Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Silver circlers

Addleshaw Booth & Co’s merger with Theodore Goddard in 2003 ticked all the right boxes: manpower was increased, profits climbed and national firm status was achieved. With this new status came the reinvigoration of two already successful firms. Since then, the stated goal has been “to be at the forefront of the silver circle.” Like many other firms of its size, AG’s large corporate and real estate practices bring in masses of revenue – almost half of the firm’s total of £195.4m in pre-crunch 2007/08. Although these areas have been hit hard by the changing economy (their combined revenue fell by approximately 25% in 2008/09), other areas have prospered. The finance and projects-related practices pulled in £41.4m last year and, naturally, the insolvency practice is also bringing home plenty of bacon. The firm’s revenue dipped by 11% to £173m in 2008/09, which was still enough to give it a position in the top 20 UK firms by revenue.

AG has re-evaluated its priorities and trimmed away some of its niches. A family department was cut loose in 2008 and a conveyancing team has also gone. “It makes sense from a business perspective. They weren’t in line with where the firm is going,” said one trainee, “so it wasn’t unexpected.” The firm wants to focus on high-value, highprofit- margin areas and target prestigious, dependable blue-chip clients in money-spinning sectors like pharmaceuticals and banking. In 2008/09, it worked for 16 FTSE 100 clients and 13 FTSE 250 clients; impressive when you know it had just 11 FTSE clients back in 2000. It has recently won appointments to four more panels at Barclays (including the much sought-after general legal advice panel), taking its current total to seven. The firm is dominant when it comes to building society M&A work. Financial partner Adam Bennett has been involved in every building society merger since 1999 and AG acts for more than half of all the building societies in the UK, as well as RBS, HSBC and Lloyds TSB.

The firm’s London office move to what looks like a big glass castle is emblematic of its aspirations. Internal newsletters often make reference to ‘The Milton Gate Effect’ and, according to one trainee, there’s been a countdown on the firm’s intranet showing how much longer there is to wait before all London staff are together under one roof in the swanky new office close to Slaughter and May. Symbolism and sloganeering have significant roles at this firm; for example, much effort has been put into tweaking what is known as ‘The AG Way’. However, as one trainee pointed out: “There’s a real danger when you come up with business strategy that when you try to articulate it, it sounds a bit vacuous.” So please keep in mind when we tell you that AG is instigating a ‘From Me to You’ mindset, that it has nothing to do with the slapstick genius of the Chuckle Brothers and everything to do with “improving customer service.” The firm has not lessened its commitment to TOOT (‘Three Offices One Team’) now that it is principally targeting ‘Bold and Beautiful’ clients. Mercifully, trainees can “pay as much or as little attention as they want” to these “slightly cringey” mottos.

Pulling together

The firm has five main areas, each of which is split into various subgroups. The five areas are: contentious; commercial; corporate; finance and projects; and property. Trainees can expect to take at least two seats from the options in the corporate, real estate, and finance and projects departments. Because of the scale and value of the work, different departments often have to pull together across the whole firm, so in this sense trainees have a great opportunity to see all departments firing on all cylinders, noting the connections between them as the firm gets things done. The corporate department’s reputation wins it international instructions such as advising natural gas distributor Gate Terminal on a €745m project financing of an import terminal in the Netherlands. At the same time, “banking is bucking the trend by growing income despite the market being crap,” and it has also been getting in on the Gate deal, working for all the lenders (“there were tonnes”) to seal this complex deal. Another huge matter was the Co-op’s £1.57bn takeover of Somerfield. As a general rule, trainees told us they were able to work on a good mix of mega-deals and things that they could dig into and manage themselves.

The real estate department was also on the Somerfield deal (see what we mean about pulling together?). Additionally, it acted for Sainsbury’s on the acquisition of a £30m freehold site, for the MoD on the disposal of 700 acres of former barracks near Chatham, and for British Land, preparing certificates of title for the sale of a 50% interest in Meadowhall Shopping Centre. Having done some uncharacteristically “monotonous” work, one trainee in London said: “I hated real estate,” but apparently “it’s not the same for everyone. Some say there are brilliant seats in real estate.” Another trainee described real estate as “a good introductory seat.” The growing projects group, meanwhile, has picked up a mandate on the largest waste deal in Western Europe – the Manchester Waste PPP, which will build a facility that takes rubbish and turns it into power. Already representing dozens of banks, companies, government departments, borough councils and primary care trusts, in the past year the group has picked up several new clients, not least among them Carillion.

AG is proud to offer a service called ‘Control’. Through this litigation-funding product the firm litigates on a reduced-fee agreement and puts after-the-event insurance in place. It also has cases that are funded by a third party. Its aim is to “take the burden off the claimant’s costs, because they merely pay a chunk of the damages to the firm.” Simply put: “It’s sort of no win, low fee. The clients pay lower fees but, should we win, we recover 150% of our fees. It aligns the clients’ interests with the firm’s.” This kind of third-party litigation funding has only just started to establish itself in the UK and AG’s lawyers are giving talks around the City on how it all works. Trainees have been involved in cases funded this way and they are also used in the pre-funding assessment of potential claims, a process which required them to gauge the probability of victory. One such matter is the InnovatorOne case in which AG is acting for hundreds of claimants, from hedge fund owners to widows, on claims arising out of failed investment schemes. It is being followed intently for two reasons – because there’s £50m at stake and because the case is one of the first to involve this type of funding package.

