60-second interview: Christopher Page

What was the driving force behind the merger?

The changing legal market as well as the opportunity created by the gap between traditional corporate commercial firms and the smaller but more purist private client firms. More specifically, it is to do with the changing nature of our clients' needs. Both firms saw the opportunity of joining two businesses with a very similar make-up to deliver an integrated private wealth service to our clients.

These days many of our individual clients have substantial and mixed business and personal assets which run at a scale where there are cross-jurisdictional issues as well. They need an approach from their lawyers which is truly integrated, both in terms of traditional private client advice and corporate advice. They want to have this delivered by one firm. We call this service 'private wealth' and are redefining ourselves with this focus as we believe this is where the opportunities in the market lie.

What are the firm's immediate and long-term priorities?

Our immediate priorities are to ensure full integration of IT and practice groups, as with any merger. We also aim to have everyone in the London HQ under one roof but that will take a little time due to being based in multi-tenanted offices.

Longer-term our priorities are to deliver our integrated private wealth approach to more clients across more wealth centres in the world and to lead the legal market in this area. We are aiming to achieve this within three to five years and have ambitious plans for growth, not necessarily in terms of size as we see potential pitfalls here, but based upon our greater strength and depth, service delivery and approach.

Tell us about the firm's 'wealth pyramid' strategy.

This is a conceptual approach to our strategy of delivering private wealth advice and an explanation for clients and the market to this new strategy. It reflects how we integrate our private client services with business law and how we look at all aspects of a client's wealth to ensure we take a holistic approach and tailor our services accordingly.

 

 

How will the firm set itself apart from others in the market?

In private wealth, we compete with a very small band of other firms but none, we believe, which have the same potential for growth now that we are a merged business. We also believe there is a real gap in the market for a firm like ours and that we are well ahead of the game in the delivery of this internationally. We see this as the greatest opportunity that has been unlocked by the merger.

What key trends are you currently following in private wealth management?

The trend more widely in wealth management is for mergers and acquisitions and this is reflected in ourselves. This is largely due to the fact that much of the transactional legal work pre-2008 was driven by bank debt and so it was a purely commercial discipline, but now bank debt has to a large degree been replaced by private capital, sovereign wealth funds and very wealthy family offices. This indicates the far-reaching power shift we have seen since the financial crisis, with corporate power battered by recession and regulation and private power bolstered around the world.

Is there anything in the market which concerns you?

We only see opportunity at the moment. I think as a word of warning to those firms who see the resurgence in private client work as an attractive opportunity to acquire a practice of this kind, or bolt on partners, this integrated approach is not easily achieved. Despite this, the change in the market could lead to some interesting pairings.

What is the one piece of advice you'd give to a firm considering a merger?

Try to find a like-minded firm in terms of culture. The cultural integration of law firms is usually the weakest area of any merger and the one which can lead to the greatest problems longer-term. Starting from a similar cultural base is a tremendous advantage.

Christopher Page is a senior partner at Charles Russell Speechlys