FFW IP head Mark Abell claims "ambush" ahead of Bird & Bird move
Field Fisher Waterhouse’s (FFW) head of IP and IT Mark Abell has resigned to join Bird & Bird.
FFW’s management has in turn suspended Abell from the partnership in a move which it says “protects the interests” of the firm.
A brief statement from FFW today said: “We can confirm that Mark Abell has resigned from the partnership of Field Fisher Waterhouse to join another firm. To protect the interests of the firm, the supervisory board has suspended Mark from the partnership. We cannot comment any further at this stage.”
Speaking to The Lawyer, Abell claimed he was “ambushed” in a meeting with the supervisory board and executive committee, which is led by Dominic Gurney-Champion.
He said: “I’ve been in negotiations with the firm for an orderly and good-natured exit and I have absolutely no idea why yesterday I was called to a meeting and told they wanted to put me on gardening leave.
“No explanation was given. I thought the meeting was to finalise the terms of my departure. I was surprised and had no idea. I wish the firm no ill. I’ve been there for 28 – mostly happy – years. All I was asking was to be allowed to fulfil the potential of my practice.”
Abell said he was leaving because he was the “highest qualified lawyer” in his field and wanted to take his practice to the next level with the international scope that Bird & Bird offers in the Middle East and Far East.
He said he had “outgrown the firm”.
“I’ve been completely open with them about my desire to move to a more developed international platform of substance. I made this quite plain more than two months ago. I was open and candid. I was told I would be missed but my understanding was that we agreed a convivial and amiable exit. Instead I was ambushed,” Abell claimed.
He added: “Bird & Bird is the perfect strategic fit. I need a platform that’s global and that’s got the highest level of appropriate skills. I want to do nothing other than build the biggest and best practice in the world. I know I can do it.”
Abell’s resignation follows earlier news of German head and IP specialist Joachim Feldges’ departure for Allen & Overy’s Munich office (6 November 2012).
Tensions within FFW’s partnership have been blamed for two failed mergers with Lawrence Graham (28 June 2012) and Osborne Clarke (14 November 2012). FFW managing partner Matthew Lohn, who was the driving force behind the LG merger talks, has been on leave since the summer. He has just returned to the firm.
In his absence, technology and outsourcing head Michael Chissick is filling in on an interim basis.
In 2011 Abell resigned from the firm’s management board (5 December 2011). A clause in the FFW partnership agreement prevented Abell from standing for managing partner (24 September 2012).
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Readers' comments (24)
Anonymous | 15-Feb-2013 1:55 pm
The comments on this article are hilarious - half of them making personal attacks on the man, the other half (all suspiciously written in the same tone) painting him as some sort of Da Vinci-esque polymath genius.
Whatever the truth, it seems there are fun times ahead for Bird & Bird.
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Anonymous | 22-Feb-2013 11:51 am
I 've worked with Abell for some years and he is a decent, hard working and easy going chap. Bird & Bird will be pleased that they are recuiting him. They should ignore the mean minded and gratuitously personal comments. Presumably they are all part of FFW's campaign against him.
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Alison | 5-Apr-2013 5:14 pm
I am not a regular blogger, but after reading the above I feel compelled to add this comment. As a client of FFW who has worked with a number of their partners, including Mark Abell, over the years , I have to say that the way that FFW is behaving in this matter is appalling. No one is perfect and I am sure that includes Abell. However, my experience of him is that he is not only a strong technical lawyer who is keenly focused on his client's best interests but he is also an easy going man who inspires loyalty and respect from his clients, team and close colleagues. Why are FFW orchestrating this cruel, cheap blogging campaign against one of their biggest hitters? From what some of the insiders at FFW tell me it is fear and jealousy. Fear that his departure will damage their practice and jealousy that he has the initiative and courage to leave the firm, despite its draconian member's agreement. After 28 years service, he has decided to move on. Why can't FFW just get over it! The small minded nastiness of the comments made against Abell say more about those orchestrating and making them than the man himself. Shame on you.
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Chris | 8-Apr-2013 5:37 pm
Well said Alison! Spot on! FFW's loss is Bird & Bird's undoubted gain.
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