Clifford Chance’s (CC’s) recently appointed London head Michael Bates is not exaggerating when he describes his first few weeks in the job as a “baptism of fire”. Within three weeks of taking up his new post in January, he was in negotiations to purchase the legal services arm of collapsed construction giant Carillion.
Thirteen days later, on Valentine’s Day, he toasted sealing the deal to buy Carillion Advice Service (CAS) with M&A partner Melissa Fogarty and a bottle of champagne on the train back from Newcastle.
