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Blog posts

A thought for technology

April 30, 2012

One of the most interesting conversations I had recently was with the Firm’s Chief Information Officer – the man responsible for, among other things, ensuring that the IT systems remain fully functional across the global network, 24/7.  A few of us were meeting to discuss how best to capture innovative ideas for future IT projects, and following the meeting we were given an insight into some of the projects already underway and a demonstration of some hardware that was being trialled.  Particularly impressive was the virtual meeting room, where half of the seats around the oval table were replaced with high definition TV monitors with a view to replicating a face-to-face meeting as closely as possible, only  with half of the attendees participating from different international offices around the network.  A brief glance in one of the IT project rooms soon made us realise just how much effort goes into keeping systems up-to-date and compatible with all the latest technology – something no doubt apparent to those of you who have already downloaded one of the A&O apps!

It’s impossible to understate the importance of IT to the business.  I remember on one occasion during my years as a trainee when the IT servers for part of the London office (including my department) went down for a little over 30 minutes.  It became immediately apparent that until the servers were fixed, most people had nothing that they could usefully do; the odd phone call maybe, but even the phones were of limited use when the documents you needed to refer to were filed away on the system.  For an organisation that charges by the hour, the consequence of lost time is pretty acutely correlated to a loss of revenue – so you can see why keeping everyone on-line is of critical importance.  No wonder the London IT server room could probably give the Bellagio vault a run for its money.

The IT teams do a fantastic job of ensuring that all systems running smoothly on a day-to-day basis (no doubt one of the reasons why it’s easy to take our technology infrastructure for granted).  Speaking to the CIO however also provided a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes and the continual programme of development projects so as to ensure that the Firm is making the most of cutting-edge technology to improve efficiency and the quality of service.

I suspect that IT infrastructure - and remote working especially - will become particularly critical during the Olympics.  While I (like most other associates in the City) are hoping that clients will enter into the spirit of the event and put transactions on hold for a couple of weeks, the Firm clearly needs the capacity to operate as usual notwithstanding the anticipated transport pandemonium.  This will probably result in a higher than usual number of people working remotely (and no doubt the BBC live sports feed will see an increase in traffic as well).  Although I'd like to think that Olympics will prevent me from working for a couple of balmy weeks in the summer, I unfortunately have too much confidence in our IT team to expect that it will be anything other than business as usual!

New Year know-how

February 14, 2012

The first week of January is not my favourite week of the year (not helped by the contrast of having just returned from a great week skiing in the Alps!) and the weather seemed to capture the mood of the nation perfectly: grey, wet, cold and not a hint of snow - at least not then.  Hardly a surprise that BBC Breakfast informed me that the second Monday in January is the most popular day of the year for booking holidays.  The start of the New Year is typically a busy period for M&A lawyers, characterised by a number of new transactions (or a renewed focus on existing transactions that stalled over the Christmas break).  This year however, the rush of new transactions hasn't materialised to the same extent with the ongoing Eurozone and economic crises having seemed to stifle the usual New Year deal flow.  That's not to say that I've been twiddling my thumbs and browsing the snow reports all day, rather that the nature of my matters have involved many more restructurings and reorganisations than usual (as opposed to the M&A transactions that normally keep me occupied). 

Variety is certainly a good thing, and we're encouraged to work on different types of matters as much as possible in order to gain a broad range of experience, particularly as a mid-level associate.  Aside from the fact that a variety of work makes the job interesting, it is important from a career development perspective that lawyers gain as wide a range of skills as possible.  Markets are constantly adapting (as has clearly been seen in previous years) and the ability to adapt with them is crucial to the firm's success.  Working on different transactions also helps to develop your technical skills as a lawyer – the phrase 'well-rounded lawyer' can be frequently heard during appraisal season, and not just in relation to daily doughnuts.  As a specific example, many of the restructurings that I'm assisting with at the moment involve working within the confines of existing transaction documents to achieve the proposed outcome.  Inevitably, restructuring arrangements are proposed (often driven by tax structuring requirements) which weren't considered when the original transaction documents were drafted, often leading to ambiguity or legal roadblocks.  While this is to an extent inevitable (as hard as a lawyer might try, it is not always possible to cater for every future scenario when drafting documents) the experience of having worked on such matters helps to inform the drafting of documents on future transactions.

