A Fork in the Road: From Single Partner to Largest Legal Practice in the World by Roger Lane-Smith

Author:Roger Lane-Smith [Lane-Smith, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Icon Books
Published: 2014-10-01T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Alsops

The Alsops merger had had to go on hold because of the Timpson deal but now we were back at the table, probably in a much better negotiating position with the deal completed, and already we were becoming known as the law firm to use to handle a difficult and complex MBO transaction. Already I had been retained by another UDS subsidiary, Farmers Shoes, to negotiate their MBO from Hanson.

Venture capitalists, banks and merchant banks all wanted to meet to see how we could all benefit from the new gravy train. Alsops would undoubtedly catapult us forward in my grand ambition. This deal needed to be done. Alan Greenough and I started to spend a lot of time together. Alan was a first-class corporate lawyer and he could see how the Timpson ‘stardust’ could propel the merged firm forward.

However, I was not about to give up my control on how things were going to be run. Also my profit share meant that I would be taking at least twice as much as any other partner in the merged firm, but then I was generating a huge amount of fee income. The Alsop partners were generally nice, but naturally suspicious of me. They probably saw me as some sort of shooting star who might burn out quickly. It was a gamble for them.

We agreed that the firm would be called Alsop Stevens Bateson Lane-Smith. What a mouthful! To all intents and purposes I would be the managing partner and Derek Morris, a delightful man and much respected pensions and funds partner, would be the senior partner.

Finally the merger was announced in the autumn of 1984. Alsops was immediately the largest firm in the north-west with offices in Manchester and Liverpool, offices in the City of London and also one associated office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York together with my old friend Roger Boyle who had recently left his old firm of Millbank Tweed Hadley McCloy to form his own firm, Boyle, Vogeler and Haimes.

Now I was managing partner of a serious law firm with great clients, a good reputation and the first firm that had gone national in the United Kingdom, with a toe in the water in America. We were on the way and I was still just short of my 39th birthday.

I haven’t mentioned Stanley Lee (the Lee in Lee Lane-Smith) for some time. Stanley and I had always got on like a house on fire but in reality we had completely different aspirations. Stanley was happy with the relatively small office we had in Lincoln’s Inn Fields and although he was offered a place in the Alsops merger it definitely wasn’t for him. He wanted to keep his independence as well as the name Lee Lane Smith. We dropped the hyphen!

The next three to four years seemed to pass in a blur of activity. Alan Greenough and I made a great corporate team and many lawyers wanted to join us. In terms of corporate transactions we were more and more the firm to go with for the big deals.

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