Name: David Griffith-Jones Firm: Sullivan & Cromwell Location: London University: Brasenose College, Oxford University Undergraduate degree: Law
and other stakeholders and the broader capital structure. This comes together in strategic M&A activity, which draws together all of these strands. While any transaction is likely to involve myriad specialists, each with their own area of deep expertise – from employment law, to the tax implications to environmental impact – it is the corporate team that often sits at the centre of the transaction. “It is our job to synthesise this information and present it to the client,” Griffith-Jones explains succinctly. “We need to have a deep understanding of the issues that matter to them – to tell the difference between a $1 million matter and a $100 million matter – and to advise the client accordingly.” As a solicitor who qualified in 2017, Griffith- Jones is realistic about the nature of his day-to-day work. “I’m the person in the data room, keeping track of issues and trying to consolidate them.” He is also involved in drafting documents, a task he describes with a refreshing lack of ego. “I might make a first draft and then send it to the partner – who sends me comments,” he laughs. “I redraft based on this, then they send me comments again. Eventually we send it to the client, who hopefully doesn’t have as many comments as the partner – but eventually we come up with a final version.” And having survived such a rigorous process, you can bet that the end product will be watertight. Stormy weather The entire legal sector faces big changes in the coming years and corporate law is no exception to this. Griffith-Jones reports that one buzz word right now is ‘barbellisation’, which describes an inverse bell curve with price at one end and quality at the other and very little left in the middle. Legal tech and AI are allowing procedural tasks to be carried out more efficiently and thus for greatly reduced costs, while at the other extreme are firms that specialise in high-end, individually tailored advice. “Clients are paying for all-round business advisors rather than
just lawyers. People who understand the industry, the issues that their clients are likely to encounter and the concerns that matter to them – and who charge accordingly.” This is definitely the bracket into which Sullivan & Cromwell slots. Talking to Griffith-Jones it becomes clear that the firm has been able to position itself in this niche by investing a great deal of care and resources in its people. “Great business lawyers tend to have not only high IQ but also EQ (emotional intelligence) who can deal well with people and apply their intellect to problems and find solutions in innovative ways. At S&C this feeds into the thinking between the broad practice areas that we have – creating divisions suits lawyers not clients.” Skills and experience So what skills do you need to become part of this rarefied world? First up you have to be able to deal with a good amount of pressure; next is the ability to handle significant amounts of information – to absorb it and synthesise it. Dedication is Griffith-Jones’s key suggestion. “People who do well at corporate law firms tend to enjoy and be deeply interested in the work that our clients do. If you don’t the drama of a hostile public takeover interesting, or aren’t interested in why and how businesses pursue their strategies, then maybe this is not the field for you.” He recommends that anyone considering becoming a business lawyer should become a regular reader of The Economist and the companies section of the Financial Times . When it comes to advice, his takeaway is to do as many vacation schemes as it is possible to fit in – he believes that it is the only way to get a true flavour of a firm. Even then, there is only so much you can learn in two weeks. “Speak to people ahead of you – if you’re a first year, try to keep in touch with third years who are off to do their LPCs. They’re going into the lion’s den ahead of you – they’ll give you the unvarnished truth.”
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