I’m a forward-looking type of guy. Looking back on your career is something you do when you’re retiring. At the bright chickeny age of 50 it’s not the right time to be looking back. In a traditional English law firm, when you come to 50 there’s this unspoken thing of ‘when are you going to go?’ It’s sort of like granny sitting in the corner. In a US firm nobody thinks you know anything until you’re at least 50.
Management is not my thing. I’m more interested in the clients and doing the work. Triangulating complicated personalities and mucking about in committees is not my thing.
If I look back, the thing that surprises me is how much luck plays in everything. You’ve got to be lucky for the opportunities to be there.
Moving to a US firm was a big moment. It’s a big deal for you and for your clients. People shouldn’t underestimate what a big thing it is.
When I started, the English firms were the only firms around, the banks were all English and there was a much clubbier feel. It was harder to be yourself – there was an accepted type. Now it’s so much more international. Things are much more relaxed.
I’d love to see people thinking about how they communicate. People sit behind their desks and fling e-mails out at great groups without thinking: does the person I’m sending this to need to know this? Clients can change this if they say: ‘Stop sending me all this crap.’
You have to look at how the landscape is changing. Our managing partner Barry Wolf has a great phrase: ‘The strategy is to follow the cheese.’ In private equity things have changed a lot. There are new entrants, like Canadian pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices… You have to be nimble and entrepreneurial. Deals can happen very quickly – I did one recently from Friday to Monday.
The deal players are all moving to the US firms. I was one of the first. You need to be in a US firm where they are inventing deal techniques and all that stuff. We took the entire Clifford Chance fund formation team. The financing work is all US. All those things you need for financing a leveraged buyout are US. The banks in Europe will have to move their terms to the US competition.
Are mega deals coming back? It will be difficult to see FTSE 100 take privates. Do you really want to deploy so much capital for one asset? But deals for £1bn or £2bn are around now. There will be bigger deals, but whether you see a single private equity fund doing monster deals I’m not so sure.
Straight talking is important. You have to be robust to withstand a difficult market. Doing deals is not for the faint hearted. I get more annoyed by people who argue about something that is not worth arguing about – that isn’t going to give the client a solution. Not cutting to the chase is something that brings out the straight talker in me.
The way I am as deal-maker, I can look back and see it’s been moulded by some of the clients I’ve worked with. Lesley MacDonagh [former managing partner of Lovells] was one of the most inspiring people to work for, great at motivating a team, a great visionary. I’ve learnt a lot from her.
Every deal has its theatre, its moment. In recent times the TNK-BP deal was huge. Buying the Telegraph, or anything that is hotly fought over, is extra stimulating because there is that question: how do you do that smarter? Doing your job in a quicker, smarter way is what makes a deal stand out.
There hasn’t been a year when I haven’t done double the pro bono target.
Enjoyment is the start of the job. The difference between the US and UK is that US firms aren’t massive on management so they are more nimble. There’s a finite amount of energy to deploy and if you have to deploy that energy to work through internal bureaucratic matters you’ve taken half that energy you need.
I have lots of interests outside the law. I’m crazy about contemporary art, love the opera, dance, the countryside and anything to do with getting outdoors. In all of those areas I have responsibilities. In art I’m on the board of the Serpentine Gallery, in dance on the board of Sadler’s Wells and I used to be on the board of the Royal Opera House. I’m buying a farm in Scotland. In all these things there have been people who have helped me get into and understand them. These people are the door-openers. The people I don’t like are the ones that suck the energy out of the room.
The legal market isn’t expanding. That means there are fewer seats at the table. Clients are doing this flight to quality; if you’re left in the commoditised mush you’re going to get killed on fees – someone is going to undercut you all the time.
The management of US law firms is much more grown up. They’re not constantly trying to push platitudes.
Ambition changes. Ambition for the practice I work in is to be good at what it needs to be good at. That’s the aspiration when you’re at the top of what you’re doing. The aspiration changes. When I was at Lovells, it was: ‘How we are going to take work from Clifford Chance and nibble away?’ It’s about adapting to the changing environment at the top and making sure the team adapt to that attitude of staying at the top.
We’ve got the best team we’ve ever had [at Weil, Gotshal & Manges] – no weak links. We’re in a great spot. It’s not all about chasing after KKR and CVC.
This job is hard to do unless you really enjoy it. If you’re not enjoying it, don’t do it, because you’ll hate it and turn the milk sour for everybody else. There’s a phrase: ‘Being happy isn’t about getting what you want. It’s wanting what you’ve got.’ Find ways to enjoy what you’re doing. Keep adapting.
Marco Compagnoni is co-head of international private equity at Weil, Gotshal & Manges