Management speak

In just under two years Simon Davies has restructured Linklaters’ partnership, cut lawyers and offices and ridden the financial crisis. Time for a new strategy

Simon Davies sees his job in simple terms. ‘The most important task is developing the strategy and then implementing it,’ says Linklaters’ managing partner. Since April of this year he’s been putting a new strategy in place. The vision set out by his predecessor Tony Angel – to be the leading global law firm – hasn’t changed. It’s the means of getting there that the new plan is concerned with.

The two-year strategy places particular emphasis on client relationships and the firm’s people. Just as Davies sees his role, it’s hardly rocket science. But since he officially took over from Angel in January 2008 aged just 40 Davies and his management team have been forced to make a series of tough strategic calls.