The Most Prized Lateral of 2015 Wasn't a Partner
It was instead a four-person project management team. When the U.K.'s Herbert Smith Freehills hired those professional staffers amid lots of fanfare, it was a lesson to all firms about lateral hiring. Are you listening?
February 01, 2016 at 06:03 AM
8 minute read
In the United Kingdom, one of the most heralded lateral moves of 2015 occurred when a four-person team from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), a U.K. Silver Circle firm, departed for Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), a U.K.-Australian powerhouse firm that is currently No. 16 on the Global 100. HSF issued a press release, and the story was covered by Legal Business, Legal IT Insider, BigLaw, Legal Week, and The Lawyer.
That level of fanfare surrounding a lateral move is usually reserved for an M&A or private equity partner with a large and prestigious client following. Yet this four-person team had no clients of their own, and thus had no portable book of business at all. They were all professional staff.
This vaunted four-person team was led by Cathy Mattis, BLP's Head of Process Improvement, who began her career over 15 years ago as a solicitor in the corporate finance area but soon departed the partnership path to join BLP's fledgling knowledge management group. Mattis eventually became a Project Manager, and later rose to Head of Process Improvement.
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