There were different challenges during the downturn, you had to look to different markets. Challenges are always there and you are always after that next deal or that new client. I don’t think you could be here for 24 years without still being ambitious for that.
Working on the bailout was very intense – almost surreal, sitting in the Treasury trying to figure out how best it should be done. There was a deadline for having to announce something before the markets opened on the Monday. We all started on Saturday morning and worked all the way through to Monday morning. There were three banks we were looking at: RBS, Lloyds and HBOS, and then the Lloyds/HBOS combination. Each had a different thing to think about, they all had their own lawyers so there were three sets of documentation. The challenges faced and the creativity needed to get that off the ground were a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
We like to see ourselves as a firm – some partner names can be mentioned more than others, but this is changing. You find that people aren’t so focused on particular names. I think this is a good thing; what is important is to do the job well, not to have your name in lights.
When I was on sabbatical I had my office phone diverted to my mobile. Clients could still speak to me and this made me feel more comfortable. Frances Murphy said I was mad. She gave me a poem called: There Is No Indispensable Man.
My impetus is to get the best deal for my clients, but it’s not combative. I’m a great believer in arguing a point on a rational basis; there is absolutely no point arguing if you don’t need it or the other side is right.
You do end up dealing with the same lawyers often. You know them and how they negotiate. Matthew Middleditch, I’ve worked with him for 24 years. I know when he is working with me that we can go through a transaction with rational arguments – he won’t bring up silly points.
There’s a partner at Allen & Overy called Mark Dighero. He is charming in a similar vein to Matthew – a really honourable man. It’s a pleasure to have them working with you. Mark Rawlinson is also a charming man. Will Lawes and I are direct contemporaries and there’s this almost comical competitive relationship between the two of us. He coined this expression about me in 2004: ‘We’ve been Nilufered.’
In-house teams have become much more sophisticated. 20 years ago it was the chief executive or finance director that had the relationship with the outside counsel. Nowadays you have the relationship with the in-house legal team. Many clients now have panels and want to make sure they get the best offering for the best price.
You don’t stay at one place for all this time without thinking about things you’ve done that you could have done differently. To this day I am always thinking about how I have done something and how I could do it better next time. I am always thinking about where I can win another client from or another job.
There are times when you are feeling low as you haven’t won a pitch and you have to get through it. It always makes me determined to win the next time.
I am still influenced by a character from school. There is a character in Voltaire’s Candide called Dr Pangloss and his thesis is that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. He continues to believe this despite all the catastrophes around him. Funnily, this has always helped me remain optimistic.
I don’t think there are any obstacles for female partners. We are one of the firms with the most female partners – 19%. At Slaughter and May we’re trying very hard to introduce the type of things to make it easier for both men and women to combine work with other aspects of their life. The reality is that if a client comes to you on Monday and wants to announce something by the end of the week, you can’t really say: ‘I’m on flexible hours.’ However, we can as a firm be open to flexible working practices that work for the individual, the business and our clients.
I love bridge. I love opera, theatre and running, although someone skied into me in February and fractured the bones in my knee, but hopefully I’ll be running again soon.
Cost pressures are never going away. Companies are always talking about cutting costs, it’s the same wherever: ‘Where can we squeeze more money out of this?’
Does Slaughters need to change? You have to keep everything under review.
Career advice? You have to be enthusiastic and really love the law, all aspects of it – the intellectual element of it, the clients. You also have to love service.
Nilufer von Bismarck is a partner and head of equity capital markets at Slaughter and May