The Freshfields corporate veteran talks to Alex Aldridge about life in the buccaneering eighties, rugby in the office and facing his fourth recession
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer veteran dealmaker Barry O’Brien does a good line in 1980s war stories. All-nighters rounded off by pints of Guinness at Smithfield market pubs feature heavily. As do hostile takeover bids, many of them initiated by highly personal full-page newspaper ads. And then there were the rights issue prospectuses featuring the gratuitous pictures of bikini-clad women. “Looking back, I suppose it felt a bit like the Wild West – the rules on advertising and photographs were, of course, subsequently tightened,” he reflects.
