Demob happy

The trick for any good leader is to get out when the going’s good. Current market conditions and the wave of favourable press the UK’s magic circle is receiving suggest that Messrs Tony Angel and Guy Beringer, who will both shortly retire from their firms,  may be hanging up their boots at precisely the right time.

Linklaters’ managing partner and Allen & Overy’s senior partner were looking suitably relaxed yesterday evening, when they shared a platform with UBS group general counsel Peter Kurer during an evening hosted by Legal Week at the May Fair Theatre in the West End that was chaired by Richard Susskind.

 I was struck by a couple of remarks Tony Angel made about the US, which is currently the focus of much of the firm’s activity. First he suggested that the magic circle firms retained an advantage over many leading US firms because their lockstep model allowed them to think further ahead. Second, he implied that the key change that had taken place over recent years was that the top UK firms had learned how to ramp up productivity. Does that mean that the UK’s global giants have the best of both worlds - a strong, forward looking culture and the kind of productivity that used to be the preserve of the leaner and meaner US firms?

 As for Guy Beringer, one member of the audience quipped afterwards that he had demonstrated all the qualities of your typical senior partner. “I couldn’t disagree with a word he said.”

 But Beringer is a thoughtful and engaging speaker, and he did have plenty to say about the profession’s obsession with achieving ever higher profits per equity partner, a subject he initially aired in an article on Allen & Overy’s website.

 As for Kurer, he performed the role of gatecrasher to a tee as he speculated aloud why law firms got away with continually hiking their fees in an over-lawyered market. “Dysfunctional,” was the word he used to describe this state of affairs.

 Watch out for further coverage of ‘An evening with…” in Legal Week…