Hogan Lovells chair, abseiling enthusiast and all-round nice guy John Young reflects on his 33-year legal career. Georgina Stanley reports

At the end of last month John Young bowed out of Hogan Lovells by somewhat unusually zipwiring across Old Billingsgate market in front of more than 900 lawyers and staff at a summer party (brought forward to coincide with his retirement) dressed as Braveheart.

After abseiling off buildings, delivering speeches from trapezes wearing lycra bodysuits – not to mention playing a role in the delivery of one of only a handful of transatlantic mergers – it was a fittingly idiosyncratic close to a 33-year career with the firm.

As demonstrated by his protracted attempts to change legacy Lovells’ lockstep remuneration structure, Young lacks neither enthusiasm nor determination, and he has applied both to his retirement. “I’ve had more than 10 leaving parties,” admits Young. “It’s been a bit of a farewell tour since before Christmas and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I could certainly get used to it.”

Young is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive figures City law has produced in recent years; aside from his well-known office party pieces he was long viewed as one of the – well – nicest lawyers in senior management. However, he now complains about the familiar physical comparisons made to John Cleese, worrying (probably ironically) that the comedy actor is now looking too old.

Since joining Lovell White & King in 1979, Young has always had very clear ambitions. Having abandoned his initial aim to become a barrister, he qualified into the corporate and commercial team at the firm in 1981, quickly building a focus on the insurance sector.

By 1990 he was devoting virtually all his time to insurance work – aiming to build a reputation for both himself and the firm in the sector. “It was a good time for it,” reflects Young, “because the 90s saw a huge movement in the UK insurance industry. I worked with more than 100 different insurance groups on corporate and regulatory matters during those years.”

With roles for clients such as Prudential on mandates including the demutualisation of Scottish Amicable and NPI, his insurance career peaked with a role for Equitable Life as it went about trying – and failing – to stabilise its business following an adverse House of Lords judgment, a process he describes as “the nearest I ever came to cracking up”.

This is a telling statement, given that the timing of his accession to senior partner in May 2004 coincided with the start of the firm’s worst financial year in recent memory, in which Lovells saw profits per equity partner fall 21% to £427,000 and the subsequent cull of around 25 partners as it urgently sought to bolster its finances.

“The first couple of years were pretty grim,” he admits. “Partner performance issues are very tough. You’re dealing with people you’ve known for 20 years. It was a dreadful experience personally and I found it very difficult, but it had to be done, so it was about doing it fairly. I’m pleased to say I’m still on speaking terms with the vast majority of those we managed out.”

It was an experience that perhaps shaped his determination to overhaul the firm’s traditional lockstep model (seemingly against the will of many of the firm’s partners) in favour of a more merit-driven model. Working together with managing partner David Harris, he finally succeeded, following two drawn-out formal reviews across 2005-06 and 2006-07 in introducing powers both to freeze partners’ progress and move them down the ladder, though attempts to bring in more flexibility at the top end for star performers failed to meet partner approval.

Young remains convinced of the need to move in this direction. “Lockstep sadly doesn’t fit with the business realities of the modern world and removing it is part of my legacy. It meant we could negotiate people going down the lockstep rather than asking them to leave, so we removed the need to be so brutal. Lockstep review after lockstep review gave us more flexibility to deal with performance issues so I’m glad we did it, even if our repeated attempts did cause amusement inside the firm and in the press,” he concludes.

In addition to overseeing Lovells’ conversion to a limited liability partnership and the integration of its 2000 Boesebeck Droste merger in Germany, Young then went on to help with the firm’s biggest challenge yet – its 2010 merger with US firm Hogan & Hartson, which has transformed legacy Lovells from a UK firm with 2009-10 revenues of £542m to a global player with combined fee income of $1.6bn (£996m).

While then managing partner David Harris, now co-chief executive of the merged firm, was the main UK driver for the deal, Young played a prominent role in helping to integrate the two businesses.

He recalls the run-up to the high-stakes merger, which arguably prodded a number of rivals to pursue comparable transatlantic deals: “Most of us thought the next step would be a US merger but we didn’t think it would ever happen. It started to look more realistic in 2008 and the last two years have really been about bedding it down. As co-chair of the firm I wanted to make sure the new corporate governance system was respected and to help manage the introduction of Hogan’s more flexible remuneration system.

“This year saw the second phase of the transition and the reallocation of points for partners of both firms. It was one of the things I really wanted to see happen before I went, so I’m glad it’s done. It means there is a formal process of reallocation rather than the ad hoc system we had latterly achieved in legacy Lovells.”

