Graham Coy

Graham Coy must know more about matrimonial disputes than anyone else I know. I say this with confidence because he leads a family law team at Mundays that is made up of not only litigators and mediators, but collaborative law experts (there aren't many of those) and now an arbitrator (even rarer). Regular readers of this blog will know that I have an ongoing interest in new ideas on dispute resolution. Speaking to Graham this week I was interested to know if his experience across these different forums gives him any fresh insights into the anatomy of disputes and how to unlock them. 

"Each of the four dispute resolution areas we work in requires a completely different mindset, which is both the challenge and the excitement of working across such a range. With classic litigation, you start off trying to reach agreement between the parties, often by means of correspondence between the lawyers, which may or may not be easy or productive, then if this fails you go to court. In contrast, collaborative law starts with an agreement that no-one will take the matter to court and a commitment by everyone to sit through as many meetings as required to reach a consensus. For lawyers, this can be a challengingly different dynamic. Mediation is different again: as a mediator you sit down with two clients, often represented by two different law firms, your role being that of an honest - and neutral - broker helping them to reach agreement. In arbitration the lawyer's role is different again, much more like a judge, your decisions having similar authority in terms of weight enforceability."

I am aware how Graham and his team help clients weigh up the options and decide which of the four approaches is most suitable to their needs. But what I wanted to understand more was whether and how working through disputes in such a variety of ways had changed his outlook.

"I do remember the sea-change in my thinking when I first did mediation training in 1997. It teaches you to look beyond what is being presented to you on the surface, to see the real drivers behind people's words and the positions they take. You develop a much better understanding of where people are coming from: I have long maintained that all lawyers have a responsibility to avoid being led down blind alleys, to always keep the bigger picture in mind and be prepared to remind their clients and others involved in a case of this. Divorce lawyers have a particularly heightened responsibility in this regard because the clients they are advising are often in their most vulnerable states ever. Understanding where all the parties are coming from is a big part of this, using that knowledge to direct them all to a more positive outcome. Mediation training makes you think about yourself, your own behaviours and also prejudices, in a totally new light. I honestly believe this has improved my ability to understand clients and be a better adviser to them as a result.

"Without wishing to sound too evangelical about it, I think mediation training should be compulsory training for every lawyer at the start of their career, not just an option later."

Now there's an idea...
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Are we ready for Rebekah Brooks phone-hacking trial? We have quite a few friends-in-law involved in the case, but will we be reading anything about their involvement in our daily papers? Reporting of the trial is unusually tightly restricted. Apparently even the verdict is not going to be published immediately, as there is such a long line of journalists queuing up to be tried subsequently, and this decision of course musn't prejudice their trials. 

By curious coincidence, this is the same week the Government has set its deadline for the Queen's approval of its Royal Charter on press regulation. This inadvertent clash must have skipped the notice of the powers-that-be. I am sure they are gutted it falls in the same week. We may be witnessing more atrocious stories of a media out of control and this may dampen the public's reaction to the proposed regulation. When otherwise they might be outraged that their democratic right to a free press is being curtailed, this is the one week in which they may be uncharacteristically accepting of the idea.

Bet Government kicked themselves when they realised their mistake. 
***
I know I know. It's not even Halloween and already we are talking about Christmas. The festive lights are in place in Oxford Street. I had an eerie evening's walk earlier this month, the road closed off, just a few pedestrians in the dark watching cranes lifting giant white raffia balls into position, necklaced above the street. The "snowstorm"  theme is a marked contrast to last year's Marmite-sponsored theme (either you loved it or hated it), the result of a competition run by the New West End company. We'll have to wait until 12 November for the star-studded "switching on" spectacle. See you there? 

In the meantime we are busy dreaming up some novel Christmas-themed editorial ideas. It's not our fault - it's the media that plans so far ahead! 

