Football banter kicks off successful strategy

Apr 23 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

PHILIP ROONEY, Liverpool office managing partner of law firm DLA Piper, has 30 years’ experience of advising public sector bodies and some of the UK’s leading investment institutions and major space occupiers on their real estate requirements.

He lives in Liverpool with his wife, Jane, and has three children. This is an account of his day.

7.30am: I wake up to BBC Radio Merseyside. After the local news, I switch to Radio Five Live for the drive into work. I’ve never been a morning person (in my genes, I think) so my days are structured around late finishes rather than early starts. I’m often at the office until 8pm or later.

9.30am: I welcome a couple of new starters – Liz Clark and Rachel Power, who have joined us from other Liverpool firms. My first call is from a London-based property consultant. A local client we share is making a significant investment in a Japanese property fund as part of their strategy for diversification.

Usual banter about football. Unlike him, I haven't ruled out Everton in the Champions’ League next season. I report on my recent conference call with Hong Kong office which is handling the Asian aspects of the deal.

9.50am: I read the LDP headlines online and check emails, including one from our trainee, Natalie Ebanks, who is coincidentally on secondment in Tokyo. Working in such an exotic city is obviously a marvellous experience. She’s visited a contact of mine at the British Embassy to sell Liverpool for inward investment – great effort.

10am: My regular meeting with Stephanie Byrne of our business development team. They are extremely busy. We host a meeting of our global board in April, including Senator George Mitchell, our global chairman. It is a privilege to be welcoming an international statesman of his stature to Liverpool.ŠThe senator is to deliver a Roscoe Lecture at Liverpool John Moores University and all the details of the visit need careful planning.

11am: Quick trip to our café for a cranberry juice, calling on various people as I go.ŠI never do breakfast so this is my morning sustenance.

11.30am: Back at my desk, my secretary, Claire, takes a call from Liverpool City Council. They want an on-camera interview about the Liverpool Lawyers 4 Learning reading scheme I helped set up with Liverpool Law Society. It involves staff from local firms going into schools to provide reading support.

12.00noon: Monthly meeting with local heads of our business groups. We look at financial performance and business opportunities. This is followed by a wider meeting attended by all 18 partners. The focus here is on strategy. I update the partners on the extension to our sponsorship at Tate Liverpool. The new deal takes us to 2012.

2pm: I speak to my wife, Jane. Our son, James, who is at St Andrews, and daughter Sarah, who’s at Durham University, are graduating on successive days. The logistics of attending both ceremonies are just about manageable if we can sort out arrangements for our youngest son, Nicholas, who is still at school.ŠI'll have to miss out on our Global Partners' Conference for the first time in nearly 25 years, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

2.30pm: To see clients with Sarah Bell, partner on our commercial team, then straight back to the office for a meeting on the Mersey Gateway. Infrastructure projects of this scale – about £335m – don’t come around that often. Mary O’Hanlon, one of our real estate partners, updates me on negotiations with the Crown Estate which owns the river bed from the high water mark on each side of the Mersey.ŠThe project is just getting going, and we are also advising on planning and compulsory purchase.

5.15pm: Catch up on emails but calls start to dry up.ŠTime to review the heads of terms for a new property fund which arrived by email this afternoon and prepare for tomorrow's meetings.

8pm: I round off the day reviewing arrangements for a public sector dinner we are hosting. It is being chaired by Professor Michael Parkinson, LJMU’s urban regeneration expert. The focus is on regional co-operation between local authorities and other public bodies.ŠThe last email is from Frank Burch, our US-based joint chief executive, sending me a positive travel piece about Liverpool in the Wall Street Journal – calling the city “the new Barcelona”.Š