Building with Barclaysx
We get the inside story on our relationship with this important client from Barclays Relationship Partner Patrick Sarch.
When it comes to managing their legal panel, clients don’t come much more sophisticated than Barclays – renowned for the complexity of its requirements and high expectations.
As Barclays Head of External Engagement Stephanie Hamon explains, top quality service goes without saying, but it’s a law firm’s ability to truly get under the skin of the business that makes the difference.
“The firms that are really successful with us are the ones that are actively engaging,” she explains. “It’s about understanding Barclays, our strategy and what you can bring to the table that others can’t.
“It will come as no surprise that we already work with the very best legal firms in the world, so it’s hard for a competitor to differentiate on quality alone. That’s why you have to find something different to get yourself noticed.”
Learning from experience
It’s clear that Barclays sets the bar high for its legal partners, but those that reach and exceed those exacting expectations can expect to flourish.
Just ask Barclays Relationship Partner Patrick Sarch. Patrick joined the Firm in January from Clifford Chance, where he’d overseen the rapid growth of its relationship with Barclays from a £2-3 million business to one worth more than £70 million.
“The foundation for our success was largely based on turning a very good but limited banking relationship (where we acted at a product level on third-parties’ financings) into one where we truly became a trusted advisor on large and complex matters for the bank itself,” Patrick explains.
“That didn’t happen overnight and we spent several years investing in the relationship in a broad range of areas before our investment began to pay off.
“It was a bit of a leap of faith, but it was essential in building a rounded understanding of the client’s needs and where we could offer them something they couldn’t get elsewhere.”
Gaining a foothold
Having advised Barclays on its acquisition of Absa (one of South Africa’s big four banks) in 2005, the real breakthrough came when Clifford Chance was asked to act for Barclays on its proposed £46 billion merger with ABN Amro in 2007.
Patrick says: “Obviously when you get a foothold it’s critical that you make the most of it and the major but not transformational Absa deal gave us the position from which we were well placed to advise on the truly game-changing ABN Amro deal. Winning that deal really gave us a chance to show what we could do.
“Barclays said afterwards that, whatever challenges they threw at us, we always delivered a great team of experts, coordinated from the center.
“By rising to the challenge, we were able to turn a basic relationship into a meaningful partnership, where we became a partner of choice for complex, cross-border work.”
Investing in the future
Another way of showcasing our expertise and getting under the skin of the business is through secondments in strategically important areas – something that gives us a great opportunity to showcase the strength of our people.
We’ve currently got two of these on the go (with another due to start at the end of September), with London Corporate Senior Associate Dan Harrington-Greenwood seconded to Barclays’ Investment Bank to support their structural reform project, which is a key matter for the bank.
This includes dealing with UK ring-fencing, US and EU intermediate holding company requirements, and resolution planning, to shape the group for the foreseeable future.
Our other secondee is Andrew Morris, a Bank Finance Associate who is positioned in the Leveraged Finance team at Barclays. This is a rolling secondment and provides crucial consistency for the traditional transactional work stream with Barclays.
Dan and Andrew will be joined by Fred Kelly, an Associate in the White Collar team in London. Fred will be seconded to the Financial Crime team at Barclays and will provide an invaluable spring board for own account litigation and investigation work.
Patrick says: “In addition, we’ve been keen to raise the profile of Barclays within the Firm and we showed how much we value the relationship by inviting Stephanie to speak at our Financial Institutions Industry Group Leadership Conference in London earlier this year.”
So what are Patrick’s aspirations for the relationship going forward?
“In the future I’d like people across the Firm to view our relationship with Barclays as a role model for how we work with a client across the whole institution in a joined-up way.
“Ultimately, we want to earn the right to become one of their inner-circle of trusted advisers.”
The Barclays perspective: from Barclays Managing Director and Head of External Engagement Stephanie Hamon
“If I was to give you advice on how to get the most out of your relationship with us, I’d say that engagement is critical and that’s about acting on as well as listening to what we tell you.
“One case in point is a law firm who previously wasn’t doing that well with us, until they won two major pieces of work simply by delivering a pitch that showed they were really in touch with what we were looking for – far more so than anyone else who pitched for the work.
“It’s also important for you to carefully identify the areas where we have an alignment of priorities and strategy – something you can give us that others can’t.
“In addition, the role of the relationship team is critical because, whoever we work with, you need to be sure that you come across as one firm.
“There’s nothing more damning than dealing with two different teams and getting the impression that the right hand doesn’t speak to the left.”
Stephanie was interviewed by Mark Hickson, our global relationship manager for Barclays, based in London.
Find out more about Barclays on
our Connect page, which includes
‘Barclays’ Expectations of Law Firms’.
