Watsons director quits to run Monckton Chambers

The director of operations at City firm Watson Farley & Williams is quitting to become the new chambers director at niche commercial set

Monckton Chambers.

Alexandrina le Clezio will take up her new post in mid-September,

replacing departing practice manager Milly Ayliffe.

Le Clezio, formerly a senior strategy consultant for Linklaters during the

run-up to the creation of Linklaters & Alliance, follows a number of

significant figures who have ditched law firms for a new challenge at the

Bar.

However, this is a significant shift from the early days of such

appointments which tended to come from the management ranks of the

advertising and medical professions.

Le Clezio says: "The law is slightly specific, there is a lot of

tradition. With issues like ethics and professional conduct attached to it,

it obviously helps to be a lawyer, without being hamstrung by that.

"One of the advantages I have is that I haven't always been a lawyer," she

adds.

Watson Farley & Williams has yet to find a replacement for Le Clezio, who

has spent two-and-a-half years at the firm and is highly rated in banking

and asset financing.

She was responsible for the delivery of support services to the firm,

including IT, marketing, human resources, facilities, training and know-how

and the partnership secretariat.

Ayliffe, who joined Monckton Chambers from Norton Rose, is now returning

to the law firm as an assistant in the asset finance department.

Last week, The Lawyer revealed that 39 Essex Street is appointing Michael

Meeson, formerly partnership secretary at Rowe & Maw, to be its first

chambers director.

In May, Bob Wilson became chambers director at 1 Crown Office Row

following a stint as chief operating officer of City law firm Druces &

Attlee.

Denton Hall lost its director of business development Elizabeth Rantzen to

2 Temple Gardens, while 11 Old Square recently appointed Catherine Calder,

a former marketing law expert at Macfarlanes, to deal with client liaison

and marketing.