Dealmaker: Chris Fanner

Herbert Smith finance partner Chris Fanner reflects on recession, stupid acronyms and letting the best man down

What's the closest you've come to quitting law? An offer from BZW to move into corporate finance.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career? My three children. They have forced me to understand the real meaning of work/life balance. Not easy in this mad job.

What's your proudest professional moment? I was leading a team of 20 lawyers working on the LBO of a healthcare business. It was a Tuesday after banking hours when, after five days' work, I handed over a handwritten IOU representing the drawdown of funds from my bank client to the vendor to complete the successful acquisition in a very keenly contested auction process. The team had worked shifts for 120 hours solid. They had pulled together on a technically very complex deal with very little sleep with a 20% chance of success. It was about execution: we either completed then or lost the deal for the client and its customer.

....and worst day on the job? The previous Thursday evening when I discovered what lay in store over the next few days. I was to be best man at a wedding on the Saturday!

Aside from your clients, which business figure do you most admire and why? Sir Digby Jones (now Lord Jones of Birmingham). He was a former lawyer who successfully moved into industry and became head of the CBI (until 2006) and as such was a forceful advocate for the UK business community acting with integrity, persistence and good humour.

What's the best book you have read on business? Barbarians at the Gate. It is evidence of our ability to keep making the same mistakes in terms of overpaying and over-leverage (plus our collective ability to come up with an entire glossary of bloody stupid names and acronyms).

Has the recession changed the face of the legal profession? The recession has really only been the catalyst. The plentiful work of the previous three to four years had allowed some firms to avoid making difficult decisions which they probably knew they would have to make at some stage.

How much does the legal profession need to change over the next 20 years? Quite a lot. We need to find better career structures for lawyers at all stages of their careers to make better use of their talents and to find a better fit for their expectations and abilities (including work/life balance). Not everyone can or even wants to become a partner. We need to understand that, as a profession, we can only charge a premium fee for truly premium work. There must be a closer link between the value we offer to our clients (as they see it), the quality of our service and the price we seek to charge for it.

What most annoys you about bankers? Their tendency to set unrealistic deadlines and make unnecessary demands.

What's your motto? What we do is rarely rocket science - but when it is, it's fun!
What's the worst corporate event you've ever attended? The team building day held at an outward bound course where we were given a few sheets of black plastic and told to make a tent and sleep in it overnight. It snowed that evening.

What is the daftest bit of corporate jargon you've heard (and did you smirk)? "No-brainer". Someone said this term to my supervising partner in a meeting. He thought he was publicly being called stupid and, yes, I did smirk - a lot.

What will be most significant market trend in terms of your practice area over the next 12 months? Banks slowly increasing their willingness to make larger sums available on more realistic pricing than has been the case for the last 15 months or so (I'm an optimist).

What's your favourite fictional representation of a lawyer and why? Rumpole of the Bailey. He was a marvellous representation of a portly, rumbustious, portly and eccentric English barrister with a keen sense of justice. Very human and very entertaining.

Do you consider yourself a risk-taker? Come on! I'm a lawyer I'm doing this job so I do not have to take any risks. More seriously, yes, I guess so. I like getting involved in deals where there are unusual elements especially where you are breaking new ground and advising on new structures. You must stick your neck out where there is no precedent. It does not happen often enough.

Do you see yourself as managing partner material? It's a difficult job as there are so many different and often conflicting interests so driving change is never going to be easy. For now I'm happy with being a front-line client-facing fee-earning partner.

What's your favourite cheese? It depends on the wine. I would choose the classic port and stilton combination.

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