An Interview With David Childs, Managing Partner of Clifford Chance
Interesting insights today into the strategy of the managing partner of a global law firm, in the British newspaper The Independent, with an interview with David Childs of Clifford Chance. The highlights:
- As the firm's chief operating officer, before being elected managing partner earlier this year, he shaved $75 million (GBP40 million) off the firm's cost base from 2003, requiring some "tough decisions."
- He notes increasing pressure from clients to reduce costs by moving mundane tasks to lower cost locations
- Top London firms have been more successful than US firms at growing internationals, although this has been at the cost of diluting profits compared to "New York's finest."
- Says Childs : "The main issue for us is that there is a pack of leading international law firms. And while we are different because we have real depth of resource in the US, Europe and Asia, we know that will go over time. So the question is how one positions oneself ahead of the pack." The answer, he says, lies in continuing to build a global network that can help clients wherever they choose to do business.
- Hopeful that the situation in India (where non-Indian law firms are prohibited from practicing) will change soon
- Even given the pressures of his managing partner role, he continues to do some client work.