Beverly Landais

"Highly poachable" is how The Lawyer described  Beverly Landais this week. Her planned exit from Devereux Chambers, (in fact from the profession altogether as she is moving to the financial sector) became public, some saw this as evidence of the Bar's inherent problem holding on to these talented, hard-hitting senior managers brought in to transform their practices. Others see the positives: that honing their skills and succeeding in such a "special" environment makes these strategists even more desirable as senior managers and leaders. A challenge for the Bar of course, but one you might characterise as a "nice problem to have".  After all, if you can hold your own in an organisation filled with highly practised advocates paid to argue for a living, and get them to follow your lead, you are clearly working some magic.  As The Lawyer's Kate Beioley  put it, "Chief Executives who successfully grapple with the challenges are eminently poachable by organisations beyond the Bar".


Beverly was kind enough to share her thoughts with me on the matter, and how she feels about this big career change. She leaves Devereux at the end of next month after a hugely successful four-year period during which she has overseen the modernisation, rebranding and repositioning of the set.  

"I have to admit I am leaving the set with sadness because they are a fantastic set and I have enjoyed my time here.  I have many friends amongst the barristers and the staff.  I am proud of Devereux and it has taken a very special opportunity to tempt me away. I have worked in Legal Services for 15 years and I know that I will miss it.  Yet I have previously worked in Financial Services and Insurance and enjoyed that too. I have always taken the view that I am able to add more value because of the breadth and depth of my sector knowledge across a range of Professional Services."

Head of Chambers Ingrid Simler QC  credits Beverly with modernising the set and raising the profile of Chambers as one of the UK's top commercial and civil sets. She even goes so far as to say it is thanks to Beverly that Devereux is now synonymous with excellence at every level.  How does Beverly respond to such high praise? Answer: she is quick to emphasise it's all about other people:

 "A key for me at Devereux has always been to think beyond what I personally can do. That's the job of a senior manager after all isn't it, to focus on enabling others? Most people want to do a great job and in my experience there are four vital ingredients to achieve this:  clear and consistent communication; appropriate levels of resource;  good processes that focus on outcomes; and training to provide the skills to do the job as well as stretch and challenge to even better performance.  I try to focus energy on getting the optimum blend of these ingredients."

Beverly also says it is about making sure the change you implement is properly embedded in the organisation, that it is firmly planted in the collective memory. "Part of this is recruiting talented people  around you and encouraging them to take responsibility and think for themselves. I have been extremely fortunate to recruit in some brilliant people - like Vince Plant, Head of Clerking Services, who is one of the most client focused and business development savvy person I have met at the Bar."

Beverly has just been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Chartered Management Institute (announced at the CMI Annual Meeting last week). The vision of the CMI is to support "Better led and better managed organisations", something we know Beverly pioneers in the professions. It is the only chartered professional body dedicated to raising standards of management and leadership across all sectors by setting professional management standards – built into their qualifications, membership criteria and learning resources. I was curious to know more about this new role: 

 "I completed the Chartered Manager accreditation in February and found the experience incredibly valuable. I wanted to give something back and, as I believe better managed organisations lead to more satisfied employees, owners and clients, it seemed logical to put myself forward for consideration by the Nomination Committee.  There were 5 candidates and 2 places, the term is for 3 years and I am delighted to have been selected."


The past few years have seen Devereux gain numerous prestigious awards that prior to her arrival simply didn't happen. Indeed on the day of our exchange the set had just been short-listed as "Chambers of the Year" for Legal Week's British Legal Awards. There is no doubt about it: Beverly leaves a strong legacy and an uncompromising belief that success lies in providing superb levels of client service coupled with the highest quality advocacy and advice.

Beverly Landais is going to be a hard act to follow.

