sadly it is in short supply in the modern day workplace. Recent research carried out over the last five years by Harvard Business Review revealed a significant gap between the 95 per cent of people who think they are self-aware and the reality of the 15 per cent who actually are.
One of the key ways a lack of self-awareness plays out in the work place is through projection. Projection is a psychological defence mechanism, which we employ to attribute the characteristics we find unacceptable within ourselves onto another person. Like other defence mechanisms projection is a subconscious process that has the power to distort reality.
An example of projection creating a distorted reality could be where a male or female worker has feelings of attraction for a co-worker and accuses the person of sexual advances; or where someone stands up to a pushy co-worker who then accuses them of bullying. Other projected feelings include jealousy, anger and control, other times it happens because it is easy (we don’t have to think much to project) and sometimes we project because we feel challenged either because of a relationship or because of a lack of awareness around what is really going on.
What is the purpose of projection?
The purpose of projection is a way to avoid difficult or repressed feelings. Repressed feelings can be deeply entrenched in national identity, in religions or culture, or in family systems. This is one of the reasons why the new and the different can feel like a threat to our whole way of being.
There are three main categories of feelings we project.
It is easier to project on to others than become self aware which is why we so often do it. Given the choice between addressing our own distortions in perception with therapy or coaching, or projecting ourselves on to others to make sense of the world, projection is by far the easiest option. However, this approach is detrimental to growth and progress.
Scroll through Twitter and you will find a chamber of millions of people guessing, predicting and projecting onto people they have never even met, everything from adoration to despair, fear and loathing. Projection touches us all. Even the judgments of the judiciary can be touched by the projection of one person, the judge.
Where does projection start?
The roots of projection can be found in shame: shame of our flaws and shame of our unique gifts. Shame governs our need to belong, be accepted, liked, found innocent, virtuous even.
Since our subconscious mind influences 80 per cent of our thinking processes, every conscious thought we have is influenced by the information our subconscious chooses to send up as we assess each experience we face in life. The logic, reason and will of the conscious mind, that 20 per cent we depend on, mostly falls by the wayside when our subconscious mind asserts its authority over our beliefs and behaviour. Our beliefs and behaviours are learned and conditioned by experiences from birth. Rightly or wrongly everything is stored and so unless we pay attention to what is actually going on, then projection, which requires so very little of us, will be our default option when interacting with others and thinking about the world.
What are the costs of projection?
Much like driving with our eyes closed, projection is a very risky option. Seen in the context of day-to-day life in the workplace, the price of our lack or awareness is high, so much so that according to the same research by the Harvard Business Review carried out in 2018 on self awareness most companies don’t even realise that their performance is reduced by up to 50 per cent annually because of a lack of awareness and the impact of projection.
Self-awareness requires a bit more effort than projection but the rewards are rich: better personal and professional performance, increased productivity, increased revenue and staff retention. A lack of self-awareness among colleagues, managers and leaders causes stress, decreased motivation and innovation and a poor quality of wellbeing for the individuals and the organisation.
Here are some tips for managing projection and raising self – awareness.
Tackling projection will bring you freedom
Remember you do not have to buy into your own or other people’s projections. You are always free to change your mind, make your own choice, and change what you identify with. If you struggle to do what is right for you, see a professional therapist or coach who can give you guidance. Choosing awareness is the best decision you can make for your career and for your life. If life does not bring you joy and happiness, you and only you have the power to change it.
The authors welcome feedback from anyone concerned with the issues raised in their writing, and are also interested in hearing from anyone with suggestions for future articles. You can reach them at zita@lifetherapywithzita.com and on Twitter @LifeTherapyZita and at james.pereiraQC@ftbchambers.co.uk and on Twitter @JamesPereiraQC.
The full Loving Legal Life series can be found here.
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The latest in a string of non-stop purchases, alternative legal services provider Elevate has finalised another acquisition that will this time boost the company’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific market. Elevate is taking on Hong Kong-based flexible lawyering service Cognatio Law, which was launched in Hong Kong in February of last year to accomodate the local need for […]
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Even though it seems like Brexit is the only story in town, believe it or not other things are going on as well. But there’s really only one place to start and that’s the relationship we have with our continental friends. One of the key challenges for law firms is working out how to structure EU […]
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Latham & Watkins
’ Fiona Maclean became a partner aged 33. This pioneering technology lawyer sits at the nexus of data and regulation, designing new corporate trajectories in transformational fintech, cloud and innovation deals.
Financial services organisations are adapting their internal processes to a new cloud-based environment and Maclean has made a name for herself by successfully advising clients on this leap in the dark. Last year, she assisted a big retail and investment bank in the migration of its data to the cloud. She also advised a consortium of 16 banks on the compliance issues associated with managing different information streamflows into a common repository through a cloud-based programme.
Traditional powers are no longer able to determine terms and conditions, leaving a shaken market where companies operate in a vacuum.
Maclean will be focusing on what she calls ‘second-generation cloud’ issues. While the first generation presented challenges around data extraction and migration, now she will handle the regulatory hurdles faced by clients in the transition from existing cloud providers to new, competitive ones.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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Taylor Wessing
’s Graham Hann has been studying, living and breathing technology since the beginning of his career.
A former programmer for Siemens, he spent two years as head of legal of a technology business in the midst of the dotcom revolution, when the internet became mainstream and start-ups snapped up lawyers from private equity.
Since the early 2000s, he has been building Taylor Wessing’s global technology practice, specialising in fintech, fashion and luxury, and gaming and gambling. His clients include powerhouse tech companies such as Activision, Spotify, Tencent and Sega. Last year, he worked with luxury and fashion marketplace Farfetch on multiple tie-ups with brands to help scale the platform’s reach, and advised video games publishers on sales to Chinese, US and European buyers.
He also navigated the crossover of video games and gambling on new player acquisition tools, such as loot boxes, which allow online games players to use real money to access in-game functions and extras. To stay on top of new trends, he has cultivated grassroots relations with emerging start-ups, advising UK tech company Thought Machine, which wants to revolutionise the banking sector, and Improbable Worlds, a games development platform aiming to create infinite scale in virtual worlds.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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You may not have heard of a digital revolution knowledge lawyer before. That is because the role did not exist until September 2017.
Catherine Hammon is waving the flag for the digital revolution, ensuring all of Osborne Clarke’s lawyers are tooled up to understand its commercial and legal implications for clients.
Because of this, it is largely an outward-facing role, as Hammon ensures everyone is aware of where the future is taking clients.
As part of paving a baseline of knowledge, Hammon follows all aspects of digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, robotics, drones, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, virtual and augmented reality, quantum computing and autonomous transport, then translates them back across the firm in language that is accessible.
For Hammon, the challenge is not about spotting the obvious things that are coming, but about reading into alternative sources to clock the less obvious issues.
She talks to people at all levels of the firm, from vacation schemers to partners. It is about preparing lawyers for the landscape that will soon surround us; think driverless cars, smart buildings and smart cities with highways that can provide information about the traffic. None of these things are a world away any more. Hammon is making sure legal minds are open to the ground-breaking changes that are to come.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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When Shilpa Bhandarkar was appointed as Linklaters’ first innovation supremo, she knew she had to completely reshape the way technology and new solutions were conceived at the magic circle firm. Tapping into her experience both as a lawyer and as a tech entrepreneur, she created a network of fee-earners tasked with finding new solutions to old problems.
As part of this community perspective, she also set up a coding club that aims not only to give lawyers the basics of programming, but to establish a number of modules tailored to specific roles and practices, with different coding alphabets and data science classes to choose from.
To engage with start-ups, she will collaborate with a new tech working group aimed at elaborating ways to foster their growth and connections. An example is Techlinks, a portal through which emerging companies can access employment legal advice.