There is a continuing emphasis on developing our internal know-how and precedents, particularly when the dealflow is slower than usual, and for our team the last few months have seen a concerted effort to update and consolidate our internal know-how.  For me specifically, this has involved reviewing existing document precedents (and in particular capturing any relevant experience from the recent wave of restructurings), drafting new precedents and preparing internal training sessions for more junior members of the team.  What with know-how and business development (see previous blog), you can see that there's certainly more to the life of an associate than just churning through transactions – that's what helps to keep things interesting.

Juggling

November 15, 2011

After a rather energetic start to the autumn months, it's fair to say that the Euro-zone crises and ensuing market jitters have kicked a number of transactions into touch.  It's not the case that the workflow has stopped completely, just that there's much less certainty over the timetable of transactions and whether they will ever get to completion.  For associates, this means that the ability to juggle deals has quickly become number one on the key skills list.  The unpredictability of the market in turn leads to unpredictable progress on transactions.  Matters are often kick-started with enthusiasm, only to grind to a halt as various issues need to be resolved (in the private equity sector, often linked with the difficulties of obtaining debt finance).  No sooner have you started work on a new matter, an old matter will jump back to life and the juggling begins.

Learning to prioritise your time between several deals at once is one of the key transitions from trainee to associate.  As a trainee, your workload is usually carefully monitored by your supervisor such that (in theory at any rate) you are clear which tasks you should be undertaking and in which order.  Understandably, your main focus is likely to be getting the work right – walk before you can run!  On qualifying, you begin to take on more responsibility for transactions and, in particular, your own workload.  A critical skill for associates is therefore the ability to prioritise your time effectively between different tasks and matters, the importance of which becomes all the more acute in this stop-start market.

Working life doesn't just involve juggling deals though.  The more qualified you become, the more you are expected to take an active role in 'non-billable' work such as business development, mentoring and recruitment.  Business development ('BD') has been a particular focus recently – developing relationships with clients, primarily through working with them on transactions, but then critically maintaining that relationship once the matter has finished.  It can be as simple as a quick phone call or a beer after work (gone are the days of the lavish client entertaining in exotic locations… at least from my limited experience!)  It can be hard to find time for this part of the job, but it's the driving force behind the Firm's workflow and as associates we're expected to give it sufficient importance, even through the busy times.  Despite the additional work involved, BD does of course have its benefits.  Last week for example I had a call from a partner regarding a dinner that I'd organised with some clients – he'd managed to secure the corporate box at Wembley and did I think the clients would prefer to watch England play instead.  It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

On the graduate recruitment side I had a good couple of days in Bristol at the end of October as part of the annual recruitment tour.  As a Bristol graduate, its great to take the opportunity to return when I can and to see how things have changed over the past few years.  In addition to the annual recruitment presentation, this year I also gave a lecture to the Bristol University Investment Society, whom we are sponsoring for the first time.  We had been invited to give a lecture in our role as sponsor and I was the nominated speaker on the topic of 'Introduction to Private Equity'.  Thankfully the lecture seemed well-received by those that attended - encouraging as I had been a little unsure how to pitch the content of the talk.  I'd given a few internal presentations on the subject, though on this occasion I was speaking to a range of students with no assumed legal knowledge.  I confess I succumbed to the temptations of PowerPoint animations, though if nothing else the Simpsons characters flying in from top right seemed to lighten the mood on what was otherwise a pretty dreary Monday evening.

With my train now pulling into Waterloo I think I may have rambled on for long enough.  And the prospects for next week?  More juggling I suspect

A Bank holiday bonanza!

May 18, 2011

I recall thinking during university that bank holidays seemed pretty insignificant – just one extra day (and one on which it is invariably impossible to travel anywhere without delays) in the context of months of free time during the summer understandably seemed like a drop in the ocean.  However, let me assure those of you not yet in the throes of the working world that as soon as annual leave becomes the new order, bank holidays take on an entirely new significance.  The double-whammy of a three-day weekend followed by a four-day week is certainly enough to put May into pole position for month of the year.  Imagine, then, the bumper crop of a late Easter, the Royal Wedding and the May Day bank holiday all rolled into one – or in holiday terms, 11 days for the price of 3.

“...A&O once again takes part in the Manches Cup, the annual sailing regatta...”