***

Did someone make up this "living dead man" court story especially for Halloween? Have you seen this?? An unbelievable story of an Ohio court refusing to reverse a declaration that Donald Miller was legally dead, even when he turned up in court clearly alive and well. He absconded in 1986 after losing his job, and wasn't seen for 30 years by his wife and family who sought a declaration he was legally deceased so his "widow" could claim Social Security death benefits. Ohio state law has no mechanism for reversing the declaration once three years has passed so the man walked out of court still dead as far as the law is concerned. You couldn't make it up.
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How could I have got Lowry so wrong! A trip to the The Lowry Galleries at Salford Quays, when visiting friends at the Manchester office of Weightmans, put me right.


All my life I had thought all Lowry ever did was paint matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs against industrial backdrops. How wrong I was! All manner of genres is covered among the 400 items on show, from seascapes, landscapes to portraits, many rendered in minute, life-like detail a far cry from the crude simple figures he is most famous for.

Why is the breadth of his work not better known? Brian and Michael, you have a lot to answer for!

Amanda Illing

Amanda Illing is famous for tearing down walls in Chambers. When she joined Hardwicke as Practice Director in 2009 (from Matrix Chambers) one of the first things she did was to rip down the partitions separating the different members of the admin team, so that managers, clerks, marketers, finance bods, fees collectors, could all see one another, hear one another and work as one team. She has strong views about where corporate success comes from that have stood her in good stead: giving individuals clarity about what their role is, how they fit into the bigger picture; giving them appropriate support, training  and motivating them to perform to their very best; and a cultural emphasis on getting relationships right, both externally and internally, pulling everyone together in the same direction. Three years into her job at Hardwicke and she lands the CEO role when her predecessor leaves. Given the impact she had had at the set, this is no wonder. 

I caught up with Amanda just as she was celebrating her award win at the Modern Law Awards this month, as Non Lawyer of the Year. I wanted to know the secret of her success, especially as her award win coincided with a number of stories of high profile exits at the Bar, CEOs leaving not just their sets but the profession as a whole, so dispiriting was their experience. Only a few years ago it seemed something of a fad for chambers to appoint Chief Execs or other strategists with similarly grand titles. Yes we may be seeing some fall out, but perhaps it’s more about a separation between the wheat and the chaff, the good and the bad, the effective and the ineffective. I put this to Amanda when we met up over breakfast. 

“I would say a lot of the stories you read of Chief Execs being parachuted in to Chambers and pressing the ejector seat button only months later probably has more to do with a mismatch of expectations. I have been very lucky both at Matrix and Hardwicke to have heads of chambers and other senior members very supportive of the need for change, and this makes all the difference. In fact Hardwicke employed its first Chief Exec an unbelievable 20 years ago. So I didn’t have the burden of being a complete trailblazer.” So is she saying they were ready for her? I ask. “Heads of Chambers Nigel Jones QC and Paul Reed QC are two of the most forward-thinking, business-focussed and strategic barristers I’ve worked with.  I’m very lucky to have a great relationship with them.  But I have still managed to give them some challenges and surprises!” she grins.

I was keen to know her thoughts about the role of the traditional clerk in an age of business developers, marketers, practice directors and chief execs at the Bar. Was there space for them still? I have long been of the view that barristers clerks have something very special to add to the marketing mix, often being much closer to the coalface, knowing exactly what happens at that moment when legal services are bought and sold, than most legal marketers in the swankiest of City law firms could ever hope to be. But how do they fit in to the new landscape at the Bar?