In a bid to ensure the new generation of lawyers will have proficient digital skills, she is now restructuring the firm’s training programme to involve design service and artificial intelligence.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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Ben Allgrove makes a return to the Hot 100 after a first appearance in 2012. Back then, he was listed for his top-tier IP work and The Lawyer made no mention of his reputation in artificial intelligence – but it has been an interest of his for the past 15 years, since he was an academic studying the topic. In the past two years, his AI practice has blossomed.
Internally, meanwhile, he has stepped up not only to head the newly combined IP/technology ‘super-practice’, but also to lead Baker McKenzie’s global R&D strategy.
Essentially, that role is about keeping the firm focused on what delivers most benefits to clients now, which is not always new technology. He has sparked a network of 700 innovation ambassadors from across the firm, all of whom have self-selected themselves and are having open conversations about ideas.
The programme has been successful, Allgrove says, in that rather than starting with a predefined corporate message, the firm is allowing itself to show vulnerability about what it does not know and thus empowering people from all levels to speak up.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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Paving the way at exhibitions giant ITE Group, Andrew Watkins is the company’s first general counsel and first-ever in-house lawyer.
Over his career, Watkins has built no fewer than three legal teams from scratch.
At ITE, he was tasked with building a ‘small but powerfully punching’ legal team that can respond to the needs of a large, international and publicly listed company.
Since starting in the summer of 2017, he has grown the legal team to four interim lawyers in the UK and has hired a head of legal in Russia. He also has plans to hire in China and India in the near future.
As well as building a legal team, Watkins has overseen stand-out M&A transactions, including the £300m acquisition of Ascential Events and supporting rights issue. He has looked after one other acquisition, together with two disposals in Asia, and the related party disposal of ITE’s non-core Russian business.
He will be spending the coming months assessing the company’s Asian governance arrangements, as well as developing the company-wide transformation and growth programme.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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As far as tech start-ups go, Deliveroo is one of the most talked about and successful in London right now.
The food delivery business has joined competitors in the eye of the ‘gig economy’ storm, meaning head of employment and commercial litigation Tarun Tawakley is handling some of the most innovative and forward-thinking cases in 21st century employment law.
Tawakley oversaw a key victory in early December, instructing his old firm Lewis Silkin and frequent collaborator 11KBW as a judicial review in the High Court brought by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) was thrown out.
The IWGB sought to demand collective bargaining rights for Deliveroo’s flexible workers – ‘riders’, as they are dubbed internally – though the bench sided with Tawakley, putting Deliveroo in the clear.
Although he had always seen himself joining the partnership at Lewis Silkin, Tawakley is now firmly settled in his role at the business. The rapid pace of its international expansion is only gaining greater momentum with every passing day and that challenge literally keeps him on his toes, as an avid runner around any city in a newly entered market.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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When Swati Paul first started at London Luton Airport (LLA) as its first-ever lawyer over three years ago, the airport was seeing roughly 12.5 million passengers a year. Fast forward to the present and that figure now stands at 18 million with the legal challenges growing as quickly as the footfall.
Ever-increasing numbers of infrastructure projects have sprouted up at the airport, which sits 35 miles from London, including a pair of construction and infrastructure jobs that are valued at a combined £400m. Those may be the headline deals, but Paul’s creation of standardised documentation across LLA’s suite of files has revolutionised what was an archaic and unnecessarily expensive operation.
It is expected that 2019 will see the legal team continue to grow, with Paul targeting hungry general commercial lawyers who want a deluge of work. The projects are confidential at this point in time, but they are there. Whether it is a transit system going across the width of the site or expanding to meet passenger demand, it surely won’t be a quiet year for Swati Paul.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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When Imraan Patel joined EG Group, then known as Euro Garages, in July 2016, he was its only in-house lawyer. But his appointment marked the start of a phenomenal global expansion for the Blackburn-based fuel station and convenience retailer.
Patel has been an integral part of the senior team transforming EG Group from a single-nation operator of 340 sites to a global conglomerate with 4,750 sites turning over £30bn a year.
The group’s lightning-speed of growth is fuelled by global acquisition, and Patel coordinated the legal advice working alongside external counsel in all of the highly complex transactions. In 2018, he was involved in several big-ticket matters, such as the acquisition of US-based Kroger’s portfolio of convenience stores for $2.15bn (£1.7bn) and the AUS$1.75bn (£990m) acquisition of Australia-based Woolworths Group’s fuel station business.
To accommodate this growth, Patel has built up the in-house legal department, now 19 strong. He has recently launched a trainee solicitor scheme, after establishing the group’s inaugural law firm panels.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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Toby Parkinson, OMERS Infrastructure’s legal director, is no stranger to big-ticket deals, having spent the best part of his career in infrastructure M&A. In the past three years at the Canadian investments giant, he has been able to put his stamp on both the legal team and the large acquisitions that typify the company’s portfolio.
In July, OMERS completed a landmark UK acquisition, opting to raise its stake in Thames Water to 32 per cent. The transaction has spanned the past two years and involved almost daily contact with Thames Water’s general counsel.
OMERS acquired the Macquarie stake in Thames Water in May 2017 and the rest followed on from there.
Parkinson has a stellar pedigree: a Clifford Chance lawyer for a decade, his practice focused on private equity and infrastructure transactions. His interest in OMERS came down to wanting to get closer to the assets that make infrastructure M&A tick, and going in-house has enabled him to expand his reach to other work streams.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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In early 2018, KFC’s European legal head Sarah Nelson Smith signed off an advert in which the brand apologised for its chicken shortage with “FCK, we’re sorry”. It was a hectic month for the fast-food retailer and its legal team, which had to deal with the distribution crisis that stopped its famous chicken reaching its outlets.
On Valentine’s Day, Nelson Smith was liaising with KFC’s marketing, operations and commercial divisions to ensure things returned back to normal as soon as possible. Within a month, a solution was identified and the nightmare was over.
It was an eventful end to Nelson Smith’s tenure at KFC, which saw her also oversee the sale of more branches last year as part of a move towards an increasingly franchised model. New adventures awaited, however, with the news that she was to join WeWork as its first regional general counsel for Europe, Israel and Australia.
In yet another sign that the real estate giant is taking over the world, Nelson Smith will lead on the company’s most concerted effort to expand its legal team outside of the US.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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Dean Nash is right at the heart of one of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses. As general counsel of Monzo Bank, he has just rounded off a phenomenal year for the company, culminating in its £20m crowdfunding project in November.
As well as being the largest crowdfunding round ever undertaken by a British fintech company, it was also the first time a prospectus was available in app form that allowed customers to buy shares using money from their accounts. Truly innovative.
It was a gruelling nine-month project in which Nash’s in-house team of nine was put through its paces. No longer just a start-up, Monzo is now a scale-up company that expects to reach 1,000 employees this summer. The legal team has to be prepared for the swathe of work that arises from such growth, with new products steeped in potential risks, new contracts and regulatory hurdles.
To that end, Nash added a new string to his bow last year when he took control of Monzo’s risk function alongside his existing legal responsibilities. The former Nabarro lawyer has found his calling in-house.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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As the first global general counsel at private equity and investment firm The Carlyle Group, Heather Mitchell ensures consistency amid frequent regulatory changes, marrying bureaucratic requirements with commercial ambitions.
Mitchell pioneered areas such as deal restructuring and warranty and indemnity insurance. Based on her ‘One Carlyle’ philosophy, she assigned a single lawyer to each fund, advising on up to five deals at a time. This close collaboration helps to identify issues and find solutions in the early stages of negotiations.
Her ability to streamline processes and cut bureaucracy saved deals beleaguered by regulatory constraints. With her team, she dealt with more than $25bn (£19.7bn) of investments and over $13bn of proceeds, recently leading on the $12.5bn acquisition of AkzoNobel’s specialty chemicals division.
To gain a clear overview of the market, she launched a tracker to constantly evaluate the parameters of Carlyle’s portfolio companies and spearheaded the development of a market shock system to monitor how Brexit-related market blows affected the company.
See the full Hot 100 list here.
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