A lot has changed since a quartet of litigators came together to form Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan 32 years ago. From a handful of lawyers in Los Angeles, the firm now boasts 22 offices on four continents, with 800 lawyers generating more than $1bn in revenues.

One thing that hasn’t changed much? The role of John Quinn, the firm’s co-founder, managing partner, and in his words, “kind of a cheerleader.”