Out and about

Trainees can opt for a client secondment (eg AstraZeneca, ITV, Diageo, Barclays or Nationwide). The Diageo one sounds particularly impressive because there’s the chance to work in Africa. We imagine a Heart of Darkness-esque journey through lush tropical jungle to “sort out the supply chain… chatting to people and finding out their needs in a non-legal, practical way.” What’s more, at Diageo “there’s loads and loads of free booze.”

It must be said that our sources were very pleased with the quality of their training and felt that the responsibility given to them was pitched just right. They felt stretched but not overwhelmed. Working at any firm that handles high-calibre work will entail some late nights but trainees here were pleased to note that “going home at 6 or 7pm isn’t frowned upon.” It struck us that the London trainees worked longer hours than the northerners. Some saw this as a badge of honour.

In 2009 the legal sector’s most striking leitmotif was that of redundancies. AG let approximately 90 people go from all levels of the firm and inevitably this upset some of our sources. In an attempt to avoid layoffs, the firm also offered sabbaticals, additional holiday in return for a pay cut, reduced hours and internal secondments. At the time of going to press, some fee earners were on a four-day week and salaries had also been frozen, including those of trainees. One interviewee told us: “The firm tried to consider the business from everyone’s point of view and thought carefully.” Rather than just divesting itself of secretaries and associates, one of the first steps was to remove 10% of the partnership before looking elsewhere for cuts.

All roads lead to London?

AG’s position in the financial sphere and its obvious enthusiasm for The Milton Gate Effect led some trainees, especially those in the capital, to claim that London is becoming the focal point for the firm. Our opinion is that it is undeniably trying to increase its presence in the City, but not at the expense of its other two offices (TOOT, remember?). Yes, sometimes the London office will send work north to be dealt with more cheaply, but that is not to say that the northerners aren’t pulling their weight. We’d even say they are punching above it. Some of the firm’s biggest deals in recent years originated up north, including the Co-operative Group deal, work for 3i and the PFI work done for Greater Manchester Waste. These huge deals impacted on the whole network.

In the north, AG is second to none and consistently hires top-notch trainees with an impressive academic record and personality to match the firm’s ambitious streak. In London, where there are bigger fish than AG, trainees tend to be the sort who “looked at the top 20 and considered the magic circle, but had reservations about working at firms that suck their employees dry in terms of work-life balance.” In contrast to the north, where the intake appeared to be quite similar and united, trainees in London appear divided into two categories, dubbed by one source as “alphas” and “non-alphas.” We guess that this is good news for potential applicants, because they can be sure to find other people with similar personalities. The alphas like testosterone-fuelled practices such as banking and corporate, are very ambitious, and when they work long hours they complain (read: brag) about it in well-circulated e-mails. They “don’t see doing a seat up north as a popular step. You work shorter hours in Manchester and generally go home earlier.” The non-alphas have a more laidback approach and tend to prefer contentious work and fewer hours (but still put in the late nights when necessary). They like the folk up north, envying the social scene and more relaxed attitudes. It seems that the persona of AG as a whole “is changing a bit as associates are [increasingly] drawn from the magic circle.”

Book a rest after this holiday

It’s possible that these trainees have the highest cholesterol levels in the country. Just before starting their training contracts they go to Romania for three weeks to work alongside locals on a Habitat For Humanity house-building project. All the food served out there is “dripping in oil – I didn’t know what some things were because it was all so fried.” Trainees absolutely love this team-bonding exercise, as it brings them together as friends as well as colleagues. Perhaps they should be grateful for all that fat lining their stomachs because for some “it’s a week long piss-up. During the days you work hard, then at night obviously you want to go out and have fun.” To clarify, hard work in this instance can mean “digging trenches in 30-degree heat.” Back in the UK, the firm has a good pro bono programme in which trainees can get involved “as little or as much as they want.”

Karaoke is a great leveller. Be you public sector or private sector focused, corporate deal junkie or litigator, magic circle, silver circle or crop circle, it doesn’t matter. At some point during your training contract at a law firm it’s inevitable that you’ll get invited to a karaoke night. At AG the favourite genre seems to be power ballad, and preference was expressed for the oeuvres of Jon Bon Jovi and Celine Dion. As well as karaoke nights, AG trainees have played cricket matches against clients, been to bowling alleys and dog tracks and holidayed together in Venice and Marbella. By all accounts if you’re an AG type you’ll have a lot of fun.

Understandably, 2009 was not the most fun-filled year for those approaching qualification, and it turned out to be a better year than many of our sources had imagined. The scores on the doors were as follows: 36 out of 44 qualifiers were retained, with 12 out of 13 staying in Leeds, 11 out of 14 in Manchester and 13 out of 17 in London. The firm tells us it is mindful of the problems that affected the profession last time a recession resulted in widespread NQ layoffs.

And finally...

This well-oiled, well-managed machine is gearing up for bigger things. Choose it if you are ambitious and interested in mainstream commercial matters.