It's a long time ago now (15 years plus), when I was brought in by a bank to save a couple of lending positions they had.
They had lent to two (2) 'food' producers, one of whom had a great brand (but the factory had 'burnt down' - after a particularly badly handled wage negotiation), the second a "much weaker" brand (and which 'unsurprisingly' had surplus 'factory capacity').
Berwin Leighton (as was) split the job between two (2) junior lawyers, one of which handled the JV formation, and one / the other dealt with the ongoing JV arrangements. Neither read the other's draft documents - although their client's were expected to read both.
The relevant 'Berwin Leighton Pasiner' lawyers were in separate (adjoining) buildings on Lower Thames Street, neither of which the other could (physically) access, they had never met each other (in person > not even for a 'beer'), and were unable to organise a three-way (x3) telephone call > on which both were present (without my assistance).
One of them spent eighteen (18) months resisting a requested provision in 'their' agreement (while the other had already agreed to its inclusion of the same in 'theirs').
We'll ignore why their counter-party #lawyers hadn't worked this out until I got involved, but let's record that six (6) months later that legal firm failed / went bust (and were rescued to become Bryan Cave's original London office).
I had to phone the 'Head of Corporate' in each firm, and point out there were several hundred million pounds of equity being prejudiced (by the inexperienced/inexpert - clowns/muppets' they had put on the job'), and a total of 9,000 jobs (in aggregate) at risk in Manchester and Liverpool.
The moral - Differentiate between 'big firms'> adept at extracting fees from their clueless clients; and expert and experienced lawyers (who may work in 'small firms') > It's like the A-Team (= 'If you can find them' etc.) / Any idiot can hire BCLP (and their ilk) . . . .
Both of the 'Heads of Corporate' are now long retired - So, I feel I'm released from my promise to NOT tell the market about this clusterf*ck . . .
@DanRJohnson
