Michael Wachtel, Watson Farley & Williams
If you were stranded on a desert island, what two luxury items would you take?
Cold beer and suntan oil.
What was your first-ever job?
I actually had three simultaneous first jobs: delivering papers before school, washing dishes in my lunch hour and cleaning a garage forecourt after school. Far more lucrative than homework.
What was your worst experience as a trainee?
Working in the document factory known as commercial property. Churning out licences to assign commercial leases for eight hours a day is probably a little-known cause of insanity.
Where’s the best place to go if you want to find out what’s really going on in the office?
Pouring a few pints of beer down a willing trainee usually does the trick.
What time do you usually leave the office?
I try to get away by 9pm – and usually succeed.
What do you do at weekends?
These are dominated by my three-year-old daughter, wife and Labrador puppy (in that order), but I also enjoy shooting when I get the chance.
What’s your favourite restaurant?
The Gaucho Grill chain.
If you weren’t a lawyer what would you have been?
Before I became a lawyer I was working on oil rigs in West Africa. If I hadn’t had ‘a moment of clarity’, I’d probably still be there.
Who’s your hero and why?
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, not because of his politics or his ideology, but because he refused to be intimidated by a much stronger foe, and he won.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I love the cut and thrust of achieving a good commercial result for the client rather than getting bogged down in some esoteric point of law that has no practical commercial significance.
What’s the toughest thing about your job?
Persuading some conventionally minded people that sometimes an unconventional approach gives them the best result.
What’s your biggest work/ career mistake and what did you learn from it?
When I worked in a corporation I made the mistake of believing that doing a good job is more important than workplace politics. I learnt that, to be successful, I needed an environment that rewards results rather than politics.
What car do you drive?
I don’t drive a car unless I really have to, but I love my Triumph Tiger 1050 motorbike.
What book are you reading?
The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan and Unholy Wars by John K Cooley.
What’s on your iPod?
The Byrds Play Dylan.
What’s your favourite children’s book?
Watership Down by Richard Adams.
What’s the most exciting deal/case you’ve worked on and why?
The $600m (£417.7m) acquisition of a group of companies with exploration and production rights in a Middle Eastern country. I was closely involved in the commercial side and was able to add a lot of value for the client.
If you were stranded on a desert island, what two luxury items would you take?
Cold beer and suntan oil.
What’s the worst partner conference location you’ve attended and why?
The ones in London are rather boring because… well… they’re in London.
What’s the longest you’ve worked without sleep?
48 hours.
If a movie was being made about your life, which actor would play you and why?
My wife tells me it should be Pierce Brosnan – on the assumption that she’d get to play herself.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?
Any Blairite – I think the combination of the vertical movement and the spin would make me queasy.
CV
Name: Michael Wachtel
Firm: Watson Farley & Williams
Title: Partner in the international corporate group and head of the oil and gas practice
Lives: Guildford, Surrey
Education:
1985-90: Masters in mechanical engineering, University of Sheffield
1992-93: CPE, De Montfort University, Leicester
1993-94: LPC, De Montfort University, Leicester
Work history:
1990-91: Field engineer, Schlumberger
1991-92: Field engineer,Geoservices
1994-96: Trainee solicitor, Lovells
1996-97: Consultant, Premier Oil
1997-2000: Senior legal adviser, Arco International Oil & Gas Company
2000-02: General counsel, Veba Oil & Gas
2002-04: Legal director, Petro-Canada
2004-06: Of counsel, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
2006-present: Partner and head of oil and gas, Watson Farley & Williams
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Readers' comments (34)
Anonymous | 17-Feb-2009 12:47 pm
Attributes of a terrorist leader
What next? Praising Harold Shipman for his efficiency (but not attitudes to vulnerable patients); admiring Goebbels communications skills (but not his political views). There is a fine line although Mr Wachtel feels he is able to make a distinction.
For more information on Hassan Nasrallah who he admires check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Nasrallah
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Anonymous | 17-Feb-2009 3:05 pm
Work/Life/IQ Level?
Mr Wachtel states that his "hero" is the leader of a terrorist organisation. If I was his client, I would be questioning whether to take my business to one of his many less ignorant competitors. I hope Mr Wachtel is not involved in Watson Farley & Williams' pro bono fund-raising initiatives.