Although somewhat last minute, the bank holiday bonanza was an opportunity not to be missed and so (quite amazingly with hindsight) two friends and I managed to get ourselves organised for a five day hike in the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa followed by a few days in Cape Town.  Mountains, steak and wine – it wasn't a difficult sell.  The Drakensberg is a stunning mountain range which runs down the border of Lesotho and South Africa and its Zulu name meaning 'barrier of spears' is a pretty apt description of the topography.  Five days without a shower and the delights of Cape Town went down a treat.  I can recommend no better place to watch the Royal Wedding than a sunny day on the terrace of one of the smaller vineyards just outside Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands region (viewing was not entirely by design, though as the viewing figures attested, the Wedding of the year was not an event confined to British screens).

Prior to Easter, work in the group was notably slowing down after an unexpectedly frantic January and February.  For me in particular, February saw the culmination of an auction process run for on behalf of one of our private equity clients who was selling their interest in a high street fashion retailer.  After the initial rush, there was plenty of speculation that the M&A market was cooling-off for the summer.  However, despite the rumours, I returned from holiday to find anything other but a cooling-off period, with four separate transactions taking on a new lease of life all at once.  Thankfully our team was bolstered by a number of new joiners, including three newly-qualified associates having just returned from six weeks of qualification leave (no visible signs of beads, braids or flip-flops).  I also have a new room-mate from our Madrid office who is joining the team for six months as part of the firm's international secondment programme, which allows associates to apply to be seconded to an international office, typically for 6 to 12 months.  Despite a few intensive weeks of Spanish lessons between law school and the start of my training contract, it transpires that my Spanish leaves a lot to be desired.

The sailing season is now well underway with a couple of solid performances (possibly a little generous) under our belt.  Last weekend proved slightly more eventful than usual however when during the final race of the day we ground to a halt off an isolated sand bank half-way down Southampton Water.  When sailing against the tide it can turn into something of a game of chicken as you try and stay in the shallows where the current is at its weakest.  However, it's still pretty alarming as you see the depth gauge drop to zero in a matter of seconds!  Thankfully we hit sand and not rock and the landing was pretty smooth.  A quick blast of the engine got us un-stuck with no apparent damage, though unfortunately that was the end of the race.  Anyway, something else to be chalked-down to local knowledge, which will no doubt be useful for next weekend when A&O once again takes part in the Manches Cup, the annual sailing regatta for the legal industry.  I've just checked the weather and with sun and a steady 14kts of breeze the conditions look perfect.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Work hard, play hard.....

November 18, 2010

Work hard, play hard.  Possibly one of the most over-used clichés on recruitment sites, though it happens to fit quite well with the last few weeks so I'm going to roll with it anyway.

On-site, off-site
To start with the play hard… in October we had our group off-site.  The event took place over an afternoon and evening, starting with a few discussion sessions in the afternoon on our group's key practice areas and strategy (admittedly this part of the programme was more 'on-site' than 'off-site', being based in the client meeting rooms, though the abundance of client-quality cookies left few complaints).  The discussion sessions ended mid-afternoon and then we moved on to the social focus of the day… a group cooking session in the West End.  The evening inevitably started with a few glasses of wine, progressing to a surprisingly technical cooking lesson.  Slightly chewy scallops and unintentionally savoury shortbread aside, it transpires that our group has more culinary flair than first appearances may suggest.   Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the ensuing karaoke session.  Although it seemed like a good idea at the time, it was not until the following morning that I remembered the recruitment filming session at 9am – a brief introductory interview which, it had been threatened, would appear on the recruitment website if it scraped though quality control.  Feeling distinctly worse for wear and with a Louis Armstrong (I'd like to think) gravel in the voice, it probably wasn't my most coherent performance.  Apologies in advance if it ever makes it to public viewing.

“In the lead-up to the final bid, our involvement takes on a number of strands. ”

Corporate eBay
On the work front, much of my time over the last few weeks has been spent acting for one of the bidders in a relatively high profile auction.  Many of the acquisitions that we have recently advised on have been run as an auction, a process that appeals to a seller as it has the advantage of maintaining competitive tension throughout.  In the lead-up to the final bid, our involvement takes on a number of strands.  The first is due diligence – essentially reviewing documents relating to the target business to identify material issues or areas of concern.  A second strand is typically preparing a mark-up of the key transaction documents.  It is often a requirement of the process that our proposed amendments to the main sale documents are provided as part of our final bid.  This is a tactic often used by sellers in an attempt to discourage too much negotiation, hoping that the presence of other bidders will mean that fewer amendments are proposed to the documents.  Finally, much of our time is spent responding to the host of queries and concerns from our client that invariably flow thick and fast in the run-up to the bid submission. 

