Editors' Blog

Dewey & LeBoeuf chief drops in for some London fudge

Posted 18/10/2007 by Richard Lloyd

The newly-merged Dewey & LeBoeuf’s decision not to appoint a London head looks like a confused fudge. Steven Davis, settling in as chairman of the $1bn-plus practice, was in town this week to unveil the new management structure. The famously hands-on Davis announced that there wouldn’t be a London partner at the top of the pile but, instead, that he would be taking a direct role in the management of the strategically-crucial office.

After consultation with management gurus McKinsey, brought in to advise on the tie-up, Dewey & LeBoeuf is focusing its leadership positions around yet-to-be-announced global practice heads. Some of the smaller European branches will have office heads but the 190-lawyer, £50m London office – the success of which is crucial to Dewey & LeBoeuf’s standing in the global legal market – will be leadership-lite, aside from Davis’ sojourns across the Atlantic.

Fred Gander and Peter Sharp, heads of the old Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae London offices respectively, will return to full-time fee-earning - Gander to his tax practice and Sharp to insurance. Both have won roles on the (arguably unwieldy) 22-member global management board, announced after Dewey & LeBoeuf came into existence on 1 October, so will retain some voice in the firm’s leadership; the legacy LeBoeuf partner Joseph Ferraro completes the triumvirate of London partners who have made it onto the new executive.

However, it looks like instead of choosing between Gander and Sharp or simply giving both management roles, the merged firm has ducked the issue and opted for a management structure which might make sense a few years down the track but not in the midst of post-merger consolidation.

Full-time, on-the-ground leadership would appear even more vital given that the London offices of both legacy firms have made significant lateral hires in recent years, some of which are still being bedded down.

Sharp, rated as an, er, Sharp operator, even by those he has rubbed up the wrong way, will be feeling particularly disappointed. In contrast, Gander is viewed as more the traditional client-facing man – but that doesn’t mean he wanted to sit on his hands as Sharp got the nod.

The firm may also find that McKinsey’s role will not go down too well in London, where the blue chip consultant has a mixed reputation in legal circles thanks to a not-universally-admired review it conducted of Freshfields Bruckaus Deringer’s banking practice several years back.

In its defence, Dewey & LeBoeuf could point to the fact that several US firms don’t have a London head. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case have all chosen not to appoint managing partners in the City, but they are also at very different stages of their life cycles in London and none of them have transformational mergers to bed down.

Cadwalader saw its rainmaking senior partner Andrew Wilkinson leave for Goldman Sachs earlier this year and since then New York-based chairman and managing partner Robert Link has taken overall responsibility for the office. Cleary doesn’t do office managing partners in London, or any of its international offices, but it’s been in Europe longer than most US firms and is suitably settled to muddle through without a head. At Kirkland private equity partner Jim Learner is the top dog in all but name while at White & Case senior partner Peter Finlay sits above a six-partner management committee which calls the shots in London.

A lot about the Dewey & LeBoeuf merger makes sense in terms of practice group and geographical fit. The new approach to London management doesn’t.

rlloyd@alm.com