It helps, of course, that the interviewer knows a little more about the legal market nowadays, but also that Cooke is much more instantly likeable than Pescod. I ask him how much of his time he will be devoting to management - and he looks absolutely horrified. At Slaughter and May we don't like to have practising lawyers spending a lot of time on management. We believe that partners should be out there doing client work. We don't need management because we're a partnership - each individual is driven enough to go out and get work.
People manage themselves.
We're not telling people what to do because partners know what they're here to do. Cooke himself has not been dragging his feet when it comes to getting work. He says that the joint venture purchase with Pernod Ricard, of Seagram's spirits business, was one of the hardest deals that he has ever worked on. Last year he worked on the failed merger attempt with KLM, but as a small consolation prize he has just completed on BA's acquisition of British Regional Airlines. Another of his clients, entertainment giant Carlton, tried to merge with United Media.