Barclays’ legal team is coming to the end of one of the most eventful years in the bank’s 300-year history. From its prolonged attempt to acquire Dutch bank ABN Amro to sustained stock market speculation regarding the bank’s post-credit crunch liabilities, there has been barely a week in 2007 when Barclays has not hit the headlines.
In one memorable occasion, The Times‘ business pages berated trading announcements by Barclays bosses John Varley and Bob Diamond as ‘Barclese’, noting disapprovingly that the bank’s commentary of its sub-prime exposure appeared to have been “written by lawyers” (so far the bank appears to have confounded claims that its write-downs will outstrip competitors like UBS, Merrill Lynch and Citi; the bank is currently predicting profits will climb to a healthy �7.1 billion).
