My summer holidays were spent licking envelopes at my parents printing factory in Hemel Hempstead. My parents were an odd mix, my mum an Italian immigrant and my father as English as they come. They were very keen that I have a profession as they wanted something better for their kids. The business is still in the family.
I learnt classical guitar as a kid. Every time I got to the next grade, a bit like a dog getting a treat, I got a guitar. I had a room full of guitars in my late teens. My Fender Stratocaster is one of my most prized possessions. They end up getting used more by my daughter now.
I was crazy about basketball as a kid and toured with the England youth teams. Nowadays I wouldn’t get anywhere near a team – I’d need to be twice as big.
I had one of the worst attendance records at university. I was off playing sport so I used to borrow other people’s notes and there was some guy who took the best notes in the world on company law. That’s when I became interested in it.
I didn’t know where I was going on my first day at the firm so I thought: ‘I’ll follow this guy.’ Then I noticed he had big buffalo hair and a couple of earrings, so I thought: ‘He can’t be going to Herbert Smith.’ He ended up being Mark Shillito and I knew I followed the right person as he took his earrings off on the street.
The first thing I’d ever gotten wrong was a date on a document that was being sent to shareholders that day. I showed it to the head of corporate on the morning it was being posted and he said: ‘This is wrong. The doc can’t go out!’ It was fundamental but basic and I was absolutely mortified.
A lot of the choices we make as lawyers are fairly selfish. There’s no point dressing it up some other way.
Gareth Roberts is godfather to my youngest kid, the best man at my wedding was Ian Cox and even my wife was from Herbert Smith. We met when I was an associate and she was a trainee. But I do have some other friends!
Most of the lawyers here have families and a lot of the choices we make are fairly selfish. That doesn’t make you a bad person, as you need an element of selfishness to get on and do what you do, but there’s no point dressing it up in some other way.
No-one gets the work/life balance absolutely right. It’s never easy for someone who isn’t doing it to fully understand and accept being on the wrong end of those choices. I’ve missed lots of stuff. It’s only recently that we’ve started booking family holidays because before we would just do a last-minute thing whenever I was free. I’ve gotten more perspective.
I didn’t think I was cruising to partnership. I remember a wobble when I had worked alongside another firm who offered me a job. I was thinking of all these people above me and that there was a logjam. I was told it was about being the right person. I was talking to an associate last week who was thinking about going and I told that same story.
I was the last partner to get their name on the letterhead. Herbert Smith had all of its partners on the letterhead until 1996 and SC Wilkinson was the last on it. The first thing I did was send my mother a letter.
In all walks of life there is politics. It’s usually borne out of competition. We don’t tolerate campaigning anymore though.
I’ve been to Rupert Murdoch’s office in New York and sat in his office in Fox Studios with Elisabeth Murdoch running around doing pay-per-view deals. I’m relationship partner for BSkyB and that began from a call asking me to come into the relationship. I said yes. Not that I had any choice but just to make myself feel better.
You can always find lawyers who know about the law. Finding lawyers who know about business is trickier.
I’ve seen tears, table-thumping and meltdowns over concerns a company is going to go under at boardroom meetings. I’ve sat in many board meetings where there’s animosity or a board member has been removed. When companies come into crisis, there’s a shift in behaviour so that all of the governance and procedure isn’t as remembered.
On Justin D’Agostino’s first day at the firm he came and sat with me, and then came a crisis, so his first interaction with the firm was to spend 24 hours straight in the office.
I’ve never liked management. Head of M&A started off as a title with no management. It’s morphed a little now and that’s fine, but I didn’t want to be head of corporate or anything else because it’s not for me and I’m not very good at it. I like doing deals, so the only way I can do management is to lead by example.
I’m a great one for making lists. I’m always walking around with my diary writing down clients I want to work for.
Clients don’t want you constantly ringing them asking for work, they want you to know what is happening and help them, whether you’re instructed or not.
My kids won’t go near law with a bargepole as they can see how much commitment it’s taken. I wouldn’t encourage them.
Stephen Wilkinson is head of M&A at Herbert Smith Freehills
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk