Editors' Blog

Smooth, clever and baggage-free

Posted 1/02/2007 by Deal Comment

As numerous law firm elections have shown, there’s always something to be said for being an unknown quantity. Less time to make enemies, less time to get on the wrong side of corporate and less baggage – that most dangerous accessory for any prospective managing partner.

Or as one Slaughter and May partner colourfully puts it: “Hidden away in Asia, no-one would know if you’re a shit or not.”

And so it has proved, when legalweek.com exclusively revealed yesterday (see story) that Linklaters’ baggage-lite and youthful Asian head Simon Davies has won the international board’s recommendation to replace Tony Angel as managing partner.

The decision, which is set to ratified and confirmed by the partnership within days, is still less of a surprise than it looked only late last year as candidates began to emerge.

Capital markets chief Nick Eastwell and banking head John Tucker were initially viewed as the leading contenders. But by the time Tucker had withdrawn, leaving the board to a “knife-edge decision” between Eastwell and Davies, the wind was clearly changing in favour of the latter.

In particular, it is apparent that senior partner David Cheyne, despite a decent working relationship with Eastwell, was becoming supportive of Davies’ candidacy.

To be fair, Davies’ appeal was also much buoyed by his position as a natural successor to Angel – a technocratic leader who has done much to sell the concept of a ‘proper’ law firm manager.  Indeed, the highly polished Davies seems to have had some direct encouragement from Linklaters’ outgoing managing partner.

As such, Linklaters insiders are quick to counter claims that the board can be pushed around by any one partner - even Cheyne - stressing that the contest was focused on operational grasp.

“It was a good contest – I applaud the process and I personally would have been delighted if Nick had won,” says one neutral partner. “This was about looking for someone with the managerial skill-set. It was not, as perhaps these things would have been a few years ago, about giving it to the biggest name in the market.”

All of which still seems a harsh result for Eastwell, a consummate all-rounder in the mould of the modern City lawyer, who combines polished management and leadership with rock-solid client skills.

The other issue will be what the appointment - and specifically a Cheyne/Davies joint-ticket – means for the firm.

While no-one doubts that Davies has the managerial chops for the job, the question is how he will fare asserting himself against Cheyne should their views diverge.

As can be seen from the ascendancy of corporate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, there will be pressure to push investment towards Linklaters’ core M&A team as long as the current deal boom continues. It is also known that Cheyne favours a more explicitly M&A-focused Linklaters than some of his colleagues in finance.

With Linklaters several years back overtaking Clifford Chance as London’s most strategically-influential law firm, there will be a lot of people watching how this one pans out.

 alex.novarese@legalweek.com