My White & Case Story
Anand Jeyaram chats about his career and new position as Director, Global Clients and Industries.
Newly appointed Director, Global Clients and Industries, Anand Jeyaram explains his new role and talks about his career at the Firm.
Anand Jeyaram has only been at White & Case since 2018, but his story so far is an example of how the Firm supports and rewards those that embrace the values of the Firm and the opportunities this presents to our people.
Anand graduated in 2004 from Royal Holloway, University of London, with a Mathematics and Management degree. He got a taste for high pressure with his first job in sales where the sole focus was hitting monthly targets.
Anand then moved into financial services, working for HSBC and NatWest in relationship management roles, where he was responsible for a portfolio of the banks’ commercial clients.
He joined Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance in 2010 as a client relationship manager looking after banking clients in London and later Hong Kong. He returned to London in 2013, taking a role at Baker McKenzie and eventually becoming head of business development for Baker’s London office.
In 2018, Anand joined White & Case as Director of the Global Financial Institutions Industry Group. This July, he was promoted to the role of Director, Global Clients and Industries.
“Having recently expanded our industry program to 10 groups, my job is to ask how we can make them even more commercially focused and knowledgeable on markets and trends.”
He says: “I saw joining White & Case as a real opportunity to develop my career and contribute to something exciting.
“White & Case really appealed because it is known for being entrepreneurial and commercially minded, something which I felt played to my strengths. I also kept seeing the Firm’s deals quoted in the press, so there was clearly a strong brand too that was being reflected in the market.”
Anand’s first day at White & Case was unusual as he attended an off-site strategy day at the home of a co-leader for the Financial Institutions Industry Group.
Anand explains: “We spent the day analyzing how the group was performing, going through industry data and thinking about how we wanted to move forward. It was a whirlwind start, but it was a great way to influence the strategic direction of the group, build relationships and get to know what needed to be done straight away.
“Very quickly, I knew I had made a great decision and that this role was exactly what I wanted. I felt massively empowered by the partners I worked with, who were very supportive and valued my advice. Building rapport and seeing what we could achieve together was a highlight of my early days at the Firm.
“It was extremely hard work, understanding how we operated across the industry group and ensuring we were all joined up in our efforts to deliver our plan.
“I also got the opportunity to grow my team, which was fantastic, because it allowed me the opportunity to work and develop others.”
During his time as Business Development lead for the Global Financial Institutions Industry Group, Anand was passionate about increasing its focus on market insight, using this to help structure the group around the needs of its clients and opportunities for the Firm.
“White & Case really appealed because it is known for being entrepreneurial and commercially minded, something which I felt played to my strengths. I also kept seeing the Firm’s deals quoted in the press, so there was clearly a strong brand too that was being reflected in the market.”
“That’s one of the secrets of delivering a distinctive client experience,” says Anand. “It’s about knowing your clients and their industry intimately, connecting with people, understanding the industry they operate in and the implications that has for our practices. That understanding is the best way to build meaningful relationships with our clients.
“Another thing that helps is stepping back and looking at our strengths and identifying what makes our best relationships so strong and how we can take those learnings to other clients and industries.”
Earlier this year, he successfully interviewed for the position of Director, Global Clients and Industries.
He says: “I was keen to put myself forward for the role because of the work I’d done on a strategy taskforce last year. It convinced me that the Firm was determined to take its focus on clients and industries to the next level. This is a vision I’m passionate about seeing us achieve and that I am ambitious to play a role in.”
Anand took the job in July and is clear on his first priorities in the position.
Anand takes part in a magic show at the London Global Partners Meeting
He says: “Having recently expanded our industry program to 10 groups, my job is to ask how we can make them even more commercially focused and knowledgeable on markets and trends.
“Importantly, it’s about looking at our markets more consistently in all our industry groups and building a culture where industries and clients are at the very center of everything we do and every decision we make, from identifying the clients we want to work with now, to understanding how we position ourselves to develop institutionalized relationships so we can continue to work with them in the long term too.
“This will require a massive cross-Firm team effort involving our lawyers and Business Services professionals, across all our groups. If we’re asking our lawyers to do this, we need to make it as easy for them as possible, getting the support, information and infrastructure in place to make that happen.
“It’s also about focusing on a small number of things at any one time and asking how we can do those things really well, because I appreciate that our lawyers have many other responsibilities and objectives.
“The business development professionals that are part of the Clients and Industries Group play a vital role in this too, as they work with many lawyers across our network and support them in delivering what we are asking of them. Another key priority is to support and develop my team to ensure they are delivering to the best of their ability to both our lawyers and clients.”
“It’s early days of course, but we have made some big strides and we can see how much more our people are engaged with Industry Groups than perhaps they have been before. In the long term this will set us apart from other firms.”
Although very new in the role, Anand is pleased with the early progress being made.
He says: “Our expanded industry groups now cover almost 90 percent of our client base and close to 100 percent of our clients. Approximately 75 percent of our lawyers are affiliated to one of those groups, meaning we can better identify our experts. That is a huge step forward that gives us a firm foundation to build on.
“It’s great that we have such senior sponsorship and support from Industry Group Chair Rebecca Campbell and the Executive Committee, who’ve shown how seriously they take industry and client focus.”
One way this has been reflected is through the recent establishment of the Global Industry Council, led by Rebecca, and the Global Client Council under the leadership of Darragh Byrne.
“These Councils will add another level of leadership and support to what we’re doing,” Anand says. “Both have around 11 members covering a broad range of leadership roles, levels and regions.
“The aim is to highlight and spread best practice, share industry and client insights, and to ask how we can build a solid infrastructure to offer our lawyers the right support, information and technology to bring this plan to fruition.
“It’s early days of course, but we have made some big strides and we can see how much more our people are engaged with Industry Groups than perhaps they have been before. In the long term this will set us apart from other firms.”
