Linklaters' new head tells Friederike Heine about meeting changing client demands and empowering the partnership

Linklaters' new senior partner Robert Elliott has spent much of his first weeks in office courting general counsel.

Since formally succeeding David Cheyne in the role at the start of this month, Elliott has paid a visit to most of the firm's top 50 clients, which include the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and BP. The number of meetings represents something of a shift for Linklaters, demonstrating its recognition of the growing power of in-house counsel and the way the firm needs to change its service accordingly.

"Our relationships with legal teams are of increasing importance to the firm," he explains. "We like our partners to have good links with boards and chief executives but we also understand the importance of the long-term relationship with general counsel – they have told us that they don't like us to go around them."

Having traditionally built its reputation as a corporate deal adviser, priding itself on the fact partners were dealing with clients at board level rather than with the legal team, the firm has changed over the last few years.

"A couple of years ago we got clear messages from clients that it was not just about cherry-picking the deals or the best work, and that they wanted us to handle the broader relationship," says Elliott.

With meeting the needs of GCs firmly at the top of his list of priorities, Elliott is now setting about amending how the firm services this increasingly demanding client base. An approach that will lead to significant changes within the firm, Elliott acknowledges that outsourcing, the way the firm staffs deals and billing must 
all be considered.

It is this demand from clients that has driven the firm to expand its use of paralegals and pilot moving volume legal work outside London to its Colchester business support base. The move sees the firm tying up with outsourcer Integreon – which will provide some of the paralegals.

"General counsel want us to understand the internal pressures they are facing," says Elliott. "They want to know exactly how each transaction is being staffed at our end." It is an approach that looks likely to set Elliott apart from his predecessor Cheyne. 

Cheyne is considered by many as a classic Linklaters man both in approach and in background, with his Cambridge degree and public M&A practice. In contrast, the more informal Elliott, who saw off competition from litigation partner John Turnbull and European managing partner Jean-Pierre Blumberg to take the senior partner crown, completed his law degree at Queen Mary's University in London. He joined legacy Wilde Sapte (now SNR Denton), before moving to Linklaters in 1990.

As Linklaters' first-ever senior partner from a banking background, and the first to have joined the firm laterally, Elliott acknowledges that there has been an unspoken – but undeniable – cultural shift underway at the firm.

The firm's two major pillars – its corporate and finance practices – have operated largely independently of one another in the past. The former, comprising mainly homegrown partners synonymous with the firm's traditional strengths, has historically been the stronger of the two. The banking practice, meanwhile, which Elliott managed for four years before taking over as senior partner – has been built through a string of high-profile lateral hires. It is a practice which has been establishing an increasingly commanding position within both the banking community and the firm over the last decade.

Elliott himself controls a client list that includes RBS and Citibank and, in the past, he has helped manage the firm's relationship with banks including NatWest and ABN Amro. 

And while he insists his role will see him serve as the voice of the whole partnership, his banking roots are always evident. For example, Elliott states that keeping up with regulatory reform in the banking sector will form part of the firm's wider growth strategy.

For the time being, in addition to his work with clients, Elliott is also focusing on a review of the firm's partner remuneration structure, which remains a pure lockstep despite increasing numbers of rival firms moving to introduce merit-based pay elements.

Though a proponent of change in many ways, in others Elliott remains a traditionalist and is keen to avoid moving towards a more corporate structure. "There's been some comment that firms such as ourselves have become more corporate, more centrally directed, and there's some truth in that," he admits.

"However, I would like the partners to feel more like owners of the business rather than directed employees."

Setting his sights further afield, Elliott also plans to help oversee the firm's eastward shift in international strategy, which is expected to see the firm target investment in Indonesia and South Korea as it bids to significantly ramp up Asian revenues, as well as growing in the US.

He concludes: "I hope it will be a successful voyage, if you'll forgive the sailing metaphor."

Career timeline

1973 Graduates from University of London

1973 Joins Wilde Sapte as a trainee

1981 Makes partner at Wilde Sapte

1981 Appointed head of Wilde Sapte's New York office

1986 Appointed head of banking at Wilde Sapte

1990 Joins Linklaters as a senior solicitor

1991 Makes partner at Linklaters

1996 Appointed global head of restructuring & insolvency

2001 Takes up term on Linklaters' international board

2006 Appointed global head of banking

2011 Takes up senior partner role

For more analysis, see A looser grip? – a new style beckons at Linklaters.

Related: