Daily Diary

Diary top 10: Herbies makes a difference

Posted 30/10/2007 by The Daily Diary

Last week Herbert Smith kicked off its ‘Taste the Difference’ campaign – the firm’s latest bid to differentiate itself from those magic circle ‘rivals’ like Slaughters and Freshfields that Herbies is always being confused with.

The self-help drive sees each partner at the City titan invited to slip an idea for improving the firm into the little ‘Suggestions’ box of senior partner David Goldfinger, just like customers can at McDonald’s. At such a big firm, however, some overlap between ideas is inevitable, meaning The Diary can hereby bring you the 10 most popular suggestions among Herbert Smith partners for boosting firm-wide performance.

1. All fee earners to consume five portions of fruit, vegetables or red-meat litigation per day
2. Much-heralded advocacy unit to keep busy by unclogging soup-vending machines, pulling shifts in staff canteen and watering office pot-plants
3. Annual target of 1,500 hours per year spent privately fretting about international strategy to be scrapped
4. Broaden internal definition of ‘emerging markets’ to include US, France, Germany and the UK
5. Quit to join Berwin Leighton Paisner
6. Perhaps, maybe, possibly start suing some of those banks, if they don’t mind too much
7. Put fingers in ears and sing loudly whenever concept of ‘magic circle’ is mentioned
8. Magisterial senior partner to be plated in solid gold exoskeleton in bid to impress clients
9. Keep launching new offices in the Middle East until one of them strikes oil
10. Get, like, better at law and billing and stuff.