The downside of an auction, of course, is that you don't know whether your client has been successful until the very last minute, once much of the work has been done.  In our case, having submitted the bid at 5pm on Thursday, we found out on Friday afternoon that we hadn't been successful.  Had our client won the auction, we would have in all likelihood been asked to head straight round to the sellers' lawyers on Friday afternoon to spend a good part of the weekend finalising the transaction (there's usually an element of urgency when other bidders are still circling) while enjoying the delights of city takeaways.  As it turned out, the weekend was unexpectedly relaxing, starting with an early trip to the pub on Friday afternoon.  No doubt most of you reading this will assume that such an outcome can only have been a good thing, when considering the relative extremes of the two alternative weekends that faced me.  However, having worked hard for a number of weeks, it was actually pretty disappointing to fall at the last hurdle.  That's the way of auctions though, and I suppose keeps things interesting.

Snow… I promise
I'm a big fan of this time of year – crisp clear mornings and almost close enough to Christmas for the festive cheer to edge it's way into our everyday lives (if you've been to Oxford Street recently, Christmas has already arrived with a bang).  On Saturday 6 November, at about 5pm, I was walking near Carnaby Street and can faithfully report that it snowed for all of three minutes.  To date, no-one has believed this assertion and I have been faced with a wall of scepticism.  Any corroboration would be gratefully appreciated.

Introducing...Peter Banks

September 9, 2009

Hi, welcome to my debut blog!  My name is Peter and I'm an associate in the corporate department.  I studied Law at Bristol, joined the firm in March 2007 and qualified in March 2009 into the private equity team in Corporate.

“One of the aspects I enjoy most about my job is the variety of work that I get to experience.”

I would describe my day-to-day work as transactional in nature.  Typically I will be involved in projects that may last for a couple of months, working in a team of three to four people from my department.  My role usually involves quite a degree of co-ordination between different departments and offices, which is great in providing an overall understanding of the transaction and giving an overview of how the different areas of advice fit together.  One of the aspects I enjoy most about my job is the variety of work that I get to experience.  As a flavour, I have been involved in transactions relating to businesses as diverse as luxury yachts, water companies, airports, designer handbags and hand soap.  The job certainly leads to some niche areas of expertise!

International transitions
The highlight of my training contract was undoubtedly a six month secondment to the Hong Kong office, a terrific place to experience living and working.  It's fascinating to see how A&O operates in other jurisdictions.  Certain aspects of the operation remain remarkably similar whichever office you work in, though local cultures and practices inevitably impact on day-to-day office life and it's interesting to observe the different approaches taken in other countries.  Unsurprisingly, I returned with a host of embarrassing anecdotes (primarily food related), though as this is an introductory blog I shall try and maintain some shred of dignity and save these for another time.

A number of recent moves within our team have served to highlight the international opportunities within the firm.  Two associates have just joined us from the Dubai office and in the next couple of months two will be leaving – one for the Bangkok office and one for the Hong Kong office.  Quite a transition for those concerned and it's great to know that these opportunities exist.

Gales, swimming and shortbread
I am writing this blog on my first day back from two weeks sailing around the Channel Islands.  Maybe it's something about September, but there is a distinct back-to-school feeling in the air as quite a few people are returning to the office from summer breaks.  The holiday was a great trip; slightly variable weather as you would expect from summer holidays close to home, though the Channel Islands provide for some stunning sailing when the sun's out.  Despite getting caught in a gale on our return Channel crossing, we completed the trip without major incident (other than a somewhat embarrassing and unplanned plunge into St Helier marina, much to the amusement of neighbouring boats).  Most importantly, the hoard of Jersey shortbread, fudge and toffee survived the journey in tact and is now sustaining our group through the afternoon sugar low.

As the holiday would suggest, sailing is a pretty big hobby of mine and seems to fill many of my weekends from March to October.  This includes events with the A&O sailing club, which has fared rather well in the last couple of regattas that we have entered.  In particular, the firm usually enters the Manches Cup sailing regatta, an annual event for the legal industry held near the Isle of Wight.  We normally field a few boats and as you can imagine the event leads to some healthy competition between law firms – boat branding leaves you in no doubt as to who you are overtaking!

Until next time
That's probably enough from me by way of an introduction.  I hope that you find these blogs helpful and that they give you an insight into life at A&O.  I'll update you in due course as to what the next couple of months hold in store.