“The clerking role (or I prefer the title practice manager to make it more accessible to the client) remains absolutely key to any chambers, but I wouldn’t call it a traditional one anymore. The role has changed almost beyond recognition and there are plenty of excellent examples of long established clerks who have made the transition highly successfully. The expectation around the role is very different today. Being out in the marketplace no longer means having the odd beer with your solicitor mates in The George in Fleet Street. It means travelling to your solicitor clients perhaps at the other end of the country (or even the world) and investing in time for professional, strategic conversations about scoping work, getting feedback about chambers’ performance, taking the time to find out what your client really needs from you and how you can improve your service to them. I believe that the job title attached to this role is far less significant than what people actually do. All sets are facing challenges and need to update their way of doing business. All are having to rethink their approach to service delivery and how to market their services to a solicitor client base that rightfully expects a lot more from the Bar. Any barrister who thinks they can stay tucked away in their ivory tower, stepping outside to advise a client when it suits them, at a timetable that suits them, needs to understand the story has changed. We are running businesses now and chambers need people who can help with this transition, in terms of how to structure the business, cost the work, present the services, and coach and manage the people in the business so they are properly equipped to operate in such a changed environment. These people could come from any background, eg clerking, practice management, business development, you often see former litigators and also former military personnel making a great impact in these roles! The key is to gain the trust of those around you, ie the head of chambers, the management board, the clerks room, all the members and the support staff, because the job is to marshal your troops and lead the organisation forward into new territory. Relationships are key to this because a leader is nothing if nobody follows them!”

I’m glad Amanda is at the helm of Hardwicke. It is great her very special skill-set has been recognised by the Modern Law Awards, but I am well aware that her colleagues at Hardwicke know already how lucky they are to have her. 
***

We had fun creating Kysen's first Flipboard magazine this week. Our latest Social Media Update (designed to keep the professions updated about business use of social media) was distributed in the usual way earlier this month (email link to a PDF on our website). Shortly afterwards, we released it on Flipboard, its faux-magazine format and high visual impact designed to make browsing online easier and more enjoyable, especially viewing material on iPhones and iPads. We're keen for feedback. Which format works best for you and the way you use our update? You can compare the PDF with the Flipboard version here.

It was only this Summer, that Flipboard launched the ability to create your own magazines to share with people who don't have the app, so this medium is very new. Just after we released ours, the FT launched a brand new MBA magazine on the platform. At Kysen, we do like to be #OnTrend you know ;)
***
Proud to be a friend of Claire Dyer whose first novel, The Moment, has been published by Quercus Books this month. it's about a couple who meet again at Paddington station after 25 years and think of the lives they've lived and what might have been. Following a launch at The Paddington Hilton, the major highstreet bookstores promoting Claire's debut are Waterstones, Tesco and Asda among others, but I noticed that the WH Smith on Paddington station concourse is pushing it particularly enthusiastically. I commute through Paddington station every day so am thoroughly enjoying The Moment, being able to see the scenes Claire describes so well not just in my mind but In Real Life.

I also love Claire's social media campaign. Fans are being invited to tweet about the book on their daily commute with the aim of reaching the attention of @railbookclub and getting an endorsement. Quercus is also running a "share your own moment" campaign primarily through Facebook, inviting people to share their own experiences of key moments that changed the path of their life from what might have been. 

For the record, Claire says her personal "moment" was when she met her husband of 25 years and her life became charmed. Aaah.

Marianna Valletta

Italian legal PR Marianna Valletta believes that fortune favours the brave. She told me this at the launch of her new agency Valletta Relazioni Pubbliche in Milan. I was curious to know about the market opportunity for specialist legal PR support in the domestic Italian market and what this might tell me about the trajectory of Italian law firms as commercially-oriented legal businesses. How developed is the demand for professional standard communications support? I am familiar with the story at the very top end of the market through our friends at leading Italian firm Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, but I was inquisitive about the rest of profession surrounding them. Marianna's launch gave me the perfect opportunity to inquire. 

"In Italy the game changer for legal communications was the Bersani Decree of 2006 giving law firms the right to advertise for the first time. Since then there has been a revolution in how the legal profession and the firms within it approach relations with their various publics, and of course the support they need from communications professionals in doing this."

This took me back to my own early beginnings with legal marketing in the UK, my big opportunity being a junior support role to the first ever legal marketing professional to be employed by a law firm after Law Society rules relaxed in 1987 allowing law firms to advertise and market themselves for the first time. Once I realised I was in at the ground level of a brand new strand of marketing and PR, I chose to consolidate my opportunity by studying law part-time evening (five years to complete my LLB... ouch!) Similarly, Marianna chose to position herself as a leader in the legal PR field in her country, following her graduate degree in cultural sciences with a Masters in Communication, dedicating her final year dissertation to the study of legal marketing and PR. She then worked at leading Italian business-to-business marketing agency Marketude for a numer of years before setting up on her own this month.

"I really do believe I can add something new and fresh to this field of communications. The profession is so new to it and so many aspects it doesn't understand. For example there is little appreciation of the difference between marketing and PR amongst professional firms over here, and although the more sophisticated are building some in-house marketing capability, they do not see PR as a separate discipline.

"More than anything, though, what I can bring that's different is a communications-led creative approach. Italian legal marketing so far seems to have attracted ex-lawyers, economists and researchers. Undoubtedly these disciplines are extremely valuable to a profession getting to grips with such a new and alien branch of knowledge, but creativity is also important. So people like me who come at it from a communications background have a lot to add to the mix. In Italy there are in fact very few of us who are communications specialists first, legal marketeers second, so the opportunity for me is to influence the blueprint."

Marianna's creativity is visibly evident in her choice of street graffiti artist Kayone as special guest at her launch party. His energetic, colourful works decorate her new offices in via Compagnoni, a visual metaphor for all that Marianna can bring to the Italian legal profession. in conversation with her clients and friends at the party, the enthusiasm for Brand Valletta was clear: her creativity, her emphasis on warm relationship with clients and her colourful approach to doing business (and yes, I am talking about her passion for shoes - we have so much in common Marianna and I!) This woman will go far I am sure. Good luck Marianna! And remember, you promised to pay a visit to Kysen Tonic in London soon!
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Legal Cheek has treated us to a round-up of the real pioneers in the legal Blogo- and Twitter-sphere this week. Social media is now by and large an accepted part of the legal marketing mix, even though the profession's understanding of the medium leaves something to be desired. But you don't have to look back very far to see this familiarity with the new digital media world, such as it is, wasn't always the case. The Cheekster took us on a trip down memory lane, reminding us of those oh-so-innocent early days and some of the nervous first tweets from the now confident Granddaddies (and Mummies) of social media. 

Here's one priceless example:

In last week's blog Charon QC described how some of the most distinctive legal voices on social media are now just as famous IRL (In Real Life). Sweet to remember these tweeter's first faltering forays. Kysen (tweeting since 2008) saw it all first hand. How things have moved on!
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I have a new favourite haunt - and it's in Milan. It was lovely to take the opportunity to catch up with Bonelli's Alberto Saravalle whilst I was visiting the city and we arranged to meet at Savini in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II right next to the Piazza del Duomo. Not only is this bar/restaurant one of the oldest in Milan, and the galleria one of the first ever shopping centres in the world, but it is the most fantastic spot for people watching. And Milan being the fashion capital of the world, what amazingly stylish people you get to watch! Before meeting Alberto I spent a couple of hours earlier in the day working at one of the tables and I promise you not a single uncoordinated outfit or imperfectly accessorised individual passed by, let alone a scruffy tracksuit or even a single pair of trainers. This city deserves its reputation as one of the world's best dressed. 

I returned there later that evening for a drink with a colleague and also had a chance to sample the menu. @saysitstraight, this is definitely one for you to review! I for one will most certainly be returning. 

Charon QC

We were all delighted to see the inimitable Charon QC's return to Twitter this week, after a long spell offline due to sickness. He assures us all he is on the way to a full recovery, although not quite there yet.

Of course as you'd expect with any legal sage, his mind has been busy over the last six months or so of his recuperation. I was keen to know if he had any particular observations he'd like to share after this extended period of reflection, on the legal Twitter- and Blogo-sphere in particular, on legal education (given we are at the start of a new academic year) and on the legal profession and its future more generally.

"It's such an interesting time for me to be coming back into the fray. I've been watching from afar how the influence of our favourite legal bloggers has

steadily grown, even in just the last six months.  The legal blogosphere itself has contracted, but the influence of those leading the field has grown.  And it's interesting to see how their interaction with traditional media has increased as this has happened.  For example David Allen Green is now blogging regularly for the FT, as well as his regular spot for The Lawyer. Adam Wagner's Human Rights Blog is just amazing, as is Carl Gardner's HeadofLegal.com. They are both unbelievably prolific, particularly on Twitter. It's impressive to see the lightning speed with which they both continue to push out intelligent blog content in response to breaking news. Superb.

"I'm also a huge fan of John Bolch's Family Lore blog.  I can't imagine anyone practising family law who wouldn't want to be a regular visitor to his blog.  That's the position he has created for himself.  I also like Alex Aldridge's Legal Cheek. He is most definitely irreverant and likes to live close to the wire.  But his posts are very sharply observed and he is a force for good. It's a huge effort to keep creating fresh content to the extent all these guys do, but it has reaped big rewards for all of them because their stature has grown.  It's taken them to another level of influence altogether and they are now part of the media establishment." (See my Conversation with Alex last year on the increased responsibility that comes with this...)

In case any of you are worrying, Charon reassures me his maverick status is not under threat. He has no ambitions to become part of the establishment, emphatically choosing not to.  He likes the freedom to do as he pleases he tells me, (for which read make mischief).  And his association with Legal Business, where he is billed as a "sardonic law blogger", has very much been agreed on this basis.  

Being at the start of another academic year, and knowing Charon's background as the founder of BPP Law School, I was also keen to know what he thought of the news this Summer of BPP's "university status".  "It's an interesting development, presumably designed to appeal to the extremely valuable overseas market as much as anything else.  In the UK people have a reasonably astute idea how the different legal educators compare, but less so if you're applying from elsewhere in the world and so the word "university" is very reassuring."  Kysen has had a close relationship with Nottingham Law School over many years and I was bold enough to ask Charon where he thought they stood in the ever-increasingly competitive landscape for legal education - despite his allegiance to BPP as its founder.  "There's no doubt that NLS has set the standard that everyone works to, in terms of quality of scholarship and learning experience. Indeed to hey have bred a generation of legal education innovators who have in time moved on to other challenges elsewhere, taking a little bit of the NLS ethos with them wherever they go. Other talent to have been incubated there includes PeterJones, who has an OBE for his services to legal education; and law management guru Professor Stephen Mayson; and Peter Crisp, whom I remember recruiting the during my time at the helm of BPP. NLS created the original template and they are to be respected for that".

Any other stories that livened up his recuperation? Plenty has happened while he's been laid up, particularly the litigation and Legal Aid reforms. I was interested in his take on all of this. Had anything struck him in particular?

"I enjoyed following the heroic efforts of top QC and Chairman of the Criminal BarAssociation, Michael Turner, in scuppering the Government's plans for competitive tendering for criminal Legal Aid - the ridiculous idea that defence briefs even for the most serious crimes be handed out to the lowest bidder. Lawyers up and down the country cheered as our man Turner challenged Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling to a face-to-face showdown, complaining he had failed to engage the politician in proper debate on the matter, despite having invited him numerous times.  Grayling is not a lawyer and at least he had the sense to listen (finally) to someone who is, abandoning this aspect of the Legal Aid reforms.  A good example of what influential committees, and individuals, can achieve."

On the subject of influence Charon, glad you're back to wield some  :)
***

They say a picture paints a thousand words... Interesting to see how Vine is creeping in to our everyday communications. Did you notice this, tweeted by the press office of the Independent Police Complaints Commission?  A six second video to show the volume of evidence amassed for the Hillsborough trial. 

Those of you who know me well are familiar with my passion for words. But equally a continuing fascination is the balance of power between visual -v- textual -v- verbal communication. Vine opens up whole tree-lined avenues of new possibilities. Let's get smart with this medium. And do please send me other good examples of Vine being used to add a new branch of understanding to a story.

***

Imagine my delight to learn that the Raindance Film Festival will be taking place just around the corner from our Longacre office, in Leicester Square. This is Europe's largest indie film fest and it starts this week, running till 6 October.

Here's the full line-up of treats in store.

Think I should challenge the Kysen team to tweet Vines of their best celeb spots while the event is on in our neighbourhood. Feel free to join in, (#KysenRainDance)... As long as you promise to swing by for a cup of tea while you're near :)

Grant Gordon

Gareth Bale's lawyer Grant Gordon never thought he'd pass up an opportunity to show affinity with a client. But at the Fladgate team's first meeting with Tottenham Hotspur Superstar Gareth Bale to discuss what was to become the most lucrative transfer deal of all time at a cool 85M pounds, Grant thought it best to keep schtum about his life-long fanship of Spurs and his precious season ticket for the West Upper Stand at White Hart Lane. 

"I found myself in a curious position", he told me once the media furore had died down. "Normally it's the first thing you do when you take instructions from a client: you find common ground, establish a personal connection. But the fact this deal was all about Gareth leaving Spurs put an entirely different complexion on the matter. We had the best team in town to handle the transaction, (Fladgate having been involved in some of the earliest image rights cases, helping to establish the law in this area; having a long pedigree in corporate dealmaking also), and we knew this was set to be market-leading so were fielding our A team, all of us excited and totally committed to make it a success. So I didn't want to spoil this and for Gareth to have even a hint of a thought in his mind that my sentiments for Spurs meant I wasn't 110% behind the success of the deal, that I wasn't unconsciously hoping, not even in a little corner of me, that it might fail." 

I think the result he got for his client shows his professional commitment to the task, don't you? I took the opportunity this week to ask him what he found most interesting. What was it like having such a stratospheric superstar for a client?

"For me what was so fascinating was the fact that this deal was so much about the personal. Us corporate lawyers are not so used to it. It's true at Fladgate we are used to advising high profile sports, media and other businesses on these types of deals." [The firm's sports practice is long established looking after some of the most high profile businesses in the football, motor racing, cricket, golf, cycling worlds, etc.] "And yes, we regularly advise high profile directors on sales of their business, once-in-a-lifetime transactions, that change their lives forever. But this deal took that personal element to another level altogether because so much of the value focussed on Gareth's image rights. And considering the speed of his meteoric rise, he's hardly had time himself to catch up with how his identity has changed. Aside from the legal complexities in this deal, (it involved a heady mix of corporate, tax, regulatory, IP, image and media rights and employment law), there were a lot of soft issues to grapple with as well, as we helped our client think through his position and the financial worth attached, both now and into the future. It was fascinating to help him work through this."

And given Grant and his colleagues at Fladgate landed him a world record deal, seems they did a pretty good job! #i'llsay 
***
When a very good friend-in-law sent me this choice cartoon from his Dilbert desk calendar, (12 September if you're interested), a number of law firms immediately sprang to mind: conversations I've had with frustrated communications people, their attempts to drag their employers into the digital age continually thwarted by concerns about controlling what people say. There's a serious point here about the need for social media policies to enable the immediacy required in the digital communications environment at the same time as ensure appropriate levels of management control. But that's for another day. For now, let's just enjoy the joke! 
***
The prize for legal tweet of the week definitely goes to @Wigapedia (aka Hardwicke's Colm Nugent) for this absolute gem:

"Mylie Cyrus gets naked & licks a hammer and its apparently "art". My client does it, and he gets thrown out of Homebase." 

As I reached for the phone to call him and ask more detail about his latest, clearly most unusual case, a colleague gently took me by the arm and stopped me, suggesting (again), that I just enjoy the joke. At the time of writing his tweet had 74 retweets and 17 favourites. Nice going Colm!
Thanks for ending our week with a smile!

