Bill Carr, a corporate partner with the firm, talks about how our working culture helped him act in the UK’s biggest private finance initiative – providing air-to-air refuelling and transport to the RAF.
What did the firm do?
We acted for Cobham, a leading aerospace and defence company. They were a shareholder in a consortium called AirTanker Ltd, proffering a multibillion pound contract to the MOD. Cobham’s in-house team needed extra expertise to help them close their part of the transaction. Fortunately, they’d worked with us before, and knew the level of support we could offer. We could help them negotiate subcontracts, as well as handle shareholder arrangements and financing.
How did it feel to be involved in a deal of that size?
It’s always great to be part of a high profile transaction – but especially in an area where we’ve already got a great reputation, because it further enhances our status. These sort of deals are always interesting to work on because it’s something that’s tangible. You see these images of air-to-air refuelling, and you know there’s a concrete reality to the whole project.
What made CMS Cameron McKenna the right choice?
I think the Airtanker transaction truly reflects the way do business. Our strategy was to work across departments. I had an associate from the Corporate side helping me. I also had a partner from the financing team. There was a partner from the Projects team, plus two of his associates and a trainee. We pulled together the various sector expertise we have in the firm, pooling the enormous amount of knowledge we have around different industries.
How important is this cross-functional working?
What it means is that there’s more scope for people to get involved in areas they might not otherwise. It’s not as though you’re just seeing your immediate colleagues on the same floor. Our deals bring people together from various parts of the firm. This is especially valuable for trainees, helping them to build close contacts and to get a much better flavour of what the whole firm is all about.
While we’re on the subject, what makes a good trainee?
The most important thing is the ability to focus on what the client wants, and be able to work in a team to achieve it. If you don’t have those skills naturally, it’s unlikely you’ll learn them. Most trainees when they first start might find attention to detail is a challenge. Or they might not think around the issues as much as I’d like to. But all of those things can be worked on.
What advice would you give to a new trainee?
Get as much out of the experience as you can. Try and get to know everyone within your team. Don’t just rely on the people that you’re closest to – everyone here has got an open door policy. It’s a question of being confident enough to get out there and find out what else is going on. Every time I hold an appraisal with my trainees I encourage them to think about what they haven’t been involved in yet, and get them to break out into different kinds of transaction. The broader your experience, the better idea you’ll get of what you’ll excel at. Even those areas you might not settle into will prove important in the future, precisely because of the cross-functional way we work.