The union with Hogan is a deal which, alongside the activities of Norton Rose and, to a lesser extent, Ashurst, has helped redefine a group of the leading City firms. Previously seen as ‘chasing pack’ firms, their willingness to pursue ambitious international mergers has created a new tier of global players with scale in some jurisdictions that many elite City and New York rivals have so far failed to achieve.

Says Young: “There have been a lot of us who have called ourselves international for the last decade but there have always been significant parts lacking. By creating a successful merger and bringing two bits together we’ve demonstrated that it can be done and others are now trying to follow.

“The small numbers to have succeeded show how difficult it is. It’s easy to wake up and think, ‘I want to get married’, but finding the right partner is really, really hard. For that reason while there will be more UK/US mergers I don’t think there will be a lot more.” The tie-up has had its share of fall-out – with significant departures in mainland Europe and some evidence of cultural tension – but is so far regarded to have come together well.

For now, Young’s focus is very much outside the law firm remit as he prepares for the challenge of finding his first roles outside the profession. After years building up a carbon footprint that could put an airline pilot to shame, with visits to around 20 international offices a year in the legacy Lovells days, it is clearly going to be something of a change of pace.

“I always wanted to be seen as senior partner for the whole world, not just London, and that meant a lot of travel – but seeing the growth of the offices and the integration was a genuine pleasure,” he reflects. “It’s what I’m going to miss most, but maintaining that spirit of genuine community is going to be others’ challenge now.”

Given that Young’s idea of a holiday has traditionally involved plenty of mountains and walking, it is hard to imagine him sitting still for too long, though. He agrees: “I’ll have an indolent time over the summer and then the plan is to spend part of my time in the business world, part in the charitable world and the rest with plenty of mountaineering.”

He hopes to take up some non-exec positions in the insurance industry as well as working with charities, such as FARM-Africa Enterprises, where he is a board member. And while he will be playing no future role with Lovells, having stuck to his decision to fully retire from the firm, he will certainly be watching the firm’s future as it continues its expansion across regions including Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

He concludes: “I will continue to care about Hogan Lovells and as the market continues to divide itself up into different groups. I want to see Hogan Lovells up there as a leading international firm. Even after the merger the firm has maintained a collegiate approach that is hard to keep going and easy to lose, so I’m proud of that culture and hope it continues.”

• Related: Wheels start turning on Hogan shift to merit pay for partners

Hogan Lovells chair, abseiling enthusiast and all-round nice guy John Young reflects on his 33-year legal career. Georgina Stanley reports

At the end of last month John Young bowed out of Hogan Lovells by somewhat unusually zipwiring across Old Billingsgate market in front of more than 900 lawyers and staff at a summer party (brought forward to coincide with his retirement) dressed as Braveheart.

After abseiling off buildings, delivering speeches from trapezes wearing lycra bodysuits – not to mention playing a role in the delivery of one of only a handful of transatlantic mergers – it was a fittingly idiosyncratic close to a 33-year career with the firm.

As demonstrated by his protracted attempts to change legacy Lovells’ lockstep remuneration structure, Young lacks neither enthusiasm nor determination, and he has applied both to his retirement. “I’ve had more than 10 leaving parties,” admits Young. “It’s been a bit of a farewell tour since before Christmas and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I could certainly get used to it.”

Young is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive figures City law has produced in recent years; aside from his well-known office party pieces he was long viewed as one of the – well – nicest lawyers in senior management. However, he now complains about the familiar physical comparisons made to John Cleese, worrying (probably ironically) that the comedy actor is now looking too old.

Since joining Lovell White & King in 1979, Young has always had very clear ambitions. Having abandoned his initial aim to become a barrister, he qualified into the corporate and commercial team at the firm in 1981, quickly building a focus on the insurance sector.

By 1990 he was devoting virtually all his time to insurance work – aiming to build a reputation for both himself and the firm in the sector. “It was a good time for it,” reflects Young, “because the 90s saw a huge movement in the UK insurance industry. I worked with more than 100 different insurance groups on corporate and regulatory matters during those years.”

With roles for clients such as Prudential on mandates including the demutualisation of Scottish Amicable and NPI, his insurance career peaked with a role for Equitable Life as it went about trying – and failing – to stabilise its business following an adverse House of Lords judgment, a process he describes as “the nearest I ever came to cracking up”.

This is a telling statement, given that the timing of his accession to senior partner in May 2004 coincided with the start of the firm’s worst financial year in recent memory, in which Lovells saw profits per equity partner fall 21% to £427,000 and the subsequent cull of around 25 partners as it urgently sought to bolster its finances.

