American Lawyer chief European correspondent Chris Johnson meets regularly with senior figures in the legal world at their favorite breakfast joints to chew over the industry’s tastiest talking points. Johnson’s guest this week is Baker & McKenzie’s new London managing partner, Paul Rawlinson. On the menu: the firm getting tough in London, what clients really want, and impromptu karaoke.
Paul Rawlinson, the new managing partner of Baker & McKenzie’s London office, is running late. We were scheduled to meet for breakfast at 8:30 a.m., but the minute hand is now closer to 9 a.m. and he’s yet to arrive. I have a coffee and a copy of the Financial Times, so I’m passing the time comfortably enough, but I’m absolutely starving. A tiny, complimentary smoothie offered by the waiter—the first amuse-bouche I’ve ever seen at breakfast—doesn’t help much.
