Allen & Overy (A&O) special global counsel Philip Wood has been named an honorary QC for his wide range of activities in the finance field since retiring from the firm’s partnership.
Wood has been a special global counsel at the magic circle firm since reaching the firm’s retirement age of 60 in 2002.
On receiving honorary QC status, Wood said: “You slave away for years and then someone suddenly pats you on the back. It’s terrific but it was very unexpected. “
Wood said he still clocks up between 2,700 and 2,800 hours a year, which includes fee-earning time as well as his numerous other pursuits.
“I’m still working incredibly hard,” he said. “I happen to like what I do – I’m not a partner, I’m just another worker. I like talking to clients, I like advising them – I find it very fulfilling.”
Since his retirement Wood has taught post-graduate courses on global comparative financial law at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and has also lectured at the University of London and the London School of Economics.
Between 2006 and 2007 he wrote nine books on finance with a total word count of 2.6 million.
Wood is also a member of bodies such as the influential Market Monitoring Group as well as the International Bar Association’s taskforce on the financial crisis.
He said that he has never experienced anything as large as the current financial crisis: “You wake up every morning and say, ‘I just can’t believe it’. It is so unpredictable.”
“I feel that we’re witnessing a terrible event and to be in the middle of an event to try to do something to help – that’s fun. But it’s not fun to see everything come tumbling down.”
Wood joins five other honorary QCs in this year’s non-practising QC list, which includes Mishcon de Reya partner Philip Freedman, former Law Society president David McIntosh and Government Legal Service head Paul Jenkins.
Honorary QCs 2009, full list:
Philip Freedman, Mishcon de Reya partner, member of the Law Society’s conveyancing and land law committee and author on land law. Recommended for his work developing the practical aspects of property law. Paul Jenkins, Her Majesty’s Procurator General, Treasury solicitor and head of the Government Legal Service. Recommended for his contribution to the development of law and legal professionalism in government.
Professor John Tiley, professor of tax law and fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge University, as well as a former president of the Society of Legal Scholars. Recommended for his role in teaching, researching and developing tax law as an area of academic study.
David McIntosh, consultant at employment and partnership firm Fox, past president of the Law Society of England and Wales and chair of the City of London Law Society. Recommended for his contribution to the legal profession, particularly the fostering of strong relations between City firms and the Law Society through the City of London Law Society.
Abbas Mithani, circuit judge, honorary professor of law at Birmingham University and visiting professor of law at Newcastle University. Recommended for his academic work, in particular in relation to Islamic probate and succession law in the context of the law of England and Wales.
Philip Wood, A&O special global counsel, visiting professor at the University of Oxford, University of London, London School of Economics as well as a Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Recommended for his work in the field of international financial law.
