Cornell feared padding row could have sunk CC

Clifford Chance's (CC's) former managing partner Peter Cornell has revealed that he feared for the future of the global giant during the 'Padding-gate' associate memo scandal that engulfed its New York arm in October 2002.

In an interview with Legal Week, Cornell, who recently announced his decision to leave the magic circle firm, speaks candidly of just how concerned he was about the controversy that blew up over claims by associates that high billing targets encouraged padding.

"Had the story continued for another 48 hours, I felt it could have been the end of the firm," he says.

"You have to remember the atmosphere at the time; what had happened to Andersen. The partnership was certainly nervous; yet when you look back, nobody had done anything wrong."

In the interview on legalweek.com/ editorsblog, Cornell speaks of his drive to "rebuild trust between partners and management within the firm" after he was elected managing partner in 2002.

He identifies CC's governance reforms and the staunching of partner defections from New York as among his achievements.

He singles out as a low point the partnership's rejection in 2003 of a new remuneration package that would have allowed partners in New York to be paid above lockstep rates, and adds that the approval of a similar package of measures last year provided a fitting time for him to fulfil his ambition of quitting the managing partner role "on my own terms".

(See Editor's Blog)