“The first couple of years were pretty grim,” he admits. “Partner performance issues are very tough. You’re dealing with people you’ve known for 20 years. It was a dreadful experience personally and I found it very difficult, but it had to be done, so it was about doing it fairly. I’m pleased to say I’m still on speaking terms with the vast majority of those we managed out.”

It was an experience that perhaps shaped his determination to overhaul the firm’s traditional lockstep model (seemingly against the will of many of the firm’s partners) in favour of a more merit-driven model. Working together with managing partner David Harris, he finally succeeded, following two drawn-out formal reviews across 2005-06 and 2006-07 in introducing powers both to freeze partners’ progress and move them down the ladder, though attempts to bring in more flexibility at the top end for star performers failed to meet partner approval.

Young remains convinced of the need to move in this direction. “Lockstep sadly doesn’t fit with the business realities of the modern world and removing it is part of my legacy. It meant we could negotiate people going down the lockstep rather than asking them to leave, so we removed the need to be so brutal. Lockstep review after lockstep review gave us more flexibility to deal with performance issues so I’m glad we did it, even if our repeated attempts did cause amusement inside the firm and in the press,” he concludes.

In addition to overseeing Lovells’ conversion to a limited liability partnership and the integration of its 2000 Boesebeck Droste merger in Germany, Young then went on to help with the firm’s biggest challenge yet – its 2010 merger with US firm Hogan & Hartson, which has transformed legacy Lovells from a UK firm with 2009-10 revenues of £542m to a global player with combined fee income of $1.6bn (£996m).

While then managing partner David Harris, now co-chief executive of the merged firm, was the main UK driver for the deal, Young played a prominent role in helping to integrate the two businesses.

He recalls the run-up to the high-stakes merger, which arguably prodded a number of rivals to pursue comparable transatlantic deals: “Most of us thought the next step would be a US merger but we didn’t think it would ever happen. It started to look more realistic in 2008 and the last two years have really been about bedding it down. As co-chair of the firm I wanted to make sure the new corporate governance system was respected and to help manage the introduction of Hogan’s more flexible remuneration system.

“This year saw the second phase of the transition and the reallocation of points for partners of both firms. It was one of the things I really wanted to see happen before I went, so I’m glad it’s done. It means there is a formal process of reallocation rather than the ad hoc system we had latterly achieved in legacy Lovells.”

The union with Hogan is a deal which, alongside the activities of Norton Rose and, to a lesser extent, Ashurst, has helped redefine a group of the leading City firms. Previously seen as ‘chasing pack’ firms, their willingness to pursue ambitious international mergers has created a new tier of global players with scale in some jurisdictions that many elite City and New York rivals have so far failed to achieve.

Says Young: “There have been a lot of us who have called ourselves international for the last decade but there have always been significant parts lacking. By creating a successful merger and bringing two bits together we’ve demonstrated that it can be done and others are now trying to follow.

“The small numbers to have succeeded show how difficult it is. It’s easy to wake up and think, ‘I want to get married’, but finding the right partner is really, really hard. For that reason while there will be more UK/US mergers I don’t think there will be a lot more.” The tie-up has had its share of fall-out – with significant departures in mainland Europe and some evidence of cultural tension – but is so far regarded to have come together well.

For now, Young’s focus is very much outside the law firm remit as he prepares for the challenge of finding his first roles outside the profession. After years building up a carbon footprint that could put an airline pilot to shame, with visits to around 20 international offices a year in the legacy Lovells days, it is clearly going to be something of a change of pace.

“I always wanted to be seen as senior partner for the whole world, not just London, and that meant a lot of travel – but seeing the growth of the offices and the integration was a genuine pleasure,” he reflects. “It’s what I’m going to miss most, but maintaining that spirit of genuine community is going to be others’ challenge now.”

Given that Young’s idea of a holiday has traditionally involved plenty of mountains and walking, it is hard to imagine him sitting still for too long, though. He agrees: “I’ll have an indolent time over the summer and then the plan is to spend part of my time in the business world, part in the charitable world and the rest with plenty of mountaineering.”

He hopes to take up some non-exec positions in the insurance industry as well as working with charities, such as FARM-Africa Enterprises, where he is a board member. And while he will be playing no future role with Lovells, having stuck to his decision to fully retire from the firm, he will certainly be watching the firm’s future as it continues its expansion across regions including Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

He concludes: “I will continue to care about Hogan Lovells and as the market continues to divide itself up into different groups. I want to see Hogan Lovells up there as a leading international firm. Even after the merger the firm has maintained a collegiate approach that is hard to keep going and easy to lose, so I’m proud of that culture and hope it continues.”

• Related: Wheels start turning on Hogan shift to merit pay for partners