CC declines to rearrange furniture

They must be putting something in the tea over at Canary Wharf.

Not long ago, Clifford Chance (CC) was a den of intrigue. Blood was flowing through the firm’s corridors as the partnership rebelled against what they saw as an over-centralised management. In New York the assistants were in open revolt (see story), the partner exit door was spinning away merrily and the West Coast operations were a constant thorn in the firm’s side. And the trouble was not confined to CC’s overseas operations. In London, the firm came within a whisker of losing the cream of its private equity practice to Weil Gotshal & Manges (see story).

That was little more than two years ago. It would prove to be the turning point for the firm. The realisation of just how bad things had got evidently knocked the stuffing out of the rebellion. Earlier this year chief operations officer David Childs swept regally into the role of managing partner without a whimper of protest from anyone, let alone a contested election. Now CC’s urbane senior partner, Stuart Popham, has performed a similar feat by comfortably securing a second term as senior partner. This means that he will be part of the furniture until 2010. Indeed, there are some people who believe that Popham comes close to resembling a piece of the furniture, given the low profile he enjoys within the legal market.

His supporters argue this perception is unfair. It is certainly true that, as a breed, senior partners have been far less conspicuous than managing partners in recent years. This reflects the priorities of the leading firms, which have spent the last five years bedding down all that expansion they did in the late 1990s. Having joined the firm 30 years ago, Popham also provides a degree of continuity. He was around at the time of the merger between Coward Chance and Clifford Turner in 1987, he experienced the good times that followed and he was in the thick of it when the firm overreached itself in the wake of its New York merger.

A glance at Popham’s CV also shows that he possesses what is sometimes described as a hinterland. He is involved in more good causes and sits on more think-tanks than most partners have had hot ready-meals. This not only plugs the firm into the City and political establishment but it also helps to give the firm a human face. Finally, Popham has a hands-off approach to management.

And there is nothing that a managing partner likes less than a meddlesome senior partner.

john.malpas@legalweek.com