Kevin Gold

Mishcon de Reya

Few law firm leaders fizz with as many bold ideas as Kevin Gold. The Mishcon de Reya executive chairperson led the firm into new pastures last year when he finally managed to persuade the partners to vote for an IPO. While cynics will always criticise law firm flotations as a cashing-out exercise, the proposed Mishcon IPO is entirely consistent with Gold’s long-term growth strategy and robustly argued vision of wider participation for junior lawyers and other stakeholders (Mishcon has said every member of staff would become a shareholder in the listed business).

Gold’s vision for Mishcon is nothing less than a transformation of the traditional law partnership model into an innovative consultancy-led business, and 2021 saw significant steps in that direction via its combination with Cambridge-based Taylor Vinters. The long-term plan of the MDR Innovation Hub brings together MDR Taylor Vinters, MDR LAB and MDRxTech, while making use of Mishcon’s data reserves. It will be led by a combined Taylor Vinters and Mishcon management team and will be the testbed of the firm’s ambitions in the tech start-up sphere.

If Mishcon does pull off its launch on the public markets this year, it will be a game-changer in the way that City law firms view and fund their own growth strategies. And if one person can make it fly by sheer act of will, that person is Kevin Gold.