My career couldn’t be better. Nice work, nice clients, good money… The culture of this firm lends itself to being an enjoyable place to work. We don’t have the bureaucracy or warfare other firms have.
I started at Clifford Turner. Matthew Layton was still in shorts. The head of commercial litigation in the early 1980s was a South African called Leon Boshoff – very tall, powerfully built… Behind that fearsome appearance he had a razor-sharp mind. One of the cases involved Lloyd’s of London. He took them on four square. He taught us to be fearless and not judge a situation by: ‘Well, this is a reputable institution, they can’t have done anything wrong.’ Drill down. Find the evidence. Form your own judgement.
Some of the biggest changes to the profession are because of the press. There’s such scrutiny on how much money law firms make, what are good and bad law firms… It’s made us much more efficient and think more about client service. Some bad things have come of it, but that’s evolution.
My favourite case was the sort we virtually never do. I acted for one of 17 defendants – the Office of Fair Trading was trying to get a committal order relating to cartel activity in the concrete industry. My client was the managing director in his mid-50s. A hell of a lot on the line, except money. We had a six-week trial and he was acquitted. Fifteen of the 17 were convicted. It was very exciting to see the judge tell him he was free.
The way I feel about losing… you know the right result has been reached because all the evidence has been looked at. You put forward your best arguments. I don’t think I’ve ever had a case where I thought the judge got it wrong.
Being a good litigator – it’s not what people think. It’s not being aggressive. It’s about being clever, forensic and a lot of ground work developing the arguments. You need to be a chess player: if I do this, what will my opponent do? That tactical aspect is critical.
I’m not a fan of handling advocacy in-house. On a big commercial case, we want the specialists in their narrow field and who have been in front of judges week in, week out. I don’t think there are any solicitor-advocates that can match the barristers at the top of the Bar.
I was a young associate when [Clifford Turner merged with Coward Chance]. It was a complete bolt from the blue for everyone, including the partners! Jaws dropped. As an associate, I was concerned you wouldn’t be able to make your mark. I moved to Travers Smith the same year.
It’s a very good thing the Panama Papers happened. It is shining a spotlight.
Christopher Clarke was a brilliant judge. I instructed him when he was a barrister. A great manner and good judgement – very thorough. Robin Knowles will be brilliant. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes all the way to the Supreme Court.
I’m concerned fewer top people want to go to the bench. That’s a shame because hitherto we’ve had brilliant judges.
There will be a lot more banking litigation. There are law firms now that didn’t even exist – boutiques that act only for claimants, and are embracing new forms of fee arrangements. You’ll see more. Competition law cases where there’s a lot more scope for class actions… That’s going to be a very attractive game to play.
It’s a very good thing the Panama Papers happened. It is shining a spotlight on an issue which is cancerous – the way in which rich people hide their money from, not just the tax man, but their spouses and regulatory authorities. The scrutiny that will now come will reduce the number of places that bad people can hide money.
Enforcement activity won’t diminish any time soon because financial institutions just keep doing bad things. The fines don’t hurt wrongdoers. It hurts the bank, the shareholders – not the employees or managers. The Financial Conduct Authority is realising that and will start targeting individuals a lot more to try to change behaviour.
Absolutely, Travers Smith should stay independent. Commentators saw us as old-fashioned and boring. We stuck to our guns. We are covered by a high-quality band of lawyers and support staff. Do what you can extremely well so you have a fantastic reputation. Commentators have come to see that we were right and some of them were wrong.
Absolutely I have work/life balance. That’s one of the joys of Travers Smith. We culturally embrace the notion that it is critical to have a happy workforce.
I have a farm near a village. I cycle, do photography… I have cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens. I am very much a wellie person. Most of the time it’s 15 minutes in the morning and a large part of Saturday. You just have to check the animals are still alive. It brings you back to the basics of life. I can milk a cow.
It’s great there’s another independent London firm like Macfarlanes aiming for high-quality work. I also admire RPC’s litigation team – they’re a class act. Cleary Gottlieb is a class firm too – a lockstep partnership like us too. Working as a team is so critical to success.
Treat everyone as you want to be treated. There’s no place in work for bullying or lack of support. My career advice would be: be fearless and independent. Don’t be influenced by the crowd.
I want to do this for a lot longer. Infirmity will stop me, but until then…
Stephen Paget-Brown is head of disputes and co-head of regulatory investigations at Travers Smith
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk