Winner: Alan Paul, Allen & Overy
“He is a great lawyer, he continues to do a lot of deals and he has had an excellent year.” So says one of the judges of Allen & Overy’s (A&O’s) foremost corporate adviser. During his 20 years as a partner, Alan Paul has secured dozens of clients for A&O, and won admirers from across the City along the way. In the 18 months leading up to the deadline for submissions he had a hand in three of the six largest UK M&A transactions: Macquarie’s £8bn takeover of Thames Water, Alliance Unichem’s merger with the Boots Group and the marathon ABN AMRO takeover. As well as being regarded as an excellent technical lawyer, Paul is also the contact man for a raft of A&O’s clients. “Alan distinguishes himself in his practical and pragmatic approach to difficult issues,” say one of them. “He understands that a client first and foremost wants a solution to enable business objectives to be achieved.”
