Travers Smith’s former managing partner Andrew Lilley (pictured) has resigned from the firm after nearly 20 years, and is set to explore a career in teaching.
Announced internally this week, Lilley plans to pursue a career outside of law looking to teach economics at A-level, but will also explore the possibility of ad hoc consultancy work with the firm.
The news emerges a year after employment partner Lilley stepped down from his role as managing partner following a four year term and was succeeded by corporate partner David Patient. Having joined Travers in 1995 and becoming a partner in 1997, Lilley oversaw substantial financial growth at the firm during his term as managing partner with the latest LB100 figures showing 51% revenue growth since 2009 to £97.2m.
On his time at Travers, Lilley told Legal Business: ‘I have taken real pleasure watching the rise of the profile and reputation of the firm, and the employment practice in which I have worked for the past 20 years. There’s no other law firm I would rather work for. I leave with very fond memories but am excited about the next chapter too.’
On his move into teaching, Lilley added: ‘I’ve been very fortunate by ending up as an employment lawyer, there’s really quite a large amount of teaching involved in that role. A lot of HR professionals are keen to be trained and taught and you teach junior lawyers over the years. So I’ve been able to feed that interest for some time. Now I’d like to pursue teaching at A-level at a school while I still have the opportunity.’
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk