The Greatest Corporate Lawyer of All Time.

Part 1.

The question.

“What is his secret? How did he achieve all of this?”

I asked incredulously to a colleague after a few weeks at my first job at the Firm.

Behind me, at elbow-coffee-splashing -knocking distance hung a M.F Hussain and across where my colleague sat - a Gujral.

There are offices you, and then there are some. You can only know the difference when you experience it.

At 23 years old, everything just feels bigger than it really is.

Photo by Nastuh Abootalebi on Unsplash

It was rare for me to have the opportunity to interact with him at work, and certainly not one-on-one.

200+ other lawyers, buckets of clients and the world’s who’s who awaited his expensive attention at all hours of day and night, conveniently serviced by his unreal overwhelming energy and enthusiasm.

When the chance came to meet finally, one day, - it was to deliver a message.

I walked nervously to his executive assistant, a genial personality a.k.a second most powerful person in the Firm.

When asked if I can enter (or do I need an appointment?), she said in a manner of fact:

“Anyone in the Firm is free to walk into the boss’ room, you don’t need anyone’s permission, go right in!

And dont ask again!”

I still had my doubts. But she reassured and waved me in.

Walking in, the first thing to hit me was the aroma. There were many distinct, earthy and pleasant threads coming together. Agarbattis, scented candles, and… the chocolatey musk of his tobacco that he chugged on incessantly through a retro-styled carved wooden pipe.

Photo by Joshua Bartell on Unsplash

I think it might have all started out to mask the smell of smoke which turned into the aromatic symphony, like all things charming about the man, even the accidental, institutionalised itself.

Many comfortable couches, an imposing desk, a mini golf strip, award cabinets, electronic portraits, gadgets, a boom sound system.

Everything warmed just right for that winter evening.

The space was designed to seduce.

There are offices that cost money to put together. This might have, but what made it special was the minute attention to detail.

A space that was a thoughtful and personal extension of his self.

Designed to welcome, and not intimidate (as many lawyers are accustomed to).

He looked up to me, his signature loud booming voice followed, cheerfully and warmly:

“Come in beta! Sit down, sit down!”

Like a loving father meeting his son who has just had a tiring long day. A natural familiarity that is challenging for mortals to summon for familiar faces, he managed effortlessly with the new boy who’s just joined, whom he had seen once or twice in the corridor.

Coming back to the question.

My colleague was perhaps uninformed, but went on confidently:

“Oh man, it was business class tickets.”

“You know in the 90s, he bought business class tickets on domestic routes. That’s how one day is was a nobody, and the next, he knew the who’s who. Now he knows all the people you need to know. Sure, it was expensive, but see (waving around)…”

Over the years that I worked as a junior lawyer in the supercharged environment of the Firm that he built, there were a few opportunities to observe him and many to experience the culture that he established.

Like my colleague, while I thought I understood him, it was only at the surface.

A shallow understanding, or perhaps even incorrect - not unlike the one that involved building a top-tier consulting organisation by ‘flying business class’.

It wasn’t my time in the Firm as much though, that taught me about him.

It was after I left, over the years as a legal entrepreneur navigating the journey myself that I began to understand him in ways that I didn’t before. Sometimes I wonder if I ever would have, without the benefit of distance and having my own experiences.

Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash

Then this happened not a long time ago.

An opportunity presented itself to meet with him.

I was excited, there was so much to learn.

All the questions I asked myself, and then more - his motivations, his art, the how-tos of succeeding in the law, the future of building legal businesses, and the interplay between technology and law practice.

Then there were other questions - the business model of law firms, the manner in which legal services are delivered. All this, I told myself - from the horse’s mouth.

Those who know him will tell you that speaking with him is like playing a game of riddles.

Photo by Loris Marie on Unsplash

Never too far from jokes and mischief. Even, a magic trick.

His charisma carried him through, he could barge uninvited into a room of strangers and capture every single person’s attention, have them to crowd around him, clap, cheer and follow him around. Like little kids and pied piper.

A lifetime of speaking to clever people had also made him very good at going where he wanted, rather than your preferred line of enquiry. I told myself I had to draw him out.

He will come for the show if you set it up alright. Else, I would end up being regaled with one of his several apocryphal tales, perhaps not far from a story like the one involving him ‘flying business class’. I would have then have to go back home empty handed.

What if I was able to get him to talk, real talk, and who knows, if I could get him to - bicker with me, wax eloquent, object to my ideas or call me out, anything, anything but dismiss or distract?

That would be a win!

And, he didn’t disappoint.