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Anonymous | 17-Feb-2009 4:16 pm
Never ever employing WFW again
I can not believe what i have just read. One of the partners of WFW has said in a public forum that his hero is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Does he not realize that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation and might as well state that he also supports Bin Ladden. As a now former client ( I will never darken their door again, as of today ) i can tell you that i have never been so ashamed to have associated the company i work for with WFW.
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Seymour Goldfarb Jr | 17-Feb-2009 5:00 pm
Michael Wachtel and Hassan Nasrallah
I conclude that Mr Wachtel completed this questionnaire after his 48 hours without sleep. Like other commenters, I am amazed that an apparently intelligent man would choose Nasrallah as a 'hero', and this seems the most charitable justification. Otherwise I would be forced to conclude that Mr Wachtel is either a moral imbecile or a childish sensation-seeker - or making a pitch for business from Palestinians.
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Sosmeister | 17-Feb-2009 6:38 pm
Mr Wachtel
It appears that the fumes from the oil and gas which Mr Wachtel has breathed in over the years has contributed to his warped and twisted sense of moral right and wrong. I am more suprised that The Lawyer failed to edit this article properly and published this dangerous tripe. For this reason I have today cancelled my subscription and ask my fellow lawyers to do the same. Mr Wachtel is a persona non grata. WFW is likely to have client defections from this outburst.
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Albert Fischer | 17-Feb-2009 8:18 pm
PARTNER FOR OIL AND GAS
thing is, a lot of assignments come from islamic people. i wonder whether anyone realises how much arab money there is in the UK. aresenal, barclays...the list is long. they have a lot of influence and i do not think WFW's head of -->OIL AND GAS<--- makes such statements without deliberation. if he likes people who stand up to stronger adversaries he might as well choose a footie team.
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t arquin | 18-Feb-2009 8:41 am
wachtel overreaction
Are not those Israelis who blew up British soldiers trying to keep the peace, regarded as heroes in Israel?
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Anonymous | 18-Feb-2009 9:42 am
Anti-semitic terrorist as a hero
I echo the disgust at Mr Watchel’s remark expressed by others above.
Perhaps Mr Wachtel wants to reconsider whether an anti-semitic terrorist such as Nasrallah is really his hero?
And given that Nasrallah is a political ideologue, Mr Wachtel saying that he takes this view not because of Nasrallah’s politics or ideology makes little sense.
We can all admire people who refuse to be intimidated by a much stronger foe and win, but surely Mr Watchel could think of a hero with these qualities who is not responsible for killing innocent people?
No doubt, Mr Wachtel's partners and colleagues at Watson Farley & Williams will want to distance themselves from Mr Wachtel’s views. If I was a client of WFW, I would also want to distance myself from Mr Wachtel.
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anon. | 18-Feb-2009 10:08 am
Please note
Please note as an adjunct to this debate, that 'anti-Israel' is not the same as 'anti-Jewish'.
I strongly oppose a large number of Israeli policies and think that it is a state founded on the basis of religious ideology, not law, but have several Jewish friends and would be appalled if someone thought I was an anti-Semite.
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Anonymous | 18-Feb-2009 10:11 am
Big mouth, small brain
It seems like the very bright Mr Wachtel thinks that the result of the last war in Lebanon was the same as David slaying Goliath and that's why, when faced with being able to choose anyone from history as a hero, he admires their leader so much.
Putting aside what this choice says about him, his moral values and his inability to see the harm that he has caused his own firm, his intellectual abilities have now been shown up as well.
Maybe he should ask the residents of Northern Israel who "won" the war? Do they now have to sleep in shelters every night as they were before the war? No.
Are there rockets being fired into Israel from Lebanon? No.
Did Hezbollah come to the aid of the their fellow Iranian backed Islamisists in Gaza, as expected by both Hamas and Israel? Apparently not.
So, it would be interesting to see his definition of this great Hezbollah victory.
He, has proved that he is intellectually stupid, has set back relationships internally and will have caused clients and potential clients to turn away from the firm.
And every time that someone now googles his name, they will be reminded of this!
What a plonker!
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