David Hunt

I never knew about RadcliffeLeBrasseur's David Hunt's secret film career. Like me he is a "vintage" legal marketeer and I have known him since the late 1980s we used to man neighbouring stands for our respective law firms at the Pub Club & Leisure Show in Birmingham's NEC. I remember now the Penningtons' balloons and the young "welcome" ladies in their logo'd t-shirts. In those days legal marketing didn't get much more exciting. But in all the (ahem) 25 plus years I've known him - he's since had roles at Berrymans Lace Mawer, Vizards, Price Bailey and now RadcliffesLeBrasseur - I had not a hint of his other life on the silver screen. 

He is signed up to the Casting Collective, an agency that casts extras and every once in a while he'll be called to appear in a film. What a dark horse! A fitting moniker given his role in The Dark Knight - because we're not talking about obscure indie films here. Big blockbusters are much more his thing: The Golden Compass, Johnny English, you get the picture. A prize for the first person to pick out David's face from this Dark Knight clip and send me a still.

We met to reminisce over 20 years of legal PR, in the same week that Legal Business published its retrospective. Like me, his strongest suit in the legal marketing deck is communications and our philosophies have much in common: "I have a particular beef about assumptions that sales and marketing is about talking. The gift of the gab etc. In my view it's far more about listening and this is where so many professional organisations go wrong," he tells me. "It's as critical on the communications side: how can you know what messages to place if you haven't listened closely to your target audience? Your communications need to be finely tuned to their concerns. To what's keeping them awake at night. Delivering messages that get to the heart of what people are really bothered about is the best way to get their attention after all.

"And listening is just as important internally. It's key to successful collaboration with colleagues and team working" (this echoes Neil Mullarkey's thoughts in The Conversation last week). "It's particularly important in a partnership environment; you need to understand where different views are coming from so you can bring them all together into one strategy." No wonder David has such good track record with the firms he's worked for, and retains friendships with so many partners and staff from his previous roles. 

I have to confess though, once I stumbled across his "extra"-curricular hobby, all business chat was dropped! I wanted to hear all his stories: glimpsing Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig In Real Life (still distanced by their entourages of course); about a sweltering afternoon's filming in Lincoln's Inn, buttoned up in velvet and fur Victorian garb for The Wolf Man. 

What was the greatest fun he had? "That's a hard choice. It would have to be either at Brocket Hall playing a golfer for Rowan Atkinson's Johnny English, where my job was to sit outside drinking gin & tonic all day long. The scene took quite a few takes to perfect, I'm sad to say" he winks. "Or it would be one of my first, a role in Michael Winner's Parting Shots where I worked alongside a whole host of 60s and 70s stars: Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Gareth Hunt, Chris Rea. All I did was play a doctor opening a door for a (very young and forever pert) Felicity Kendal. Unforgettable!"

Well, as I often say, people can be so surprising. For a man who believes communication is key, David Hunt is very good at keeping a secret!
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I have been thinking about money this week. A trip up to Liverpool to see our friends at Weightmans provided the perfect opportunity to pop into the city's Tate at Albert Dock and catch photographer Moyra Davey's "Copperhead", part of her Hangmen of England exhibition. Copperhead Grid is inspired by the financial crisis and focusses on the devaluation of the British pound by profiling hundreds of old US pennies, in varying states of decay. She invites us to think about the psychology of money and "the varieties of decay brought about by the passage of time". Deep stuff. Definitely thought-provoking. 

And the connection to Hangmen of England? Well er... none really, apart from it's the title of just one book that appears in one photograph in another part of the exhibition. When quizzed the curator told us the exhibition arrived untitled and it was the Tate that suggested the headline. Well it got us through the door. That's smart communications for you!
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And a similar money theme features heavily in Woody Allen's new film Blue Jasmine, which he has been plugging this week. The story explores meltdown of a New York socialite in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Reports so far are that it's Allen on absolutely top form. And of course Cate Blanchett (in the lead) rarely disappoints.  I've marked the UK release date in my diary. 20 September, can't wait!